More Resources on Latin America in German

A little too late, but a good source of information and analysis in German about Latin America.

Die APuZ "Zeitenwende in Lateinamerika?" erscheint heute mit folgenden Beiträgen:

Hans-Jürgen Burchardt, Zeitenwende? Lateinamerikas neue Krisen und Chancen
Im zurückliegenden Jahrzehnt hatte Lateinamerika eine Jahrhundertchance, die Region auf eine nachhaltige Entwicklung auszurichten. Diese Option ist inzwischen in weite Ferne gerückt. Welche Perspektiven ergeben sich für die kommenden Jahre?
www.bpb.de/apuz/234217

Toni Keppeler, Nur Populismus? Politische Kultur in Lateinamerika und das Erbe der linken Ikonen
Das Jahrzehnt linker Regierungen in Lateinamerika war nicht revolutionär, es war ein Jahrzehnt dringend notwendiger Sozialpolitik. Auch wenn der Glanz der linken Protagonisten inzwischen verblasst ist, so will doch kaum jemand zurück in die Zeit davor.
www.bpb.de/apuz/234219

Alejandro Grimson, Rückkehr des Neoliberalismus in Argentinien: Ursachen und Perspektiven
Argentinien erlebt derzeit einen einschneidenden Wandel: Präsident Macri revidiert nach und nach die Sozialpolitik seiner peronistischen Vorgänger. Doch anders als man annehmen könnte, haben die Argentinier 2015 keineswegs für einen neoliberalen Umbau gestimmt.
www.bpb.de/apuz/234221

Ulrich Brand, Neo-Extraktivismus. Aufstieg und Krise eines Entwicklungsmodells
Die Entwicklung Lateinamerikas basiert seit Jahrhunderten auf dem Export von Rohstoffen. Der Neo-Extraktivismus der vergangenen Jahre hat zwar geholfen, Armut zu bekämpfen, doch strukturell hat sich nichts verändert. Es ist an der Zeit für Alternativen - weltweit.
www.bpb.de/apuz/234223

Kristina Dietz, Erschöpft. Konflikte um Natur, Rohstoffausbeutung und Großprojekte in Lateinamerika
Seit Beginn des 21. Jahrhunderts haben soziale Konflikte in Lateinamerika stark zugenommen. Gestritten wird nicht nur um die Realisierung von Projekten, sondern auch um demokratische Mitsprache, territoriale Selbstbestimmung und die Anerkennung von Rechten.
www.bpb.de/apuz/234225

Claudia Zilla, Im Westen nichts Neues? Lateinamerikas internationale Beziehungen nach dem Ende des Rohstoffbooms
Der Wandel der nationalen Machtverhältnisse der vergangenen Jahre auch hat die Außenbeziehungen der lateinamerikanischen Staaten in eine Anpassungsphase versetzt. Damit zeichnet sich eine Veränderung der regionalen Kräfteverhältnisse ab.
www.bpb.de/apuz/234227

Michael Zeuske, Kuba: Neue Perspektiven?
Mit der schrittweisen Öffnung des Landes hat ein regelrechter Kuba-Hype eingesetzt. Von außen betrachtet hat vielleicht ein neues Zeitalter begonnen, die internen Perspektiven, also die Sichtweisen der Kubanerinnen und Kubaner selbst, sind jedoch völlig andere.
www.bpb.de/apuz/234229

Das komplette Heft können Sie unter www.bpb.de/shop/apuz kostenfrei bestellen und als PDF oder ePub für E-Reader herunterladen.

List of Countries

Dear all, this is the new list of countries taken:

Argentina
Cuba
Mexico
Chile
Brasil
Venezuela
Colombia
Bolivia
Ecuador
Panama

We have 10 countries taken and eleven people in class. Please be sure to remember, every one has to make a presentation. Thank you.

2016 Latin American and Caribbean Macroeconomic Report

IDB 2016 Latin American and Caribbean Macroeconomic Report

Time to Act: Latin America and the Caribbean Facing Strong Challenges

The commodities boom that once buoyed the region’s economies is over, and countries have less fiscal space to undertake counter-cyclical policies than they did during the global financial crisis. This year’s Latin American and Caribbean Macro Report surveys the challenges facing the region in a new economic era and offers guidance on how policymakers can reduce long-term risks in a period of lower growth.

Update: Presentations, Countries and Topics

Ok, the seminar is taking shape. Now we have the following countries being covered.

Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, Chile and Brasil.

I am assuming the topics are also defined.

MB

Update, we have just added Venezuela and Colombia to the list of countries already taken.

Thank you all!

Available Countries

Dear Students,

so far one student has picked Cuba. That means, we have plenty of choice. Let us all try to pick different countries, so we have a good variety of the region.

Would everyone please leave a comment saying which country and topic he or she is picking?

Thank you.

Update:

So far we have Argentina (environment) and Cuba (Raul's policies).

Any others?

Resources for Further Study

Resources for Further Study

For Basic Information:

Sheppard Software has a briefing page consisting of map games that are easy to play and will bring you up to speed quickly:

www.sheppardsoftware.com/South_America_Geography.htm

Help Teaching provides a good self-quiz at

www.helpteaching.com/questions/South_American_Geography.

Several sources are available for basic demographic and geographic facts about Latin America.

The Socio-Economic Database, http://sedlac.econo.unlp.edu.ar/eng/institutional.php, provides information gathered about the region by the World Bank and Universidad de La Plata.

Reading:

You can do no better than the NACLA Report on the Americas, which comes out four times per year and, though it draws heavily on academic specialists, is written for a general audience.

Latin American Research Review is the most prestigious area-study journal. Among many other good journals, Latin American Perspectives differs in dedicating itself more to Latin American views, particularly radical ones.

Video and Film:

A list of hundreds of Latin American films with English translation can be found at Steve Volk’s resource page: www.oberlin.edu/faculty/svolk/latinam.htm.

A recent look, sympathetic to more radical left ist leaders, is South of the Border, Oliver Stone’s 2009–2010 documentary.

Icarus Films is a repository of hundreds of documentaries; for Latin America, you can find them listed at www.icarusfilms.com/subjects/latin_am.html.

Another source of good documentary material is http://www.journeyman.tv, which seems to add five or six high-quality videos of varying length every week and which can be streamed for free (and sometimes downloaded for free).

On the Internet:

The Latin American Network Information Center (http://lanic.utexas.edu) is the best general portal, with links categorized by theme and by country.

More diverse is the portal Zona Latina (www.zonalatina.com/), which contains innumerable resources, systematically listed by type and then broken into country or region. The site treats a wide range of types and subject matters, with many English-language articles; the site is very eclectic ideologically and especially good on cultural topics.

The Library of Congress offers the Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS) online, provides the titles and annotations of all sorts of articles and books concerning the region. Using the website’s search engine, a student can find citations of documents for further study on any specific topic found in this textbook. The main page is located at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/hlas/hlashome.html.

Following News:

The Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), a Washington-based think tank, provides a valuable compilation three to five days per week of English-language news. You can sign up to receive the digest (links to articles divided by region) via e-mail at the organization’s website, www.cepr.net.

Examples for Presentation

Another example can be to look into the effects the armed conflict within Colombia has had in the economic development of the country.

Formulated in question form, it could read:

• how has the war on drugs affected the economic performance of Colombia?
• to what extent has the internal armed conflict affected Colombia's economic performance?
• how has internal displacement affected the economic performance of Colombia?

Looking at other countries:

• Has Chile's exemplary economic development led to an increase in inequality?
• How much of a role have Bolivia's social movements played in returning the country to a economic growth path?
• etc.

Presentations

Guidelines for Presentations

In order to explore the impact of factors/issues/events on economic performance, students are asked to choose one factor/issue/event in a particular Latin American country and explore its relationship with economic performance. One example might be, the impact social ethnic movements have had on the economic performance of Bolivia. To achieve that, eeach student must prepare a 25 minute presentation. Discussion will follow in a block of time after each presentation.

Please come ready to present as we will set the order for presentations at the beginning of the seminar. We will also discuss the short brakes before we start.

Students can take an approach of their preference; however the presentation must address the following questions:

·         Which country are we talking about?

·         Basic facts about the country

·         Explicative historical context leading to the factor/issue/event chosen

·         How has the economy evolved in recent times?

·         What is the link between factor/issue/event and the performance of the economy?

·         Can that be quantified?

·         Who are the involved actors?

·         What about the democratic institutions? Is there any impact?

·         What is the nature of the linkage? (conflictive, productive, corruptive, etc.)

·         Conclusions

Of course, these questions are to serve as guidelines to approach the presentation. That means that they don’t need to restrict your creativity and you don’t need to answer all of them.