HIST 8B
Modern Latin America
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introductory survey of social, political, and economic history of Latin America after independence, region that includes Mexico, Central and South America, and Caribbean. Formation of independent nation states and political regimes and quest for sovereignty and its challenges in shadow of U.S., approached from bottom up through lens of social history, everyday life, and popular culture. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - Overall, Derby's lectures could have been a little more clear. It was a little confusing sometimes, but overall manageable. I thought this class did a great job with the discussion sections and having the students facilitate. The only grades were a map quiz, participation, slack posts, and 2 essays. The TA (Becca) was wonderful and was reachable whenever I needed help. The course material is also very interesting. I definitely would recommend this class.
Winter 2021 - Overall, Derby's lectures could have been a little more clear. It was a little confusing sometimes, but overall manageable. I thought this class did a great job with the discussion sections and having the students facilitate. The only grades were a map quiz, participation, slack posts, and 2 essays. The TA (Becca) was wonderful and was reachable whenever I needed help. The course material is also very interesting. I definitely would recommend this class.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2020 - Very fun class! The course covers history of Latin America from European colonization to the present. The main book used was "Born in Blood and Fire" by John Charles Chasteen. The book has two components, a main text (that you may or may not be able to find for free online...) and a supplemental reader that I purchased (~12$). Discussions were mandatory, once per week in a group of maybe 15. Most of the discussions involved the week's assigned readings so be sure to read them to avoid contributing to awkward silence. There is no weekly homework. We were required to visit a cultural exhibit at either LACMA or the Skirball center (if El Sueño Americano is still at the Skirball center I highly recommend it). We also had several opportunities to get extra credit by watching movies. There were two or three 10-question online quizzes directly from the text (they were not difficult at all). The midterm project was to write a historical fiction narrative set in Latin America and the final was several take-home essay questions. Profesor Perez-Montesinos extended the final submission time by two days due to COVID. The TAs are very helpful and available for any assistance on writing. Profe seems very passionate about the subject, but you have to listen in class if you want to get anything out of it because his slides are mostly broad bullet points. He likes to focus on studying voices that are often previously ignored in the study of Latin American history. The readings were all pretty interesting. Only about 2/3 of students attended lecture and those that didn't seemed to do fine. Overall, the class was not very hard and very much worth taking for GE credit.
Winter 2020 - Very fun class! The course covers history of Latin America from European colonization to the present. The main book used was "Born in Blood and Fire" by John Charles Chasteen. The book has two components, a main text (that you may or may not be able to find for free online...) and a supplemental reader that I purchased (~12$). Discussions were mandatory, once per week in a group of maybe 15. Most of the discussions involved the week's assigned readings so be sure to read them to avoid contributing to awkward silence. There is no weekly homework. We were required to visit a cultural exhibit at either LACMA or the Skirball center (if El Sueño Americano is still at the Skirball center I highly recommend it). We also had several opportunities to get extra credit by watching movies. There were two or three 10-question online quizzes directly from the text (they were not difficult at all). The midterm project was to write a historical fiction narrative set in Latin America and the final was several take-home essay questions. Profesor Perez-Montesinos extended the final submission time by two days due to COVID. The TAs are very helpful and available for any assistance on writing. Profe seems very passionate about the subject, but you have to listen in class if you want to get anything out of it because his slides are mostly broad bullet points. He likes to focus on studying voices that are often previously ignored in the study of Latin American history. The readings were all pretty interesting. Only about 2/3 of students attended lecture and those that didn't seemed to do fine. Overall, the class was not very hard and very much worth taking for GE credit.
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