CENTRAL AMERICA
An Honors Seminar (HON 4960-002) for Spring Semester
of 2006
Dr. Don J. Stierman,
Associate Professor, Instructor
Seminar format: class meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 1 to 2:15 PM, Room 307 SL.
Background reading: Between now and the first class meeting, please read one or more of the following books:
Jared Diamond: Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Jared Diamond: Collapse: Why Societies Choose to Fail of Succeed
Jeffrey D. Sachs: The End of Poverty
Introduction: Central America – the republics of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, along with Panama and southern Mexico – constitutes a bridge between continents and a barrier between oceans. Nowhere is so much biological and ecological diversity concentrated into so small an area. Norteamericanos remain largely ignorant of the ethnic and cultural diversity of this region, despite the number of immigrants (legal and otherwise) from Central America over the past 2 decades and the staring role Central American nations played on national television news during the final years of The Cold War. This region also gave birth to the Mayas, whose calendar was the most accurate on earth until the Gregorian calendar was developed toward the end of the sixteenth century.
Central America today faces enormous social and economic problems. Poverty, coupled with widespread lack of education and lack of job opportunities, is resulting in crime, social unrest and irreparable environmental damage. AIDS is epidemic among some groups, and communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera and hepatitis remain public health concerns. Recently, persistent droughts have reintroduced the specter of starvation to subsistence farmers in some parts of Central America, while competition in a globalized marketplace has dashed the dreams of many coffee farmers. Earthquakes devastated parts of El Salvador in 2001, Hurricane Mitch exacted an enormous economic and human toll in late October of 1998, and no one knows when the next earthquake, flood or volcanic eruption will again lay waste to cities, towns, and the dreams of those residents who survive.
Goals:
(1) Develop student appreciation for relationships between geography, geology and ecology in Central America.
(2) Develop student appreciation for relationships between geography (mountainous terrain) and the cultural and political evolution of Central America.
(3) Generate and cultivate student curiosity regarding natural, cultural and political features of Central America and its rich history.
(4) Establish links between dilemmas we encounter in exploring Central America with political and economic issues on a national and global scale.
Some controversial issues that will arise include:
(1) Age of the earth and evolution; although not controversial among scientists, these issues remain under debate at the highest levels of government in the State of Ohio.
(2) Arrival time and origin of humans in the Americas.
(3) Global change, both natural and anthropologic.
(4) Colonization and slavery in the Western Hemisphere.
(5) Political revolutions.
(6) U.S. foreign policy in Latin America, past and present.
(7) Subsistence and survival vs. preserving biological diversity in poor countries.
(8) Global oil supplies, prices, and the future of economies based on fossil fuels.
(9) Comparisons between US foreign policy in Latin America and Iraq.
Class format: 2 75-minute meetings per week (3 credit hours). At the end of each class meeting, reading assignments for the next meeting will be distributed, along with a short list of Questions for Discussion. Two or three students will be selected to lead the next discussion; these students will be expected to prepare in greater depth (additional readings). We will attempt to match topics with individual student interests or experience.
All students will write one paragraph based on assigned readings (questions will usually deal with opinions so as to generate diverse ideas) for each class meeting; these will be collected and used to stimulate discussion (if necessary).
Each student will also write a term paper based on library research. A list of ideas will be distributed during the third week and students will specify their topics in 1-paragraph proposals/contracts during the fourth week. Papers must include at least 5 pages but no more than 10 pages (double spaced) of text (graphs, bibliography, images, tables and supplementary materials do not count toward the minimum/maximum criteria). Topics are subject to approval and proposals to a particular focus specified by the instructor, but controversial selections are encouraged. For example:
Origin of the Olmec Civilization
U.S. Marines vs. Sandino
U.S. policy and the Contra conflict
U.S. Foreign Policy: comparison of Cold War Latin America and War of Terrorism Iraq
Nutritional benefits and limitations of corn (human consumption)
Ecotourism: Who benefits?
Mining: Who benefits?
Energy options for Central America
Deforestation and reforestation in Central America
Minimum habitat requirements for {select your favorite endangered species in Central America}
Malaria: is DDT the solution?
Material malnutrition and birth defects
Maquiladoras: boon or bane?
The Canal under Panamanian management
Street gangs in Central America
Climate change and tropical diseasesGroup projects: some research topic may prove too much for a single investigator. At least 1 member of each team should be able to read newspaper articles written in Spanish. For example:
AIDS in Honduras: Is the infection rate significantly greater than in other Central American nations, and if so, why?
Compare and contrast terrestrial Cenozoic fossils in North and South America: before and after the land bridge.
Students will submit 5 to 10 PowerPoint slides (title slide not included) that will be shown, with students narrating (5 minute limit per presentation, 5 minutes questions and answers) for the final weeks of class.
Group projects will be granted proportionally more time and space.
One textbook for this course is Coates (1997). Chapter headings provide the basis for this course outline:
1. The Forging of Central America (plate tectonics – the unifying theory of global geology)
2. The Ocean Divided (basic tropical oceanography, coastal ecology and meteorology)
3. Central American Landscapes (mountains, valleys, coastal planes and their ecosystems)
4. The Great American Faunal Interchange (paleontology, evolution and global change 3 million years ago)
5. The History of Forests on the Isthmus from the Ice Age to the Present (interactions between humans and our environment, global change)
6. The Native Peoples of Central America during Precolumbian and Colonial Times
7. Spanish Rule and Independence
8. Modern Latin America
9. United State Foreign Policy regarding Latin America
10. Central American Indian Peoples and Lands Today (indigenous peoples and protected areas)
11. The Paseo Pantera Agenda for Regional Conservation
Further Readings for each chapter, listed in textbooks, provide a basis for additional assigned reading and inspiration for students seeking additional information. Assigned readings will also be made from:
Reading List
Coates, Anthony G. (Ed.), 1997; Central America: A Natural and Cultural History; Yale University Press, New Haven, 277 pp. (textbook, required). Available directly from the publisher for $20 plus shipping (I do not know what our Bookstore charges for used copies or how much they mark up their wholesale costs). Search the site by author.
Skidmore, Thomas E. and Peter H. Smith, 2005; Modern Latin America (Sixth Edition); Oxford University Press, (textbook, required).
Burkholder, Mark A. and Lyman L. Johnson; Colonial Latin America, Fifth edition; Oxford University Press (textbook, required).
Smith, Peter H., 2000; Talons of the Eagle; Oxford University Press, 418 pp. (Textbook, required). Note: this book looks back at how the USA used its military, political and economic power to dominate events in Latin America. In the name of 'fighting communism', the USA subverted constitutionally elected governments and supported military dictatorships guilty of many of the same crimes as those committed by Saddam Hussein. There exist many uncomfortable parallels between the politics of the war in Iraq and US meddling in the internal affairs of Latin American nations for the past century. If you disagree with Dr. Smith's analysis, you had better collect and organize your data carefully! I first visited Honduras in 1969, lived there for three years, have traveled to Central America more than once a year on the average since 1993 and have many friends in many Latin American nations. I find that his accounts ring true.
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On-line newspapers (English):
(Honduras, weekly) - http://www.marrder.com/htw/Honduras This Week
On-line newspapers (in Spanish, for students who can read Spanish):
(Honduras, diarios):
La Prensa - http://www.laprensahn.com/
El Tiempo - http://www.tiempo.hn/
La Tribuna - http://tribuna.icomstec.com/news/index.php
(Costa Rica daily): La Nación - http://www.nacion.com/
(El Salvador daily): El Diario de Hoy - http://www.elsalvador.com/
(Guatemala daily): La Hora - http://www.lahora.com.gt
(Nicaraguan daily): La Prensa - http://www.laprensa.com.ni/
(Panama daily): La Prensa - http://www.prensa.com/
(Southern Mexico) Diario Yucatán - http://edicion.yucatan.com.mx/noticias/portada.asp
On-line radio: Radio América (Honduras) - http://www.radioamerica.hn/
Requirements: students will
(1) attend each class meeting and participate in discussions;
(2) prepare to lead a minimum of 3 discussions;
(3) submit a typed response (1 paragraph) on a question for reflection, posed by the instructor, for each class meeting;
(4) write an original term paper (10 to 12 pages, double spaced, of text)
a. on a topic selected and approved by the instructor no later than the seventh week of the semester;
b. bibliography, including catalog numbers and library of each reference cited;
c. summarized in PowerPoint slides for use during
d. final summary (oral presentation) during final week of class meetings.(5) complete a short final exam.
Evaluation: Final grade will be based on
(1) participation in class meetings, both as discussion leader and otherwise (50%);
(2) quality of responses to questions for reflection (10%)
a. proper use of documented facts to support opinions;
b. clear discrimination between facts, interpretations and opinions;
(3) quality of term paper (see previous item for criteria, plus, logic and organization) (30%);
(4) final exam (short essay questions) (10% of final grade).
I will begin the course with a short "evaluation of current knowledge" test (does not count toward grade). The final exam will include many of the same issues or items (hopefully answered correctly, for the most part, second time around) as the pre-course test.
Guest speakers: I may invite other faculty with recent experience in Latin America to participate in the class meeting most likely to fit their area of expertise.
Minimal background: Coates (1997) does not require prior knowledge of any topic offered although students who watch The Discovery Channel and National Geographic will be better prepared than those who watch MTV (sorry, you have to dig up your own link). As such, there are no prerequisites other than English Composition and computer literacy (Word, the Web, and PowerPoint). I will expect students to know how to write a term paper based on their library research, how to access a URL spelled out, how to search the Web by topic, and how to prepare simple PowerPoint slides.
The instructor lived in Honduras as a Peace Corps Volunteer from 1969 through 1972, during which time he visited all 4 other Central American republics and Panama. Since 1993 he has visited Central America ten times and has supervised 4 M.S. thesis projects involving research in Honduras and Costa Rica. He wrote the original course proposal during Autumn semester of 2002 while in Honduras as a Fulbright Fellow.