TEACHING COLUMN
Teaching Gender in Latin American History
Avi Chomsky
Salem State College
Last year I developed a new course on Gender in Latin American History. Such things were not even taught in the 1980s when I was a graduate student at the University of California at Berkeley, but when I began teaching at Bates College in 1990, I immediately became involved in the new Women's studies program there, participating in two year-long Faculty Development seminars in Women's Studies, and volunteering to co-teach "Women's Studies 100," an interdisciplinary, team-taught introductory class for Women's Studies majors. When I designed my own course, though, I decided to make "gender" rather than "women" the organizing principle, because so much interesting work has come out on this topic recently (I was pleased to note that almost everything I used in the class had been published after I finished graduate school), and because it seemed to me that the issue of the social construction of gender is both a key element in women's history, and one that is very difficult for students to grasp.
In studying gender in Latin American history, I wanted students to learn to think critically about gender in their own lives and society too. One of the greatest pitfalls of the course was students' tendency to naturalize--and idealize--their own ideas about gender. Early in the class we discussed cultural and moral relativism, and how one could negotiate between understanding other societies in their own terms, and recognizing that what might at first glance seem to be hegemonic characteristics of a time and place are in fact often challenged from within that time and place. I also sought to draw parallels between the issues we were studying in Latin America's past and issues in U.S. history and the U.S. present, to counter students' tendency to counterpose a retrograde, sexist, and violent Latin America to an egalitarian U.S.
For example, before we read Evelyn Stevens' essay on marianismo, I asked them to consider common stereotypes in the U.S. about differences between women and men, and whether they thought there might be any inherent psychological differences between women and men. (I also handed out selections from Sara Ruddick's "Maternal Thinking" to read with Stevens.) Their answers showed them that there were elements of marianismo in their own thinking on gender, and also that there were strong disagreements within the class about the nature of "male" and "female." I suspect that had I begun by having them read Stevens without first questioning their own beliefs, they would have concluded that what she described was a universal Latin American set of beliefs that was in total opposition to U.S. beliefs.
When we read Martínez-Alier's book on nineteenth-century Cuba, their first reaction was to say that in the U.S. today there are no restrictions on interracial or cross-class marriage. I countered this by giving them Jacquelyn Dowd Hall's "'The Mind That Burns in Each Body': Women, Rape, and Racial Violence," and asking them to try to track down statistics on interracial marriage in the U.S. today. This class quickly turned into one of those marvelous classes that teaches itself. There were 20 students, and almost as many men as women (which does not tend to happen in courses that focus on women's history). They ranged from first-year students to seniors, and three were Latin American or Latino. (Since there are very few Latino students at Bates, this seemed like a good number for the class.) Several were openly gay or lesbian. Thus, the class itself brought a wide diversity of opinion and experience to the discussions (although as is inevitable at a small liberal arts college, there was little diversity in class background). The concepts introduced--and questioned--in the first section of the course on "The Construction of Machismo/ Marianismo" really worked to give the students a common language and set of ideas and questions to work with. The readings and discussions in this section emphasized that gender and ideas about gender are imbedded in, and can't be understood in the absence of, systems of race, class, and power. The second section, on "Class, Development and Gender," tried to show that modernization or development was not, in itself, an uncomplicated solution to gender inequalities, and that the relationships between socioeconomic change and cultural change are complex and multi-faceted. The third section looked at self-conscious attempts to change gender relations, from the "first wave of feminism" through the Chiapas uprising, and looked also at the complexities of gender in the Cuban and Nicaraguan revolutions. We ended the class with "Gender and the Violence of Everyday Life" with readings on Latin America today.
One thing which did not work in this class was my attempt to have students write short "personal reaction" papers for each class meeting. I enjoyed reading these papers, but the students hated writing them. They admitted that the papers really improved the quality of the discussions, but after reading the students' mid-semester evaluations, I decided to abandon them. The students, in return, promised to continue reading as carefully as before and coming to class prepared to discuss the readings, and for the most part they did. Perhaps the reward of seeing how well discussions could go when students were really prepared encouraged them to continue preparing.
History 282: Gender in Latin American History
Professor Avi Chomsky
Winter 1997
This course examines the social construction of gender in Latin American history. We study concepts that have structured Latin American beliefs about gender, including honor and shame, and machismo and marianismo, and examine issues of gender relations and sexuality. We ask how beliefs about gender and gender roles relate to social structures including race, class and political structures, how beliefs about gender and gender roles have changed over time, and how beliefs about gender and gender roles differ (or are the same) in the United States and Latin America.
Assignments:
1. Short papers. For EACH class period you are expected to bring a 1-page reaction/analysis
of issues raised in the readings. This can be informal and personal, but should clearly respond to or question something from the day's reading. (25%)
2. Long papers. Due Jan 23, Feb 11, March 11, March 18, and April 3. See attached sheet for specific assignments. (50%)
3. Attendance and participation. This includes leading assigned discussion sections. (25%)
Books available for purchase
:Christine E. Bose and Edna Acosta-Belén, eds., Women in the Latin American Development Process (Temple University Press, 1995) [ISBN 1-56639-293-4]
Ian Lumsden, Machos, Maricones and Gays: Cuba and Homosexuality (Temple University Press, 1996) [ISBN 1-56639-371-X]
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Death Without Weeping: The Violence of Everyday Life
in Brazil
(University of California Press, 1992) [0-520-07537-4]Also ONE of the following testimonies:
Rigoberta Menchu, I, Rigoberta Menchu (Elisabeth Burgos-Debray, ed.) (Verso,
1984) [ISBN 0-86091-788-6]
Medea Benjamin, ed., "Don't Be Afraid, Gringo": A Honduran Woman Speaks from
the Heart
(Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1987)Domitila Barrios de Chungara with Moema Viezzer, "Let Me Speak!": Testimony
of Domitila, a Woman of the Bolivian Mines
(Monthly Review, 1978)Lynn Stephen, "Hear My Testimony": Maria Teresa Tula, Human Rights Activist
of El Salvador
(South End Press, 1994)Chapters to be read on reserve:
Pescatello, Ann, ed., Female and Male in Latin America: Essays (University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973) [ISBN 0-8229-5306-4]
Julian Pitt-Rivers, The People of the Sierra (2nd. Ed., University of Chicago Press, 1971)
[ISBN 0-226-67010-4]
Richard C. Trexler, Sex and Conquest: Gendered Violence, Political Order, and the European Conquest of the Americas (Cornell University Press, 1995) [ISBN 8014-3224-3]
Irene Silverblatt, Moon, Sun, and Witches: Gender Ideologies and Class in Inca and Colonial Peru (Princeton University Press, 1987) [ISBN 0-691-02258-5]
Steve Stern, The Secret History of Gender: Women, Men, and Power in Late Colonial Mexico (University of North Carolina Press, 1995) [ISBN 0-8078-2217-5]
Verena Martínez-Alier, Marriage, Class and Color in Nineteenth Century Cuba
(University of Michigan Press, 1989) [ISBN 0-472-06405-3]
Roger Lancaster, Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua (University of California Press, 1992) [ISBN 0-520-07924-8]
Donna Guy, Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation
in Argentina
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990) [ISBN 0-8032-2139-8]Taylor, J. M., Eva Perón: The Myths of a Woman (University of Chicago Press, 1979)
[ISBN 0-226-79143-2] (chapters available)
Ximena Bunster and Elsa M. Chaney, Sellers and Servants: Working Women in Lima, Peru (Granby, Mass.: Bergin and Garvey, 1989 [ISBN 0-89789-171-6]
Francesca Miller, Latin American Women and the Search for Social Justice
(University Press of New England, 1991) [ISBN 0-87451-558-0]
Elaine Katzenberger, ed., First World, Ha, Ha, Ha!: The Zapatista Challenge
(City Lights Books, 1995) [ISBN 0-87286-294-1]
Paul Farmer, The Uses of Haiti (Monroe, Me.: Common Courage Press, 1994)
[1-56751-034-5]
Amelia Simpson, Xuxa: The Mega-Marketing of Gender, Race and Modernity
(Temple University Press, 1993) [1-56639-107-5]
Jan 7 Introduction: What is gender?
The Construction of Machismo/Marianismo
Jan 9 Honor, shame and power: Evelyn Stevens, "Marianismo: The Other Face of
Machismo in Latin America" in Pescatello, ed. (89-101); Trexler,
"Backgrounds" (p. 12-37); Pitt-Rivers, Chap. 8 (p. 112-121)
Song: Silvo Rodríguez, "La familia, la propiedad privada y el amor"
Jan 14 Race, class and gender: Martínez-Alier, Chap. 7, (p. 103-119)
Jan 16 Machismo and sexuality: Lancaster, 235-52; 265-78
Jan 21 Machismo and relations between men: Stern, "Battles of Patriarchs:
The World of Male Peasant Violence" (151-188)
Jan 23 Conquest, domination and gender: Silverblatt, Chap. VI (109-124)
Film: "Camila" or "Como agua para chocolate"
Paper: Analyze the film using concepts from the readings. 3-5 pages.
Class, Development and Gender
Jan 28 Defining development: Bose and Acosta-Belén, chap. 1
Jan 30 Policing women: Guy, chap. 3, "Venereal Disease, Public Health, and
Criminality" (p. 77-104)
Feb 4 The Evita phenomenon: Taylor, chaps. 4, 5, 8 (p. 72-111; 145-148)
Feb 6 Servants: Bunster and Chaney, chap. 1, "Agripina" (p. 11-80)
Feb 11 Women and the New International Division of Labor: Bose and
Acosta-Belén, chap. 4, 5. Film: Retrato de Teresa.
Second paper due. Using class readings, discuss
how gender is used as an analytical tool. 5-7 pages.
Social Movements, Revolutions and Gender
Feb 13 The first wave of feminism: Miller, Chap. 4, "Feminism and Social
Motherhood" (p. 68-109)
Feb 25 Women and "New" Social Movements: Helen Safa, "Women's Social
Movements in Latin America," in Bose and Acosta-Belén, eds. (p. 227-241)
Feb 27 The Cuban Revolution, Part I: Lumsden, chaps. 3-5 (p. 55-114)
Mar 4 The Cuban Revolution, Part II: Lumsden, chaps. 6-9 (p. 115-203)
Mar 6 The Nicaraguan Revolution: Lancaster, 252-65; Norma Stoltz
Chinchilla, "Revolutionary Popular Feminism in Nicaragua," in Bose and
Acosta Belén, eds. (242-272)
Mar 11 Postmodern revolution? Chiapas, 1994: Elena Poniatowska, "Women,
Mexico, and Chiapas," anon., "Revolutionary Women's Law," Yolanda Castro,
"Interview: Regional Union of Craftswomen of Chiapas," all in Katzenberger, ed., 97-118.
Third paper due. Using class readings, discuss some aspect of gender and social change. 5-7 pages.
Film: "Fresa y Chocolate" or "Hasta cierto punto"
Testimony
Mar 13 Film: "María's Story" (no short paper due)
Mar 18 Testimony as a source (no short paper due)
Rigoberta Menchu, I, Rigoberta Menchu Medea Benjamin, ed., "Don't Be Afraid, Gringo": A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart (Institute for Food and Development Policy, 1987)
Domitila Barrios de Chungara with Moema Viezzer, "Let Me Speak!": Testimony
of Domitila, a woman of the Bolivian Mines
(Monthly Review, 1978)Lynn Stephen, "Hear My Testimony": Maria Teresa Tula, Human Rights Activist
of El Salvador
(South End Press, 1994)Paper: Use your testimony as a source on gender in Latin America. 3-4 pages.
Gender and the violence of everyday life
Mar 20 Poverty, Part I: Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Death Without Weeping, Intro, chaps. 4-6
Mar 25 Poverty, Part II: Scheper-Hugues, chap. 7-9 (p. 268-445)
Mar 27 Explaining AIDS in Haiti: Farmer, Acéphie (p. 321-344)
Apr 1 Popular Culture: the Xuxa phenomenon: Simpson, Intro, chap. 1 (p. 1-48)
Choose a Latin American novel (any time period) and analyze from the perspective of gender.
Apr 3 Summary/discussion.
Final paper due. 6-8 pages.
