Professor
Fernando Perez-Montesinos
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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.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2019 - AMAZING class. The class was split into a 3 hour lecture, which usually consisted of a short lecture from the professor and then a film screening, and a 1 hour discussion. Most of the films were really interesting and related well with the readings. There were 2 essays: a short film review (5-6 pages, can be considered the "midterm") and a long film review (8-10 pages, the "final"). There was a lot of reading sometimes, but you don't really need to do all of it unless you plan on doing one of your film reviews about that week's film. Discussion was mandatory and worth 30% of our grade, but it was easy, and it was very engaging. The rest of your grade was those two essays (worth 60% total) and easy in-class quizzes (worth 10%). The topics covered in this class were eye-opening and grading was very easy, overall I'd 100% recommend this class if you're looking for a worthwhile GE that's also an easy A.
Spring 2019 - AMAZING class. The class was split into a 3 hour lecture, which usually consisted of a short lecture from the professor and then a film screening, and a 1 hour discussion. Most of the films were really interesting and related well with the readings. There were 2 essays: a short film review (5-6 pages, can be considered the "midterm") and a long film review (8-10 pages, the "final"). There was a lot of reading sometimes, but you don't really need to do all of it unless you plan on doing one of your film reviews about that week's film. Discussion was mandatory and worth 30% of our grade, but it was easy, and it was very engaging. The rest of your grade was those two essays (worth 60% total) and easy in-class quizzes (worth 10%). The topics covered in this class were eye-opening and grading was very easy, overall I'd 100% recommend this class if you're looking for a worthwhile GE that's also an easy A.
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