Contemporary Latin America

Course description
The historical evolution of Latin America since the time of Independence to the present. The course aims to familiarize students at the Universidad del Norte with Latin American reality through knowledge of the continent?s historical evolution in the context of world history.

Justification
The course Contemporary Latin America fulfills a humanistic and social component of the plans of study of various degrees, as an introduction to the understanding of the history of Latin American countries. The course is offered with the idea the idea that the Universidad del Norte student personally confronts his/ her own reality, his/her environment, and that his/her professional performance will be positively affected by this understanding of the history of Latin America. The course aims to appropriate students to the conceptual elements that permit understanding and analysis of their historical reality and current situation.
In synthesis, the course speaks to the general guidelines of the process of core educational formation offered by the Universidad del Norte to its community.

Competence to develop
Basic Institutional Competence: Historical-cultural and enrivonmenal Understanding. Defined as the conjunct of knowledge, abilities and attitudes that the student develops to analyze the multiple historical, cultural, and environmental processes and contexts that have characterized human development, with the aim of comprehending the meanings and tendencies of the contemporary world by way of comparative study.

General course objective
This course will focus on:
Understanding the evolution of the history of the Latin American continent since the Republican era began during the crisis of Independence to the present to glimpse its manifestations in the present day.

Learning results
Upon completing the course, students should be capable of:
Understanding (to know, to understand):

• The student is able to visualize the relationship between Latin America and events in other countries in the world throughout time.
• The student is able to comprehend the geographic basses of the Latin American continent and its future possibilities.
• The student is able to critically read about different problems that have faced Latin America in the past and present.

Abilities (to know to do)

• The student is able to pose possible scenes in the process of Latin America?s insertion in the new global reality.

Attitudes (to know to be)

• The student is able to propose courses of action and alternatives for Latin American countries in the current global situation.

Methodological-Activity Options for Learning
Master Classes:

• Master classes last for two hours, in which the titular professor presents different themes throughout the length of the semester. The addressed themes cover the history of Latin America in the past two centuries. It is hoped that each session imparts a general panorama of the topic at hand that will be complemented with the reading of texts assigned during class.
• Directed readings of texts, consultations, and bibliographic summaries are undertaken; the presentation of written reports and the support of the plenary of determined themes as determined by the assistant professor.

Work Shops:

• The course has two class time modalities. First, two hours of class time per week correspond to a master class given by the titular professor and the other hour is directed by the assistant professor.
• Master classes last for two hours, in which the titular professor presents different topics throughout the semester.
• The hour under the charge of the assistant professor is conducted as a workshop. Directed readings of texts, consultations and reviews of literature, the presentation of written reports, and the sustentation of topics determined by the assistant professor.

Evaluation

• Midterm exam on introductory topics. - 35%
• Realization of an individual summary on a specific topic from the 19th or 20th century. - 35%
• Final evaluation over the most important topics addressed during the semester. - 30%