Diego Rivera: Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda, Detail The Southern Border Fall 2009
Course Information
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Overview | Requirements | E-mail Lists | Readings | GSIs
Schedule: Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

Overview of the Course

The southern border of the United States, stretching from California to Florida, is the longest physical divide between the First and the Third Worlds. The border is a cultural mosaic, a zone that abruptly brings together diverse experiences from the North and the South. It is also a place where one can see larger social, economic, and political processes at work on both sides of the boundary. This course will look at the southern border from both these perspectives: as a distinct landscape where North-South relations take on a specific spatial and cultural dimension; and as a broader region which has seen the emergence of many issues of national significance, such as bilingual education, immigration, ethnic politics, remittances and free trade.

While many patterns of change were established during the nineteenth century, the  century has brought new dimensions of economic expansion, transforming the border region. A restructuring of regional economic and political power caused a tilting of capital, resources, and population toward the previously less-settled zones of the South and Southwest of the US and to the northern frontier of Mexico. This transformation has been accompanied by changes in immigration patterns; the contemporary shift in immigration sources from the Atlantic Rim to the Pacific Rim and the Caribbean has been dramatic. The border states have felt these changes keenly. Areas such as California, Texas, and Florida have become important centers for international trade, as well as gateways for new immigrants and refugees. Since 1950, the frontier zone between the United States and Mexico has been transformed into the most heavily populated border region in the world; by the turn of the century, some ten million people will inhabit this new urban corridor. Cities such as Miami and Los Angeles, the east and west anchors of the new immigration, have emerged as urban centers of intense diversity and sometimes conflict.

In this course we will trace the origins of the changes that have defined today's southern border. After this historical overview, we will look critically at debates on immigration reform, education, trade, and politics as well as new cultural and political identities in the border regions.
 
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Requirements
mid-term 1 October 8
mid-term 2 November 3

final

 December 14, 12:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Mid-terms = 60% of final grade

Final exam = 40% of final grade

 

THERE WILL BE NO MAKE-UP EXAMS

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Class E-Mail Lists

There will be two mailing lists from which students will receive course updates and additional materials via e-mail. To be listed on these mailing lists, students must have an e-mail account and then subscribe to them individually. The first mailing list is required, and the second mailing list is optional. Some readings for the course as well as a host of course-related material are available online at the Southern Border Web site: http://southernborder.berkeley.edu or at the Center for Latin American Studies webste at:http://clas.berkeley.edu.

To be listed on these mailing lists, students must have an e-mail account and then subscribe to them individually. If you don't have your own e-mail account and you are a UC Berkeley student, you can create a Calmail e-mail account.
 
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To subscribe to the required list

 

To subscribe to the optional list

 
For more information on subscription to mailing lists, visit https://calmail.berkeley.edu/manage/list/
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Readings

REQUIRED BOOKS
- All books are available at ANALOG BOOKS, 1816 Euclid Avenue (near Hearst)

Castañeda, Jorge G., Ex Mex: From Migrants to Immigrants, (New York: The New Press, 2007).

Danticat, Edwidge, Brother, I’m Dying, (New York:  Knopf, 2007).

Manz, Beatriz, Paradise in Ashes: A Guatemalan Journey of Courage, Terror, and Hope (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004).

Sweig, Julia E.  Cuba:  What Everyone Needs to Know,  (New York:  Oxford University Press, 2009).

Center for Latin American Studies,  Berkeley Review of Latin American Studies, Spring 2009.
Available online at http://clas.berkeley.edu or hard copy at the Center for Latin American Studies:  2334 Bowditch Street, Berkeley, CA 94720.  $5 donation requested.

Required reader available at Copy Central, 2650 Bancroft Way.

OPTIONAL BOOK

Nazario, Sonia, Enrique’s Journey, (New York: Random House, 2006).
 
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Graduate Student Instructors: Sections and Office Hours

The Thursday 8-9 am section has been cancelled.

David Pieper - pieperdavid(at)gmail.com
Sections: Thursday 4-5 pm, 185 Barrows; Friday 2-3 pm, 121 Wheeler
Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 10-11 am, 583 McCone (may change)

Anthony Fontes - awfontesiv(at)gmail.com
Sections: Wednesday 8-9 am, 20 Wheeler; Wednesday 2-3pm, 24 Wheeler
Office Hours: Wednesday, 11:30-1:30 pm, 583 McCone

Yalda Asmatey - yasmatey(at)berkeley.edu
Sections: Friday 10-11 am, 229 Dwinelle; Friday 11-12 pm, 104 Barrows
Office Hours: Tuesdays 12-2 (by appointment), 587 Barrows Hall

Ian Gordon - ian.gordon(at)berkeley.edu
Sections: Monday, 12-1 pm, 20 Wheeler; Tuesday, 1-2 pm, 242 Dwinelle
Office Hours: Wednesday, 1-2 pm, 587 Barrows Thursday, 4-5 pm, 587 Barrows

Joshua Troncoso - jtron(at)berkeley.edu
Sections: Monday, 3-4 pm, 121 Wheeler; Wednesday, 3-4 pm, 24 Wheeler
Office Hours: Monday 2-3 pm, 587 Barrows; Wednesday 2-3 pm, 587 Barrows

Naomi Beyeler - nbeyeler@gmail.com
Section: Tuesday 8-9 am, 20 Wheeler
Office Hours: Tuesday, 1-2 pm, 587 Barrows Hall

Rebecca Tarlau - becktar(at)berkeley.edu
Sections: Monday 1-2 pm, 185 Barrows; Monday 2-3 pm, 104 Barrows
Office Hours: Thursdays, 12:00 to 2:00 pm, 583 McCone

 
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Schedule
WEEK 1 – HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK

August 27 – Introduction to Course

WEEK 2 ­– MEXICO

September 1 – Mexico: the Conquest to Independence

  • Skidmore, Thomas E. and Peter H. Smith, "Mexico: The Taming of a Revolution,” in Modern Latin America 6 th ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 254-295.
  • West, Rebecca, " Tenochtitlán," in Survivors in Mexico, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), pp. 154-165.

September 3 – Mexico: Manifest Destiny and war

  • Schoultz, Lars, "Acquiring Northern Mexico," in Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy Toward Latin America, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), pp.14-38.

Recommended:

  • Walker Howe, Daniel, “The War Against Mexico,” in What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848, pp. 744-791.
  • Nugent, Walter, "Texas, 1811-1845: Overpopulating and Conquering" in Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansion , ( New York : Knopf, 2008), pp. 130-156.

WEEK 3 ­–CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE UNITED STATES

September 8 – Central America

  • Kinzer, Stephen, Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq, (New York: Times Books, 2006), pp. 129-147; 203-207; 214-216.

September 10 – California: from statehood to the Oakies

  • McWilliams, Carey. "Californios and Mexicanos" and "The Growth of a Legend," in Southern California an Island on the Land, (Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith Books, 1946, 1973), pp. 49-83.
  • Gregory, James, American Exodus: The Dust Bowl Migration and Okie Culture in California, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), Chapters 3-4.

WEEK 4 ­–MEXICO IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

September 15 – The Mexican Revolution

  • Hart, John, “The Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920,” in Meyer, Michael C. and William H. Beezley, eds., The Oxford History of Mexico, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp. 435-465.
September 17 – Post-revolutionary Mexico to post-PRI presidency
  • Camp, Roderic, "The Time of the Technocrats and Deconstruction of the Revolution," The Oxford History of Mexico pp. 609-636.
  • Guillermoprieto, Alma, "Losing the Future," "Zapatas Heirs," and "Elections 2000," in Looking for History, (New York: Pantheon Books, 2001), pp. 178-206; 286-303.

II.  CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES

WEEK 5 ­– NEW DIRECTIONS

September 22 – Current Challenges for the United States and Mexico

September 24 - Political Context
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WEEK 6 ­– DRUG WARS AND THE RULE OF LAW

September 29 – State of Siege

October 1—United States Foreign Policy

  • Schoultz Lars, “Latin America and the United States,”in Hershberg, Eric and Fred Rosen, eds., Latin America After Neoliberalism: Turning the Tide in the 21st Century, and (New York: The New Press, 2006), pp. 49-71.
  • Shifter, Michael and Dan Joyce,  “No Longer Washington’s Backyard,” Current History, February 1, 2009.
    http://www.thedialogue.org/page.cfm?pageID=32&pubID=1786
  • Obama, Barack,  “Choosing a Better Future in the Americas,” Miami Herald, April 16, 2009.

WEEK 7 ­– IMMIGRATION I

October 6 --– Crossing Borders: a personal journey
  • Documentary: "Matias," Frontline World, Claudine Lomonaco and Mary Spicuzza, 2004.
  • Castaneda, Jorge G., Ex Mex: From Migrants to Immigrants, (New York: The New Press, 2007), pp. 47-92; 168-194.

     Recommended:

  • Documentary: “Mexico: Crimes at the Border,” Andrew Becker and Lowell Bergman, 2008.  Available online: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/mexico704/
  • Nazario, Sonia, Enrique’s Journey, (New York:  Random House, 2006).             

October 8 – **MIDTERM**

 

WEEK 8 ­– IMMIGRATION II

October 13 – Immigration:  the context
  • Huntington, Samuel, “The Hispanic Challenge”, Foreign Policy, March/April 2004.
  • Castaneda, Jorge G., Ex Mex: From Migrants to Immigrants, (New York: The New Press, 2007), pp. 1-46.

October 15—Immigration Reform:  the debate

 Recommended:

WEEK 9. CENTRAL AMERICA

October 20 & 22 - Trauma and Survival in Guatemala

  • Manz, Beatriz, Paradise in Ashes: A Guatemalan Journey of Courage, Terror, and Hope, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004).

Recommended:

WEEK 10. EDUCATION/LATINO POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

October 27 – Education

October 29 - Latino Political Participation
  • Lopez, Mark and Paul Taylor,  “Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History,” Pew Hispanic Center, April 30, 2009. http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=108
  • García Bedolla, Lisa, Latino Politics, (Malden:  Polity Press, 2009), pp. 14-35, 179-188.
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WEEK 11. ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

November 3    ** SECOND EXAM **

November 5 – Maquiladoras and the Border

  • Documentary: “Maquilapolis”, Directors, Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre.

WEEK 12. ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

November 10 – Trade

III.  HAITI, CUBA AND THE AMERICAS

November 12  – Haiti: Historical Perspectives

  • Skidmore and Smith, “Haiti:  Slave Republic, Voodoo Dictatorship,” in Modern Latin America, 6th edition, pp. 296-300.

WEEK 13.

November 17 – Haiti: Current Realities            

November 19 – Cuba: Historical perspectives

  • Sweig, Julia E.,  “Cuba before 1959”, Cuba:  What Everyone Needs to Know, pp. 1-35

WEEK 14.  THE COLD WAR

November 24 – Cuba: The Cold War

  • Sweig,  Julia E. “The Cuban Revolution and the Cold War, 1959-91,” Cuba:  What Everyone Needs to Know, pp. 36-103.
  • Schlesinger, Arthur M., Jr, Journals:  1952-2000, (New York: Penguin Press,    
                 2007), pp.  108-113, 120.
  • Purdum, Todd S,  “A True Story of What Now Seems Incredible,” New York Times, November 5, 2000.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/05/arts/05PURD.html

November 26 - *THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY*

WEEK 15. POST-COLD WAR

December 1 – Cuba: Today and Tomorrow

December 3 – Summing Up

December 8 – Review 

 

December 14, 12:30 – 3:30pm ** FINAL EXAM ** 

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last updated: September 29, 2009
developed by m. sho, maintained by CLAS