1HIST 407/507 Spring 2010 Seminar: Archives, Power, and the Writing of History in Latin America Instructor: Carlos Aguirre Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 10-12 am. Phone and e-mail: 6-5905, [email protected] Instructor’s web page: http://www.uoregon.edu/~caguirre/home.htm Course Description This seminar explores the relationship between the writing of Latin American history, the construction of competing memories and narratives about the past, and the formation, organization, destruction, and accessibility of different types of historical sources and archives. This relationship, as many scholars have posited, is critically shaped by political, social, cultural, racial, and institutional power structures and hierarchies. By looking at the process of production of historical sources, the politics of preservation and accessibility of archives and repositories, and the implicit and explicit assumptions at work in our pursue of “truth” and interpretation, we will arrive at a more fully understanding of the production of narratives about the Latin American past and their relationship with contemporary political and cultural struggles. Requirements Attendance and participation (20%). Attendance is mandatory. More than one unjustified absence will automatically be penalized with one letter grade. Participation is evaluated on the basis of the student’s engagement with the discussions in class. Oral presentation (10%). During each of our meetings, one or more students will serve as discussants, summarizing the readings and highlighting key issues for discussion. Weekly reports (20%). Students will write 2-3 page reports, due at the beginning of each class, about the assigned readings. These reports should include: a) a short summary of the reading(s), highlighting the main arguments presented by the author(s) under review; b) a critical assessment of their contribution to the topic under discussion; and c) at least three stimulating questions for discussion in class. Final research paper (15-20 pages) (50%). Using available printed and online sources, students will write a paper on the history of state violence and human rights violations in Latin America during the Cold War. A list of possible sources, suggestions for specific topics, and more information about the paper will be offered in class.2Course Readings The following books will be available for purchase at the UO Bookstore, and will be placed on reserve at Knight Library. Stuart B. Schwartz, All Can Be Saved: Religious Tolerance and Salvation in the Iberian Atlantic World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008). Michel Rolph-Trouillot, Silencing the Past. Power and the Production of History (Boston: Beacon Press, 1997). Richard Price, The Convict and the Colonel (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007). Peter Kornbluh, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (New York: The New Press, 2003). Other materials -articles and book chapters- will be available electronically through Blackboard. Schedule of Sessions and Readings Week 1: Archives, Memory, History Readings: Joan M. Schwartz and Terry Cook, “Archives, Records, and Power: The Making of Modern Memory,” Archival Science 2, 2002, pp. 1–19. Eric Ketelaar, “Archival Temples, Archival Prisons: Modes of Power and Protection,” Archival Science 2, 2002, pp. 221–238. Mike Featherstone, “Archiving Cultures,” British Journal of Sociology, 51, 1, 2000, pp. 161–184. Week 2: Inquisition Records and Subaltern Voices Guest speaker: Professor Pedro Guibovich (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) Readings: Gustav Henningsen, “The Archives and the Historiography of the Spanish Inquisition,” in Gustav Henningsen, et al. eds., The Inquisition in Early Modern Europe. Studies on Sources and Methods (Dekalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1986), pp. 54-78. Stuart B. Schwartz, All Can Be Saved: Religious Tolerance and Salvation in the Iberian Atlantic World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008).3Week 3: The Erasure and Recovery of History: Haiti and Slavery Readings: Michel Rolph-Trouillot, Silencing the Past. Power and the Production of History (Boston: Beacon Press, 1997). Rebecca Scott, “The Provincial Archive as a Place of Memory: the Role of Former Slaves in the Cuban War of Independence (1895-98),” History Workshop Journal, 58, 2004, pp. 149-166. Laurent Dubois, “Maroons in the Archives: The Uses of the Past in the French Caribbean,” in Francis X. Blouin, Jr. and William G. Rosenberg, eds. Archives, Documentation, and Institutions of Social Memory (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), pp. 291-300. Week 4: Visual Archives: Photography, Classification, and the Construction of Race Readings: Deborah Poole, “Equivalent Images” and “The New Indians,” in Vision, Race, and Modernity. A Visual Economy of the Andean Image World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997), pp. 107-141, 168-197. Nancy Stephan, “Racial Degenerations” and “Racial Transformations,” in Picturing Tropical Nature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001), pp. 85-148. Deborah Poole, “An Image of ‘Our Indian’: Type Photographs and Racial Sentiments in Oaxaca, 1920–1940,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 84, 1, 2004, pp. 37-81. Week 5: History, Ethnography, and the Shaping of Historical Memories Reading: Richard Price, The Convict and the Colonel (Durham: Duke University Press, 2007). Week 6: The Archives of Terror, part I: Cold War and US intervention in Chile and Latin America Guest speaker: Peter Kornbluh (National Security Archive, Georgetown University) Readings: Peter Kornbluh, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability (New York: The New Press, 2003). Keith Slack, “Operation Condor and Human Rights: A Report from Paraguay’s Archive of Terror,” Human Rights Quarterly, 18, 2, 1996, pp. 492-506. J. Patrice McSherry, “Tracking the Origins of a State Terror Network: Operation Condor,” Latin American Perspectives, Issue 122, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2002, pp. 38-60.4 Week 7: The Archives of Terror, part II: Truth Commissions and other paths to “Historical Truth” Readings: Louis Bickford, Patricia Karam, Hassan Mneimneh and Patrick Pierce, Documenting Truth (New York: International Center for Transitional Justice, 2009). Louis Bickford, “Unofficial Truth Projects,” Human Rights Quarterly, 29, 2007, pp. 994–1035.