Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The course aims to provide basic knowledges of the history of Latin America in the twentieth century by addressing the key problems of Latin American history of the twentieth century  through the study of  cases -country in order to clarify the internal dynamics (socio-political and economic) and the specificities of a region who/that is so heterogeneous in the Western context.

The course aims to provide students with a knowledge of Latin American history of the past century based on a methodology that addresses the major historical processes in an analytical way, and not on a chronological list of events, to develop critical tools of analysis useful for understanding/to understand the complex current reality of a region that is now crossed by deep changes. Students must demonstrate that they have acquired knowledge of the issues and a critical and analytical capacity of the main problems of the Latin American region.

Attending students  will be able to choose between oral or written exams/methods of verifying. Other students other students will take the oral examination.

Written examination, which will take place at the end of the course,consists of a test with three open questions (three subjects) on three of the main topics covered in class in order to verify  content acquisition, understanding of key historical processes and the analytical and critical skills acquired. (Each  question will be awarded 10 points )

The oral verification/ examination  (for attending and not attending students), consists of a query with open questions to verify the content acquisition, understanding of key historical processes and the analytical and critical skills acquired.

1 - Introduction: a look at the XIX century

2 - Entry into the XX century: oligarchic rule and integration into the world market.

3 - The Mexican Revolution, the avant-garde and the crisis of the liberal state.

4 - The industrialization, the growth of large/big metropolis/cities and the emergence of new social actors.

5 - The rise of populism. The father of the poors: Getúlio Vargas and the  “Estado Novo” inBrazil. Lázaro Cárdenas and the institutionalization of the Mexican revolutionary regime. Juan Domingo Perón and the “descamisados”​​.

6 - The popular urban culture in the process of nation building. The Mexican popular heroes from cinema to arena.

7 - The impact of the Cuban Revolution in Latin America between guerrillas and theAlliancefor Progress.

8 - The military regimes. The coup inBraziland the cycles of liberalization and repression. The terrorist regimes and violence inChileandArgentina. The reformist regime of Velasco Alvarado inPeru.

9 - Democratic transitions: between neo-liberalism and neo-populism. The redeemers of politics inArgentina,Mexico,Peru. The Bolivarian revolution of Hugo Chávez.

10 - The new forms of political participation: urban and indigenous  movements. The birth of the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic state inEcuador. Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatista movement inMexico. The Argentine crisis and the protests of 2001. The Landless Workers Movement(MST) inBrazil.

11 - From political violence to drug trafficking.Mexico: towards a narco-state? Failed states, and "popular opinion": the lynching.

12 - The new left: Lula’s reformism of Lula  and etnopopulismo of Evo Morales.

13 - Towards the New Millennium: towards the decade ofLatin America? Growth, regional integration and the challenges of democracy.

The course includes  the intervention of experts with conferences on specific issues and the use of audio-visual materials.

For attending students: preparation of a reader that will be provided at the beginning of the course and the lecture notes. (Alternatively , attending students may choose the program indicated for not attending.)

For not attending students:

1 - Loris Zanatta, Storia dell'America Latina contemporanea,Laterza, Bari, 2010

2 – An in-depth study/deepening  chosen by students:

a) Mexico: in-depth study of  the period of  democratic transition (1970-2000) with particular reference to the crisis of the party-state, to the urban movements and to the emergence of the New Left and to the processes of the new millennium. Tiziana Bertaccini (ed) Il tramonto del Regime Rivoluzionario. Messico: 1970-2010, Otto editore, Torino, 2012. (Electronic edition) Chapters: Introduction,  1- 3, 9: http://www.bookrepublic.it/books/publishers/Otto/

b) for those who want to deepen  the theme of the Mexican Revolution, the recent book by Massimo De Giuseppe, La Rivoluzione Messicana, Il Mulino,Bologna, 2013.

b) Argentina: a reading of Peronism through an innovative vision provided by the political biography of Eva Perón which highlights the two-headed nature of the regime and the resultant internal contradictions. Loris Zanatta, Eva Perón A Political Biography, Rubettino, Soveria Manelli, 2009. Chapters: 1 -  7.

c) Peru: the theme/topic of indigenism in the construction of national identity. From the indigenism of  the twenties to the current phenomenon of desplazados  that has brought the attention to the indigenous question. Luigi Guarnieri Calo Carducci, La questione indigena in Perù, Bulzoni Editore, Roma , 2010. Chapters: 1 - 5.

d)Brazil: An in-depth study of  the topic of social movements, an analysis of the "Movement of the Landless," one of the most important movements inLatin America, to address the problem of the lack of an agrarian reform. Mario G.Lozano, Il Movimento Sem Terra del Brasile, Diabasis, Reggio Emilia , 2007.

e) For those who want to explore the recent  dynamics that led Latin Americato take a leading role in the international geopolitics: Marco Di Ruzza, L'America Latina sulla scena globale, Rubettino, Soveria Manelli , 2011. Chapters: 1 - 6.