INTER-AMERICAN RELATIONS

The course is a "characterizing" course of the curriculum in American studies of the International Relations program (RIC), where it contributes to fulfill the teaching objectives in the historical field. It is also available to students from the programs in Storia dal medioevo all'età contemporanea and Lingue e letterature europee, americane e postcoloniali. It provides students with an advanced level of historical knowledge about the history of Latin American-US relations. By putting an emphasis on the historical method of inquiry, the course will provide students with the capacity to critically analyze historical events and to develop original and well-founded interpretations about them, beyond the specific object of the course itself. By emphasizing the preparation of a class presentation and the participation in class discussions, the course will allow students to learn how to prepare a bibliography, how to treat different kinds of sources, how to reach original conclusions and how to communicate them, with clear and precise language, on topics of Latin American-US history in particular, but with potential applications in different contexts.

Through the readings, the lectures, and the class discussions, by the end of the course students should have acquired:
a) a confident knowledge of the facts, concepts and characters of Latin American-US relations from the 19th to the 21st century, with an emphasis on the post-1945 decades;
b) a confident knowledge of the main interpretations concerning the drivers, the making and the outcomes of Latin American-US relations over the decades;
c) a good degree of ability in treating various kinds of primary and secondary sources, to critically interpret them and to elaborate their critical interpretation in both written and oral form;
d) the basic methodological tools for the elaboration of autonomous research work in the field of Latin American-US relations history, with possible applications also beyond the field;
e) a good degree of knowledge of the lexicon of Latin American-US relations, finalized at the oral and written communication of historical and political contents with clarity and precision.

For RIC students, since this is a second year class, having already taken the first-year exam of History of International Relations is not a formal prerequisite but is highly advisable. Finally, a deep interest in the subject and a serious approach to the lessons and the reading materials are not formal requirements, but usually help.

Week 1. Introduction to the course

Week 2. The Age of Revolutions, sister republics? O’Brien, Making the Americas, Chapter one

Further readings: Caitlin Fitz, Our Sister Republics. The United States in an Age of American Revolutions, Chapter one.


Week 3. The empire and its discontent, O’Brien, Making the Americas, Chapter three

Further readings: Alan McPherson, The Invaded How Latin Americans and Their
Allies Fought and Ended U.S. Occupations, Part I, Chapter three, The Dominican Republic

Week 4. Nationalism, Revolution and the Good Neighbor Years, O’Brien, Making the Americas, Chapter five

Further readings: Tore Olsson, Agrarian Crossings: Reformers and the Remaking of the US and Mexican Countryside, Chapter two

Week 5. The Cold War: the end of the convergence, O’Brien, Making the Americas, Chapter six

Further readings: Vanni Pettinà, A Compact History of Latin America, Part two.

Week 6. Fighting for and against Reforms: Jacobo’s Arbenz’s Guatemala and the US, Piero Gleijeses, Shattered Hope: The Guatemalan Revolution and the United States, 1944-1954, Chapter 7; 12; 13; 14.

Week 7. Counterhegemonic strategies: The Cuban Revolution, Vanni Pettinà, A Compact History of Latin America, Chapter three

Further readings: Lars Shoultz, That Infernal Little Republic, Chapter five


Week 8. Development against Revolution, O’Brien, Making the Americas, Chapter seven
Further Readings Amy Offner, Sorting Out the Mixed Economy: The Rise and Fall of Welfare and Developmental States in the Americas, Chapter 3


Week 9. Southern Cone dictatorships and Washington, O’Brien, Making the Americas, Chapter 8

Further readings: Tanya Harmer, Allende’s Chile and the Inter-American Cold War, Chapter 1; 3; 7.

Week 10. The Central American civil wars, O’Brien, Making the Americas, Chapter 9


Week 11. The Neoliberal years, O’Brien, Making the Americas, Chapter 10

Week 12. Students’ presentations
Week 13. Students’ presentations
Week 14. Students’ presentations

Week 15. Conclusions

Textbook, Thomas F. O'Brien, Making the Americas: The United States and Latin America From the Age of Revolutions to the Era of Globalization, UNM Press: 2007

a) participating actively and constructively in the class discussions will contribute up to 30% of the final grade.


b) students will prepare, in groups of 3-4 participants, a final paper of some 3500 words (excluding notes and bibliography) on a topic in the history of US foreign relations of the 1970s or the 1980s (to be decided collectively in class in the early weeks of the course): they will present and discuss their papers in class in the final weeks of the course (up to 30% of the final grade).

c) Final oral exam: two sets of questions at the final oral exam, concerning two different topics covered in the reference textbook(s) and assigned readings (40% of the final grade). This part of the oral exam will verify the acquisition of the notions related to the program (events, actors, processes, concepts) and the ability to communicate critical contents in the history of US foreign relations with clarity and precision.

d) For not attending students: final oral exam, three questions, concerning three different topics covered in the reference textbook.

Lectures, interactive online exchange, in-depth individual study of recommended readings. The lectures are in part frontal lectures, with possible use of slides and multimedia material, and in part interactive classes, including with the students' presentations of the own works.

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