HIST 8A
Colonial Latin America
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. General introduction to Latin American history from contact period to independence (1490s to 1820s), with emphasis on convergence of Native American, European, and African cultures in Latin America; issues of ethnicity and gender; development of colonial institutions and societies; and emergence of local and national identities. Readings focus on writings of Latin American men and women from the period studied. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Namala is very passionate about her subject, and was a great lecturer. She is very easy to talk to, and is extremely helpful during her office hours for reviewing for the midterm and final. The class was not that difficult, but there are 4 books that she draws heavily on for the midterm and final that must be read. The class consisted of one midterm, one term paper and the final. The midterm had to be completed in 50 minutes, and consisted of vocabulary definitions, quote identification and two primary source analysis essays. The term paper had to be 5 pages long, and was written about one of four choices she gives you. The final as the same format as the midterm, but included a more comprehensive essay as well. Over all, I highly recommend this class for people looking for an interesting way to fulfill their historical analysis or literary and cultural GE. She has a true passion for Latin America, and her class has piqued my interest in the field as well. Also, it wasn't too difficult! My final grade: A, but keep in mind that the TA determines your grade, not the professor.
Professor Namala is very passionate about her subject, and was a great lecturer. She is very easy to talk to, and is extremely helpful during her office hours for reviewing for the midterm and final. The class was not that difficult, but there are 4 books that she draws heavily on for the midterm and final that must be read. The class consisted of one midterm, one term paper and the final. The midterm had to be completed in 50 minutes, and consisted of vocabulary definitions, quote identification and two primary source analysis essays. The term paper had to be 5 pages long, and was written about one of four choices she gives you. The final as the same format as the midterm, but included a more comprehensive essay as well. Over all, I highly recommend this class for people looking for an interesting way to fulfill their historical analysis or literary and cultural GE. She has a true passion for Latin America, and her class has piqued my interest in the field as well. Also, it wasn't too difficult! My final grade: A, but keep in mind that the TA determines your grade, not the professor.
Most Helpful Review
I took 8A with Terraciano on Fall 2015. He is certainly one of the best professors I have encountered at UCLA. In class, his lectures are certainly interesting. Just by the way he talks, you get an understanding of the great commitment he has towards his students I visited him a few times in office hours, and he strives to get to know the name of every student that visits (he has a sign in sheet, and if he recognizes you in lecture, he'll nod and say hi to you as he walks in). In office hour, he is really friendly and expands on the material presented in lecture. TA: My TA was Thabisile Griffin, who was certainly very cool. She explained in detail every aspect of the class and before each major assignment The class assignments were: A final exam, a midterm exam, 2 papers, and a reading response due for each section. - Reading Response: They were 200-300 word reading responses on the readings assigned for the week. Around week 7 my TA decided that we didn't have to turn more in. -Papers: The paper's are straightforward, there are no difficult prompts or difficult material to work with. There are 3 prompts (I think 4 on the 2nd) for each paper and you only have to answer one of them. Three page papers. His lectures after the prompts were given out discussed each one of the prompts, so you would have basically a full lecture dedicated to prompt 1 material, another one for prompt 2, etc -Midterm: The midterm for the class consisted of a matching section ( you get terms and definitions and you have to match them) which was extremely easy. There is also an essay component, which is very, very simple. It is composed of 3 or 4 prompts, and it is basically a response, no essay structure is required. My TA said no thesis was necessary.There was also a bonus question, something a bit trivial but that he mentioned in class. I ended up getting 100/100 (could've gotten 101/100 but missed the bonus) As a bonus, Terraciano gives out a study guide, which comes with the prompts of the exam, and the matching terms. He gave out like 40 terms but only 25 show up, and the prompts remain the same (I think, unless he deletes 1 of them). There is absolutely no way to be caught off guard for this, as he gives you the necessary material to get an A in that exam Final Exam: This exam is composed of 3 sections. Part 1 is a full, well-structured essay that was 50% of the final exam grade. Part 2 of the exam is divided into 2 responses. You only have to answer ONE of them, you get to pick which one. Part 2A: A response (like the response from the midterm) based on an image. The image will be pulled from any of the sources or lectures and will come with some historical background to it. Then you will be asked to answer a question about it. Part 2B: A passage will be taken from any of the books assigned for class. You have to read this passage and answer a prompt relevant to it. Part 3: This part is a matching section. You are given a list of authors (like Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Columbus, Cortes), and you have to match those authors to some quotes. This section is much more difficult, since it can appear that some writings can be attributed to more than one writer. Some are obvious but others will be a hard pick. Best thing to do is to get an idea of what every author (taken from the Red Reader) talks about (Guaman Poma de Ayala=corregidores, Sor Juana= Education or women). Terraciano gives out a study guide for this final. His study guide came with the prompt for Part 1, and it showed up on the final exam just like it was on the study guide. For Part 2, it only comes with examples of what can show up for those responses, it does not include the actual picture or response that will be on the exam. For Part 3, he gives a list of the authors that will show up on the test. This is good, since it helps narrow down the list of people you have to study. On the exam though, he gave around 28 quotes, for 12 (I think) authors. So some authors are repeated more than once, but all of them show up at least once. All of these assignments are fairly straightforward and Terraciano gives you all of the necessary things to do well in class.
I took 8A with Terraciano on Fall 2015. He is certainly one of the best professors I have encountered at UCLA. In class, his lectures are certainly interesting. Just by the way he talks, you get an understanding of the great commitment he has towards his students I visited him a few times in office hours, and he strives to get to know the name of every student that visits (he has a sign in sheet, and if he recognizes you in lecture, he'll nod and say hi to you as he walks in). In office hour, he is really friendly and expands on the material presented in lecture. TA: My TA was Thabisile Griffin, who was certainly very cool. She explained in detail every aspect of the class and before each major assignment The class assignments were: A final exam, a midterm exam, 2 papers, and a reading response due for each section. - Reading Response: They were 200-300 word reading responses on the readings assigned for the week. Around week 7 my TA decided that we didn't have to turn more in. -Papers: The paper's are straightforward, there are no difficult prompts or difficult material to work with. There are 3 prompts (I think 4 on the 2nd) for each paper and you only have to answer one of them. Three page papers. His lectures after the prompts were given out discussed each one of the prompts, so you would have basically a full lecture dedicated to prompt 1 material, another one for prompt 2, etc -Midterm: The midterm for the class consisted of a matching section ( you get terms and definitions and you have to match them) which was extremely easy. There is also an essay component, which is very, very simple. It is composed of 3 or 4 prompts, and it is basically a response, no essay structure is required. My TA said no thesis was necessary.There was also a bonus question, something a bit trivial but that he mentioned in class. I ended up getting 100/100 (could've gotten 101/100 but missed the bonus) As a bonus, Terraciano gives out a study guide, which comes with the prompts of the exam, and the matching terms. He gave out like 40 terms but only 25 show up, and the prompts remain the same (I think, unless he deletes 1 of them). There is absolutely no way to be caught off guard for this, as he gives you the necessary material to get an A in that exam Final Exam: This exam is composed of 3 sections. Part 1 is a full, well-structured essay that was 50% of the final exam grade. Part 2 of the exam is divided into 2 responses. You only have to answer ONE of them, you get to pick which one. Part 2A: A response (like the response from the midterm) based on an image. The image will be pulled from any of the sources or lectures and will come with some historical background to it. Then you will be asked to answer a question about it. Part 2B: A passage will be taken from any of the books assigned for class. You have to read this passage and answer a prompt relevant to it. Part 3: This part is a matching section. You are given a list of authors (like Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Columbus, Cortes), and you have to match those authors to some quotes. This section is much more difficult, since it can appear that some writings can be attributed to more than one writer. Some are obvious but others will be a hard pick. Best thing to do is to get an idea of what every author (taken from the Red Reader) talks about (Guaman Poma de Ayala=corregidores, Sor Juana= Education or women). Terraciano gives out a study guide for this final. His study guide came with the prompt for Part 1, and it showed up on the final exam just like it was on the study guide. For Part 2, it only comes with examples of what can show up for those responses, it does not include the actual picture or response that will be on the exam. For Part 3, he gives a list of the authors that will show up on the test. This is good, since it helps narrow down the list of people you have to study. On the exam though, he gave around 28 quotes, for 12 (I think) authors. So some authors are repeated more than once, but all of them show up at least once. All of these assignments are fairly straightforward and Terraciano gives you all of the necessary things to do well in class.
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