Undergraduate Course: Beyond Dictatorship: Human Rights in Latin America (HIST10422)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course explores the history, theory, and practice of human rights in Latin America. Too often the concept of human rights throughout the region exclusively invokes the image of maniacal military dictators abusing their own citizens, torturing and disappearing innocent people at will. While this caricature indeed captures some truth, in this class we well delve further into the broader meanings and case studies of how human rights have reshaped the histories, politics, and cultures of Latin America since the middle of the 20th century. |
| Course description |
The course is divided into three sections intended to draw out the origins and evolution of human rights in Latin America. First, we will study the period of military dictatorships in the Southern Cone from the 1960s through the 1980s. By way of case studies, we will focus mainly in this first section on Brazil, Chile, and Argentina. In the second section, we will look at Guatemala and Colombia, examining human rights issues under authoritarian governments and also after the return to civilian rule. Finally, we explore the meanings of human rights in our contemporary landscape, asking what, if anything, the term still means in a neoliberal, transnationally linked 21st century.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, PTs are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503780). |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 42 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
10 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1 x 3000 word Testimonio book essay (40%)
Class participation (10%)
1 x 2 hour exam (50%)
The Testimonio book essay will require students to read a novel or work of testimonial non-fiction chronicling a case of human rights abuses or advocacy in Latin America. Students will then write a 3000 word essay that places that places the themes of our class into dialogue with the content of that book. |
| Feedback |
Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
|
| Academic year 2017/18, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)
|
Quota: 8 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
172 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
10 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1 x 3000 word Testimonio book essay (40%)
Class participation (10%)
1 x 2 hour exam (50%)
The Testimonio book essay will require students to read a novel or work of testimonial non-fiction chronicling a case of human rights abuses or advocacy in Latin America. Students will then write a 3000 word essay that places that places the themes of our class into dialogue with the content of that book. |
| Feedback |
Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Carruthers, D.V. 2008. Environmental Justice in Latin America: Problems, Promise, and Practice. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Dunn, C. 2014. "Desbunde and its discontents: Counterculture and Authoritarian Modernization in Brazil, 1968-1974," The Americas, 70:3.
Feitlowitz, M. 2011. A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture. New York: Oxford University Press.
Grandin, G. 2005. "The Instruction of Great Catastrophe: Truth Commissions, National History, and State Formation in Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala," American Historical Review 110:1.
Hardoy, J. 2009. "Urban poverty and vulnerability to climate change in Latin America." Environment and Urbanization, 21:1.
Mallon, F.E. 2005. Courage Tastes of Blood: The Mapuche Community of Nicolás Ailío and the Chilean State, 1906-2001. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Mechú, R. 2009. I, Rigoberta Menchú. An Indian Woman in Guatemala. New York: Verso.
Stern, S.J. 2006. Remembering Pinochet's Chile: On the Eve of London 1998. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Tate, W. 2007. Counting the Dead: the Culture and Politics of Human Rights Activism in Colombia. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Weschler, L. 1990. A Miracle, a Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers. New York: Pantheon Books.
Wright, L. 2007. State Terrorism in Latin America: Chile, Argentina, and International Human Rights, Rowman and Littlefield. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Jacob Blanc
Tel: (0131 6)51 1925
Email: Jacob.Blanc@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Cat Andrade
Tel: (0131 6)50 3780
Email: cat.andrade@ed.ac.uk |
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