Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey--New Brunswick
Department of History & Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies
Mexico Since Independence
508:362/595:312
v3.21
GOALS
AND APPROACH: This course will provide students an advanced introduction to the "national" history of Mexico while also covering many local and regional experiences. First we will review the three centuries of Spanish Colonial rule. Then we cover the independence process and the unstable formation of the Mexican nation and state. After that we'll discuss the Porfirian dictatorship of the late 19th Century, the Mexican Revolution of 1910 and the long developmentalist rule of the PRI from the 1930s to the 1990s. We end with the transition to post-PRI politics, the rise of narco violence and the multiple political and social crises of turn of the 21st century Mexico. Among the topics we will examine are: centralism and federalism in the formation of the state; peasant struggles over land and sovereignty; economic development and modernization; authoritarian rule and struggles for democratization; relations with the United States; populism; emigration; labor movements; and recent reformist and revolutionary challenges to the state and neo-liberal policies. |
REQUIREMENTS
Your enrollment in this course constitutes an agreement that you will follow
the guidelines presented below. I expect a reasonable degree of enthusiasm and
interest from you. You will have to complete all requirements in order to receive
a grade in this course. I expect you to come to all class sessions on time, prepared,
and ready to participate in discussions. You will be expected to spend between
four and six hours each week outside of class time to complete the readings and requirements for this
course. This means reading between 100 and 125 pages of reading each week. Most will be drawn from our very well organized, excellent text book which brings it's own online learning guide.
Please note: I consistently screen papers for various forms of plagiarism and refer plagiarism cases to the Deans without hesitation. Please make sure that the work you hand is was written by you and not borrowed, purchased, cut and pasted from the web, or simply the result of stringing together notes from other people's work.
BOOKS REQUIRED FOR THIS COURSE
The following books are available at the Rutgers bookstore. Please purchase them ASAP. Other readings not ordered by the bookstore will be available on sakai.
ORGANIZATION AND SCHEDULE
Week 1: [1/17, 1/22, 1/24] Spaniards, Natives and Africans in the 16th Century
Week 2: [1/29, 1/31] New Spain During the Eighteenth Century
Week 3: [2/5, 2/7] Independence and the Conflicted Emergence of the Mexican Nation-State, 1808-1830s
Week 4: [2/12, 2/14 ]Agrarian and Regional Strife, Foreign Intervention and Civil War, 1830s-1860s
Week 5: [2/19, 2/21] State and Elites During the Porfiriato, 1876-1910
Week 6: [2/26, 2/28] The Porfirian Modernization and Peasants and Workers, Women, Indigenous Peoples, 1885-1910
Week 7: [3/5, 3/7] Wars of the Revolution, 1911-1917
MIDTERM EXAM: March 7
SPRING BREAK March 10-March18
Week 8: [3/19, 3/21] Struggles for a New Order, 1917-1940
Week 9: [3/26, 3/28] Consolidation of the PRI Elites and the New State, 1940-1968
Week 10: [4/2, 4/4] Construction of the PRI's Hegemony and State-based Development, 1968-1980s
Week 11: [4/9, 4/11] Problems within the "Mexican Miracle," 1940-1960s: Opposition Movements
Week 12: [4/16, 4/18] Crisis and Demise of the PRI, 1980s-1990s
Week 13: [4/23, 4/25] Mexico Since the PRI or Democratizing Development: Insurgencies and Social Movements 1990-2000
Week 14: [4/30] Migration and The US/Mexico Border