54
History and Institutions of the Americas
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
The objective of the course is to provide students with the necessary tools to grasp and interpret the complexity of the History of Latin America in contemporary times. The aim is to favour the acquisition of a background of knowledge and information functional to a conscious, competent and critical elaboration of the main passages and crucial junctions of the Latin American subcontinent between the 19th and the 20th century. A background that can also be used for a better interpretation of the current dynamics and possible future political, economic and social evolutions of the region.
ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The student will have to demonstrate that he/she has understood and critically re-elaborated the main processes and fundamental dynamics taking place in Latin America from the beginning of the 19th century to the present day.
FURTHER EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
The objective of the course is also to foster and stimulate in the students an autonomous capacity of judgement in the comprehension, interpretation and re-elaboration of the events and phenomena taking place in Latin America from the independence struggles to the present day. The aim will also be to contribute to the strengthening of the ability to study, interpret and re-elaborate the facts of history, and to perfect the ability to expound and communicate them in a complex but coherent and effective manner.
Autonomy of judgement:
The aim of the course is also to foster and stimulate in the students an autonomous capacity for judgement in the field of understanding, interpreting and reworking the events and phenomena taking place in Latin America from the independence struggles to the present day.
Communication skills:
One of the objectives of the course is to strengthen discursive and critical reasoning skills.
Learning skills:
The aim will also be to contribute to the strengthening of the ability to study, interpret and re-elaborate the facts of history, and to perfect the ability to expound and communicate them in a complex but coherent and effective manner.
Course Prerequisites
A basic knowledge of contemporary history is essential.
Teaching Methods
The course will take place in the traditional way (lectures) and the final exam will be an interview in which we will evaluate the learning of basic concepts and skills of critical reasoning and discourse on the texts listed in the bibliography.
Assessment Methods
The examination is oral and the assessment is expressed in 30ths. The language of the exam is Italian. The assessment criteria are as follows: verification of knowledge, study and analysis methodology and critical and revision skills acquired during the course.
Non-attending students are required to contact the lecturer prior to the start of the course for clarification of the examination procedure.
Texts
Basic texts
· Raffaele Nocera – Angelo Trento, America Latina, un secolo di storia. Dalla rivoluzione messicana a oggi, Roma, Carocci, 2013.
· Alessandro Guida, Valerio Giannattasio, Raffaele Nocera, L'America Latina in guerra. I militari al potere nelle dittature del Cono Sud degli anni '60-'80, Milano, Mondadori, 2026.
Recommended texts for further study
· Raffaele Nocera, Stati Uniti e America Latina dal 1823 a oggi, Roma, Carocci, 2009.
· Leslie Bethell (ed.), The Cambridge History of Latin America, voll. 11, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984-2008.
· Historia de América Latina, Paris-Madrid, Unesco-Editorial Trotta, voll. 9, 1999-2008.
· Massimo De Giuseppe, La rivoluzione messicana, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013.
· Laura Giraudo, La questione indigena in America Latina, Roma, Carocci, 2009.
· Federica Morelli, L'indipendenza dell'America spagnola. Dalla crisi della monarchia alle nuove repubbliche, Milano, Mondadori Education, 2015.
· Valerio Giannattasio, Raffaele Nocera (a cura di), Democrazie inquiete. Viaggio nelle trasformazioni dell’America Latina, Milano, Fondazione Feltrinelli, 2017.
· Angelo Trento, Castro e Cuba, Firenze, Giunti, 2005.
· Loris Zanatta, I sogni imperiali di Perón. Ascesa e crollo della politica estera peronista, Padova, Libreria Universitaria, 2016.
Contents
Topics
1 The dissolution of colonial dominion and the struggles for independence;
2 Politics and society in the nineteenth century;
3 From the export economy to the ISI model to neoliberalism;
4 Political parties (from the nineteenth-century formations to mass parties);
5 The revolutions in the twentieth century;
6 Inter-American Relations;
7 The Cold War in Latin America;
8 Democracy and Authoritarianism;
9 Catholic Church in Latin America
10 Latin America in the 21st century.
Course Language
Italian