Mangan Syllabus Atlantic History Seminar

Gender and History in Latin America - History 1741
Professor Jane Mangan
Harvard University
Spring 2001

Course Description:
While distinct patterns of gender relations are generally used to characterize Latin American society, this course reveals an ongoing resistance to a single set of gender roles in the region. Gender and History in Latin America compares women's and men's experiences to determine how gender roles have shaped the social and political history of Latin America. From the time when native and European peoples met in the era of conquest, cultural ideas about appropriate behavior for men and women played a critical role in the negotiation of social and political life. Despite the attempts of the colonial ruling elite to prescribe gender roles, most people resisted elite notions of gender propriety and instead created their own codes of conduct. These gender contests continued through the transition to Independence when the new Latin American nations attempted to influence men's and women's public and private activities. In the twentieth century, the boundaries of acceptable gender behavior have been challenged yet again, by new contexts like political activism and migration. As the class follows Latin American men and women on this lengthy and complex path, it highlights how diversity among women and men affected their experiences with gender roles, sexism, and patriarchy.

Readings:
The syllabus contains recent work by historians, anthropologists and political scientists. These varied readings include selections of women's history as well as gender studies and work on masculinity. Select primary sources and films complement these secondary readings. All materials in the syllabus are available on reserve in Lamont and Hilles Library unless otherwise noted. Articles and book chapters are available in a Source Book, indicated by (S). The Source Book and the assigned texts listed below are available for purchase at the Coop.
Eileen J. Suarez Findlay, Imposing Decency, The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870 - 1920 (Duke, 1999).
Matthew Gutman, The Meanings of Macho, Being a Man in Mexico City (University of California, 1996).
Kathleen J. Higgins, 'Licentious Libery in a Brazilian Gold-Mining Region (PSU Press, 1999).
Daniel James and John French, eds. The Gendered World of Latin American Women Workers (Duke University, 1997).
Carolina Marla de Jesus, Child of the Dark (Peguin. 1983).
Lyman Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Rivera, eds. The Faces of Honor, Sex, Shame and Violence in Colonial Latin America (Universiy of New Mexico, 1998).
Clorinda Matto de Turner, Birds without a Nest, A Story of Indian Life and Priestly Oppression in Peru, trans.J.G.a, emended by Naomi Lindstrom (University of Texas, 1996).
Mary Elizabeth Perry, Gender and Disorder in Early Modern Seville (princeton, 1990).
Larry Siems, ed. and trans. Between the Lines, Letters Between Undocumented Mexican and Latin American Immigrants and Their Families and Friends (University of Arizona, 1996). (recommended)
Irene Silverblatt, Moon, Sun and Witches: Gender Ideologies and Class in Inca and Colonial Peru (Princeton, 1987).

Course Requirements and Grading:
- Class participation. (20%) This includes attendance at lectures and film screenings, completion of reading assignments, informed participation in weekly section meetings as well as a 3-page think-piece on gender history.
- Two papers based on primary sources. These short papers ask students to (1) study pnmary materials with the goal of searching for information on both men and women and (2) analyze that information through the lens of gender analysis.
. In Paper #1 students will choose a primary source from a selection of colonial court documents on topics including witchcraft, adultery, and crime. Paper #1 (5 - 6 pages) due Friday, March 2 by 12:00 noon. (15%)
. In Paper #2 each student will analyze a source of their own choice from any time period or region covered by the course. (Examples from last year's class include a contemporary Peruvian soup-kitchen pamphlet and Mexican folk tales.) Paper #2 (7 - 9 pages) due Thursday, May 3 by 12:00 noon. (20%)
- Mid-term exam, covering Weeks 1 - 7, to be held in class on Monday,
March 19. (20%)
- Final exam, date and location TBA. (25%)

Course Schedule:
Week 1 - Introduction
Wed., 1/31 Women and Gender in the History of Latin America
Reading:
Kathleen Brown, "Brave New Worlds: Women's and Gender History,"
Wil1iam & Mary Quaterly 1:2 (1993): 311 - 328. (S)
Joan Scott, Gender and the Politics of History, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988), Ch. 2 "Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis," pp. 28 - 50. (S)
No section.
Week 2 - Gender Hierarchies in Atlantic Perspective
Mon., 2/5 Women's Place in the Age of Exploration
Wed., 2/7 Gender and the Ideology of Conquest
NB: Think-piece on gender history due in section (3 pages).
Reading:
Mary E1izabeth Perry, Gender and Disorder in Early Modern Seville (Princeton, 1990).
Fray Luis de Leon, La perfects casada [1583] trans. and ed.Jones and San Jose Lera (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1999), pp. 69 - 83; 91 - 103. (S)
[Primary Source]
Week 3 - Conquering Men, Captive Women
Mon., 2/12 Gender Roles in the Americas
Wed., 2/14 Women's Experience as Conquered
Reading:
Susan Kellogg, "The Woman's Room: Some Aspects of Gender Relations in Tenochtitlan in the Late Pre-Hispanic Period," Ethnohistory 42:4 (Fall 1995): 563 - 577. (S)
Irene Silverblatt, Moon, Sun and Witches: Gender Ideologies and Class in Inca and Colonial Peru (Princeton, 1987).
Week 4 - The Colonial Culture of Honor
Mon., 2/19 President's Day Holiday
Wed., 2/21 Honor, Paternalism and Patriarchy
Reading: .
Lyman Johnson and Sonya Lipsett-Rivera, eds. The Faces of Honor, Sex, Shame and Violince in Colonial Latin America (University of New Mexico, 1998).
Week 5 - Gender and Social Control in Brazil
Mon., 2/26 Religion and Society
Wed., 2/28 African Women in the New World
NB: Paper; #1 due Fri., 312 at 12:00 noon
Reading:
Kathleen J. Higgins, 'Licentious Liberty' in a Brazilian Gold-Mining Region (PSU Press, 1999).
Week 6 - Nineteenth-Century Law, Education
Mon., 3/5 Independence for Women?
Wed.., 3/7 Education and Law in the 19th century'
Reading:
Clorinda Matto de Turner, Birds without a Nest, A Story of Indian life and Priestly Oppression in Peru, trans.].G.H:, emended by Naomi Lindstrom (U Texas, 1996). [Primary Source]
Sarah Chambers, From Subjects to Citizens, Honor, Gender and Politics in Arequipa, Peru, 1786 - 1854 (PSU, 1999), Chapter 6, pp. 189 - 215. (S)
Week 7 - Politics and the State in the Early 20th Century
Mon., 3/12 Honor Revisited
Wed., 3/14 Gender, Public Health and Social Control
Reading,:
Eileen J. Suarez Findlay, Imposing Decency, The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870 - 1920 (Duke, 1999).
Week 8 - Nation-Building at the Turn of the Century
Mon., 3/ 19 Mid-Term Exam Honor Revisited .
Wed.; 3121 Masculinity and National Identity
No reading. No section.
. Spring Break.
Week 9 - Women and Work, Men and Labor
Mon., 4/2 Labor's Challenge to Gender Roles
Wed., 4/4 Women's Activismvs. Men's Organizing
Reading:
Daniel James and John French, eds. The Gendered World of Latin American Women Workers, From Household and Factory to the Union Hall and Ballot Box (Duke, 1997).
Week 10- Latin American Feminism? New Roles for Women
Mon., 4/9 Suffrage to Evita
Wed., 4/11 Sexual Politics in the 20th Century
Reading: .
A Sor Juana Anthology, trans. Alan S. Trueblood (Harvard University Press, 1988), p. 206 - 231. (S) [Primary Source]
Alaide Foppa, "The First Feminist Conwess in Mexico, 1916" trans. Helen F.
de Aguilar Signs 5:1 (Autumn 1979): 192 - 199. (S) [Primary Source]
Deborah Levensen Estrada essay in James and French, ed. The Gendered World of Latin American Women Workers.
Bertha Lutz on suffrage (handout from professor).
Nancy Saporta Sternbach et al, "Feminisms in Latin America: from Bogota to
San Bernardo," Signs17:2 (1992), pp. 393 - 434. (S)
Film: "Portrait of Teresa." NB: Screening will be arranged.
Week 11 - Gender in the Mid-Twentieth Century
Mon., 4/16 Contemporary Women's Activism
Wed., 4/18 Does Poverty Have a Gender?
Reading:
Carolina Marla de Jesus, Child of the Dark (Penguin, 1983). {Primary Source]
Week 12 - Gender on the Move
Mon., 4/23 Mexican Families and Early 20th Century Migration
Wed., 4/25 Contemporary Migration and Gender
Reading:
Between the Lines, Letters between Undocumented Mexican and Latin American Immigrant and Their Families Friends, ed. and trans. Larry Siems (University of AIizona, 1996). {Primary Source]
Film: "El Norte" or "Zoot Suit." NB: Screening will be arranged.
Week 13 - New Roles for Men
Mon., 4/30 Machismo and its Myths
Wed., 5/2 The Same Old Story? Evaluating Gender Roles from Colonial to Present
NB: Paper #2 due Thurs., 5/3 at 12:00 noon.
Reading:
Matthew Gutman, The Meaning of Macho, Being a Man in Mexico City
(University of California, 1996).