GEOG 355

GEOG 355.01

Lands and Peoples of Central America and the Caribbean

Syllabus

Spring 2012 Dr. Scott Brady

MWF: 10-10:50 Office: 523 Butte Hall

Location: Butte 101 Phone: 898-5588

Office Hours: MWF 9-9:40 and 11-12:40.

sbrady@csuchico.edu

Geography Computer Lab: Butte 501

Writing Center http://online.csuchico.edu/public/Writing_Center/

Men are so inclined to content themselves with what is commonest; the spirit and the senses so easily grow dead to the
impressions of the beautiful and perfect, that every one should study, by all methods, to nourish in his mind the faculty of feeling
these things. ...For this reason, one ought every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it
were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.

Goethe, Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship. Bk. v, ch. 1 (Carlyle, tr.) [source: Stevenson]

Description:

Study of the physical environment, human settlement, development, and modern problems of the nations of Central America and the Caribbean. This course is designed to be a component of the Upper-Division Theme on Mexico and Central America. This is an approved General Education course. This is an approved Non-Western course. This course is the same as LAST 355, which may be substituted.

GE STUFF

Course Objectives:

To increase students understanding of the geographical context of Central America and the Caribbean.
To develop students' knowledge of the region's connections to, and interdependencies with, other people and places around the world.
To develop students' skills in synthesizing and analyzing information, including Internet-based information.
To develop students' skills in writing and discussing their ideas.
To help students read, listen, observe, and reason critically.

Required Materials:

1. Online and Reserve readings. Readings will be found online or at CSU-Chico's Library Electronic reserves page: http://www.csuchico.edu/library/llo/

o Course: GEOG 355

Password:

Academic Policies and Regulations

Final grades are based on % of 300 total points, earned from the categories below.
A=92-100%; B= 80-91%; C=68-79%; D=50-67%; and F= less than 50%.

Exam 1	50 points
Exam 2	50 points
Final Exam	100 points
Quizzes 10 X 5	50 points
Question sets ~16 X 5	80 points
Annotated Bibliography	50 points
Total	380 points

If you choose not to complete the research project, your grade will be based on the work shown below.

Exam 1	50 points
Exam 2	50 points
Final Exam	100 points
Quizzes 10 X 5	50 points
Question sets ~16 X 5	80 points
Total	330 points

Web-site: I will regularly update the course web-site. Students must visit the site to be aware of changes and additions. Students are responsible for information included in the Web Resources portion of the site. This material will covered in examinations.

Attendance: It has been my experience as a student and instructor that there is a strong correlation between attendance and performance. Students who rarely miss a class and actively participate in classroom discussions tend to perform well on tests, quizzes, and in class discussions; students who lack the discipline required for regular attendance tend to perform poorly. Hence, daily attendance is strongly encouraged. However, attendance will not affect your final grade.

Make-up Exams: No make-up exams will be given. If a student misses exam 1 or 2 with an appropriate excuse, then the make-up will be the comprehensive final exam, which will then be counted as 150 points. Only one exam can be made up in this fashion. If a student misses a second exam that exam will be recorded as a 0.

Quizzes: Approximately 10 quizzes will be given throughout the semester. They will always occur on Fridays and will be announced on the preceding Monday. There will be no make-up quizzes. Quizzes will cover material from lecture material.

Optional Research Project: Students have the option of completing a research project in this course. The research project is an annotated bibliography. It has two parts: a proposal and the final project. The instructions for the proposal are at this link. The instructions for the final project are at this link. Here's a past example of an annotated bibliography: link.

Question Sets: To ensure that students keep up with the assigned readings, students must complete question sets that guide them through assigned readings. Students must submit handwritten answers to these questions. Question sets and due dates are posted on the course website. I will not accept question sets after the due date.

Readings and Participation: A fundamental element of a liberal education is the development of the ability to read critically. Hence, your success in this course largely depends on the amount of time and effort you devote to the assigned readings. To encourage your progress in this matter, I will grade students on the notes that they take on the assigned readings. I will also assign particular students to lead discussions on the required readings. Students will be graded on their performance. In addition, test questions will not only be drawn from lecture materials. Rather, a certain number of test questions will pertain to information found in the assigned readings.

Online Resources:

Language, Vocabulary and Esoterica

Magazines and Newspapers

Maps

Population

Tentative Schedule:

Week 1: 1/23-1/27

Introduction ppt to course, region and regional geography

1/25 Orientation paper due:

Students will turn in a typed, double-spaced, 250-word essay in which they answer the following questions:

    1) Why did you enroll in this course?
    2) Why did you choose to complete this theme?
    3) What experience in Central America or the Caribbean do you have?
    4) What do you hope to learn in this course?
    5) Which regions of Central America or the Caribbean most interest you?
    6) Which issues related to Central America or the Caribbean most interest you?
    7) Who are you?

Readings:

1. Bates, Marston. 1952. “Tropical Climates”. In, Where winter never comes; a study of man and nature in the Tropics. New York, Scribner.

Question Set #1: Due 1/27

Key

Resources:

http://www.boqueteweather.com/images/world_climate_map.jpg

http://www.weatherbase.com/

My Climagraphs

Map

Print 4-5 copies of the map found at the link above. You should go to "Print Preview" and make the orientation "Landscape" and enlarge it as much as possible. You can do this by reducing the margins of the page in "Page Setup" and increasing image size to 125%. These maps will be useful for note-taking next week.

Interdependencies:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122919202&ft=3&f=1936301

Week 2: 1/30-2/3

Physical Setting: Atmosphere

Readings:

2. Bates, Marston. 1952. “The Rain Forest”. In, Where winter never comes; a study of man and nature in the Tropics. New York, Scribner.

Question Set #2: Due 1/30

Key

Resources:

1. http://esminfo.prenhall.com/science/geoanimations/animations/01_EarthSun_E2.html

2. http://www.boqueteweather.com/images/world_climate_map.jpg

3. Precipitation map

4. Vegetation map

5. http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/100/circulanim/circul_anim.htm

6. http://www.esys.org/wetter/doldrums6.jpg

7. http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/hurr/hurtrack/index.html

8. http://www.atmos.ucla.edu/~fovell/ASother/mm5/SantaAna/winds.html

9. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastprofile.shtml

10. World Population Density

Week 3: 2/6-2/10
Physical Setting: Surfaces

Cartoon

Power point presentations

1. Subduction
2. Forest Regions.

Readings:

3. Carr, Archie. 1953. “The Weeping Woods". In, High Jungles and Low. Gainesville, University Press of Florida.

Question Set #3: Due: Monday 2/6

Key

Resources:

1. http://esminfo.prenhall.com/science/geoanimations/animations/35_VolcanicAct.html

The animation at this site demonstrates the tectonic process, subduction, which has created this region’s torturous topography.

2. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/

This site shows a world map of recent seismic activity. Note the clusters of activity near the tectonic plate boundaries.

3. http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/vegmaps2.html

Week 4: 2/13-2/17

Readings:

4. Wallace, David Rains. 1997. “Central American landscapes”. In, Central America: a natural and cultural history, edited by Anthony G. Coates. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Questions to consider:

For this chapter I will not post questions. Instead, I want you to write down the main characteristics of each of the landscapes/regions, and to know the geographic location and extent of each.

5. West, R C. 1998. Mesoamerican Subsistence Techniques. Pp. 77-102 in Latin American Geography: Historical-Geographical Essays, 1941-1998, Miles E. Richardson (editor). Geoscience and Man, Baton Rouge.

Question Set #4: Due 2/15

Key

Power point presentations

1. Central America's Physical Landscape Regions

2. Subsistence

Resources:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/jaguars/photo-map-interactive

Week 5: 2/20-2/24

Readings:

6. Denevan, William. 1992. The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492. Annals of the Association of American Geographers., 83: 369-385.

Here's a site with some information about William Denevan:

http://www2.stetson.edu/cape/Honors/denevan.htm

Question Set #5: Due 2/20

Key

7. http://www.mindfully.org/Heritage/2003/Civilization-Collapse-EndJun03.htm

Here's a site with some information about Jared Diamond the author of this article:

http://www.geog.ucla.edu/people/faculty.php?lid=3078&display_one=1&modify=1

Question Set #6: Due Wednesday, February 22

Key

Power point presentation

Maya Collapse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR8I1nicYWo

Resources:

http://www.noticiasnet.mx/portal/principal/84955-casi-mitad-lenguas-indigenas-estan-extincion

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/20321

http://www.hist.umn.edu/~rmccaa/vircatas/virtab1.htm

http://www.hist.umn.edu/~rmccaa/vircatas/virfig1.gif

http://www.charlesmann.org/Book-index.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/books/review/1493-uncovering-the-new-world-columbus-created-by-charles-c-mann-book-review.html?pagewanted=all

Week 6: 2/27-3/2

Monday, Review for exam
Study Guide

Exam 1 Map Spring 2009
Exam 1 from Spring 2009

Exam 1, Wednesday, February 29

Video: The Caribbean 1492.

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOfEAbNiKFM

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGuNpPt_tfw&feature=video_response

Question set

Key

Resources:
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/%7Eswilson/wilson_iaca99.html
http://www.lascasas.org/timeline.htm
http://www.uctp.org/
Taino organization

Here are some useful websites for your annotated bibliographies:
Google Scholar: http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en&tab=ws
Council on Hemispheric Affairs: http://www.coha.org/
Latin American Network Information Center - LANIC: http://lanic.utexas.edu/

Resources:
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/mayas.htm
http://www.mesoweb.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r43yCiKlbCo&feature=PlayList&p=411D61D233A29297&playnext=1&index=37

Annotated bibliography proposal is due on March 9^th.

Week 7: 3/5-3/9

Readings:

8. Foote, T. 1991. “Where Columbus Was Coming From”, Smithsonian, December 1991, pp. 28-41.

Question Set #7: Due 3/5

Key

9. Brady, S. 1999. “An historical geography of the earliest colonial routes across the American isthmus.” Revista Geografica, 126: 121-143.

Question Set #8: Due 3/7

Key

9. Curtis, W. 2006. and a Bottle of Rum. Crown Publishers: New York p. 14-36.

10. Curtis, W. 2006. and a Bottle of Rum. Crown Publishers: New York p. 37-63.

Question Set #9: Due 3/9

Key

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/03/02/147825237/inside-out-your-mind?ft=1&f=5500502

Power point presentations

Colonial Landscapes and Institutions

Sugar ppt

Web Resources

http://sitemaker.umich.edu/mladjov/files/romana750.jpg

http://www.acpsugar.org/Overview.html

http://faculty.washington.edu/petersen/alfonso/13thcent.jpg

http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/EMPIRE17.swf

http://www.mapsofwar.com/images/Religion.swf

http://www.naqshbandi.org/ottomans/maps/default.htm

http://goldman-ths.com/map_renaissance_italy.htm

http://jakarta.travel/

http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/mapquiz/midamer/mmrimfr.htm

http://www.bugbog.com/maps/north_america/caribbean_map.html

Week 8: 3/12-3/16

Greater Antilles

Required Readings

1. Potter R. & Lloyd-Evans S. 1997. “Sun, Fun and a Rum Deal: Perspectives on Development in the Caribbean”, FOCUS on Geography Vol. 44: pp. 19-26.

Question Set #: Due 3/12
Key

Required Viewing:
Before Wednesday, I want you to view the documentary, Life and Debt. Just click on the link and you can view it. Be sure to watch all 4 portions. Below the link you will find questions for the video.

http://www.livevideo.com/video/BESToftheBEST/8572389162284FFD9468AD17757C5D95/life-and-debt-1of-4.aspx

Students have reported problems with the link above. Try this one instead and be sure to watch all 13 clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF7DMkyalHU&p=91EC553862D23EE4

Life and Debt Questions: Due Wednesday, 3/14

Key

11. Abridged chapter from Jared Diamond’s “Collapse”. http://www.theglobalist.com/StoryId.aspx?StoryId=4776

Haiti-Dominican Republic Border

Question Set #10: Due on Friday, 3/16.
Key

Resources:

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/centramerica/haxcamerica.html

http://www.wto.org/index.htm

http://www.michaelmanley.org/

http://www.imf.org/external/index.htm

http://www.worldbank.org/

http://www.iadb.org/

http://www.amtacdc.org/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWAWD3YyrNY&feature=PlayList&p=21BDC7CE962C938F&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=13

http://www.caribbeanworld-magazine.com/

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.edu/SlaveTrade/collection/large/LCP-42.JPG

http://www.basis.wisc.edu/rfc/documents/slides/cs_15a_slides.pdf
http://www.migrationinformation.org/USFocus/whoswhere.cfm
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20010125

Week 9: 3/19-3/23 Spring Break

Week 10: 3/26-3/30

March 30. No class in honor of Cèsar Chàvez Day.

Cuba

Required Readings

Babb, F. 2011. “Che, Chevys, and Hemingway's Daiquiris: Cuban Tourism in a Time of Globalisation.” Bulletin of Latin American Research,Volume 30, Issue 1, p. 50–63.

Question set: Due 3/26

Key

Required Viewing:

http://www.archive.org/details/linktv_fidel220071018

http://www.archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.649197

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRzL8krclVQ: Cuba after Castro

Question Set: Due 3/28

Key

Recommended Viewing:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/buena_vista_social_club

Resources:

http://www.census.gov/population/international/data/idb/informationGateway.php

http://www.economist.com/node/21550420

Week 11: 4/2-4/6

It's on! Exam 2, Wednesday, April 4
Review materials
Exam 2 from Spring 2011

International Demonstration Effect

Central American Rimland

http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/mapquiz/midamer/mmrimfr.htm

Required Online Readings:

Brief History of Banana Republics

http://www.uwec.edu/Geography/Ivogeler/w111/banana.htm

http://www.jimmccluskey.com/banana.html

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070320_chiquitas_slipping_appeal/

Question Set #: Friday, April 6

Key

Online Viewing:

http://www.archive.org/details/Journeyt1950

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDOI24RRAE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmeEILEBltM&feature=related

Brady in Banana Plantation

Brady in Ocotal

Banana Republics ppt

Week 12: 4/9-4/13

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2012/04/07/espectaculos/a08n1esp

Required Online Readings: No Question Set

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/sci;313/5786/481?ck=nck

http://www.new-ag.info/02-3/develop/dev05.html - new

http://www.biotech-monitor.nl/4405.htm

Garifuna ppt

The traditional music and dance of the Garifuna have become popular. The general term for numerous Garifuna dances and songs is "punta". The songs are call and response. Many of the dances are courtship dances. Here are 4 youtube examples.

The first is from Hopkins, Belize where I did research in 1989. It shows how the community has incorporated dance instruction into the education system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB3vThV3_ls

The second is from Livingston, Guatemala. It shows how Garifuna kids perpetuate the dancing and rhythm informally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaTR5qlNrZ0&feature=related

The third is from Los Angeles, California, one of the largest centers of Garifuna immigrants in the US. It demonstrates how the Garifuna continue to practice the traditional art form in very different trappings. Instead of on sandy ground in the Central American Rimland in the shade of Atlantic Tall or Malayan Dwarf coconut trees, this jam takes place in a well furnished living room complete with the big screen TV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU-t9_JSH2Y

The last one focuses on Garifuna women and demonstrates their role in preserving these traditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SfsJkuYjo8&feature=related

A core component of cultural survival is the survival of a culture’s language. This web-site seeks to utilize the Web to preserve the Garifuna language: http://www.garifunainstitute.com/

La Mosquitia ppt

Required Readings:

2. Nietschmann, B. 1998. Protecting Indigenous Coral Reefs and Sea Territories. In Conservation Through Cultural Survival, Ed. Stan Stevens, Washington D.C.: Island Press.

Question Set # Due Wednesday, April 11

Key

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NgrRCZD1kk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUfiU8hqymA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhMKaT7Lt9c

Resources:

http://berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2000/02/02/bernard.html

http://www.conserveturtles.org/about.php?page=carr

http://www.miskito-nicaragua.de/nicarag/karten4.htm

http://members.cox.net/~bobbieo/ko/history1.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/08/MNIC152S2Q.DTL&type=printable

GEOG 355 Central America Place Name List.
Learn the locations listed below. You should use this blank map and atlas, Google Earth, Google Maps or some other site to find the places. You already know some of the regions. We will look at the rest during the next few weeks.

Countries
            El Salvador       Guatemala        Belize               Honduras          Nicaragua         Costa Rica        Panama

Cities
            Guatemala City             Quetzaltenango             San Salvador    Belmopan         Belize City        San Pedro Sula
            Tegucigalpa                  Managua                       Bluefields         Puerto Cortez    Limon               San Jose
            Panama                        Colon                           Comayagua      Granada

Regions
            Mosquitia                      North Coast                   Pacific Coast     Soconusco       Nicaraguan Depression
            Interior Highlands          Peten                           Belizean Keys Bay Islands

Rivers and Lakes
            Río Motagua                       Río Chamelicon                 Río Ulua                 Río San Juan          Río Patuca              Río Coco
            Lago Nicaragua            Lago Managua               Lago Atitlan

Week 13: 4/16-4/20

Central American Rimland

1. Bass, JO. 2002. Patuca: Frontier Region in Eastern Honduras. FOCUS on Geography 46(4): 10-14.

Question Set # Monday, April 16

Key

About the author

2. McSweeney, K. 2002. Two years after Hurricane "Mix": Indigenous response in the rain forest of Eastern Honduras. Focus On Geography 46 (4): 15-21.

Question Set # Due Wednesday, April 18

Key

http://www.geography.osu.edu/faculty/mcsweeney/

http://www.mirador-adventures.hu/

Web Resources

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/15/us-americas-summit-idUSBRE83D0E220120415

http://www.reforma.com/internacional/articulo/646/1291539/

http://www.reforma.com/editoriales/internacional/646/1291291/

Week 14: 4/23-4/27

Rimland Continued

1. Frenkel, Stephen. 1996. Jungle Stories: North American Representations of Tropical Panama. Geographical Review, Vol. 86, No. 3, pp. 317-333.

Question Set: Due Monday, April 23

Key

Panama ppt

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUkSxted6pQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR4eXZSZhEg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw15q1-Vv4g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9svL4qIkOW8

http://www.ssqq.com/travel/panamacanal2012x04.htm

Central America's Interior Highlands
Agriculture and Development

Almolonga

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0tvnvlGEZE

Required Readings

2. Arbona S. 1998. “Commercial agriculture and agrochemicals in Almolonga, Guatemala”, Geographical Review Vol. 88: pp. 47-63.

Question Set: Due Wednesday, April 25

Key

Week 15: 4/30-5/4

Crawfish Boil

Central America's Interior Highlands

Coffee ppt

Guajiquiro ppt

Readings:

1. Can Coffee Drinkers Save the Rain Forest?

Question Set #: Due Monday, 4/30
Key

2. Brady, S. 2009. Revisiting a Honduran Landscape Described by Robert West: An Experiment in Repeat Geography. Journal of Latin American Geography pp. 7-27.

No question set:

3. Tormented Isthmus, from The Economist. April 14^th, 2011.

Question set Due Friday, 5/4/12

Key

Map that accompanied the article

Resources:

Coffee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMl5mIU6w_k

http://www.ico.org/new_historical.asp

http://fieldguides.com/bird-tours/guatemala-tikal

http://www.globalexchange.org/index.html
http://www.princeton.edu/%7Eina/infographics/starbucks.html
http://www.guatemalancoffees.com/

http://www.fao.org/corp/statistics/en/

http://www.cafcom.com.gt/web/default.php?lng=&showpage=28

http://www.moneynews.com/Markets/Coffee-Rise-40Percent-Frost/2011/04/29/id/394529

Byron Wolfe

http://www.selvanegra.com/

http://www.se.gob.hn/index.php?a=Webpage&url=calendario

Drug-Trafficking and Violence

http://www.economist.com/node/17963313

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/08/MNIC152S2Q.DTL&type=printable

http://insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2579-el-salvador-gangs-expand-truce-end-forced-recruitment

http://insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2565-el-salvador-sees-almost-60-drop-in-murders-in-april-as-gang-truce-holds

http://justf.org/taxonomy/term/51

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17939035

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.co.uk%2Fmaps%2Fms%3Fauthuser%3D0%26vps%3D2%26hl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF8%26msa%3D0%26output%3Dkml%26msid%3D204157303013084320844.0004bd08bbf2931018073&hl=en&sll=38.924745,-77.057215&sspn=0.009282,0.018625&t=h&z=2

http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/187109.pdf

Week 16: 5/7-5/11

Review for final

http://www.wimp.com/vegetablemarket/

Week 17: 5/14-5/18

Final Exams

Final Exam Week Office Hours: Because of a toothache I have to go to the dentist tomorrow and change my scheduled office hours. Here they are: T 9-11, T 3-4, W 12-1:30

Final Exam Wednesday, May 16: 2-3:50pm

Study Guide

Final Exam Part 1, Spring 2010

Final Exam Part 2, Spring 2010

Don't worry about the stuff below. Our class won't look at it.

http://www.bio.upenn.edu/faculty/janzen/#links
http://www.cccturtle.org/aboutccc.php?page=carr

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4539688
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200805/world-in-numbers
http://www.delange.org/ElTajinVideo/Voladores.htm

Enrique's Journey

Editing guidelines

http://www.caribbeanworld-magazine.com/
http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/facts/glance.htm
http://www.cockpitcountry.com/formjamaica.html
http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0404/files/jamaica_1.pdf
http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect17/Sect17_5.html
http://www.jamaicans.com/speakja/usa_jamaica.htm
http://www.radiotower.com/?c_code=JM&h_i=0&h_r=20
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mapshells/caribbean/cuba/cuba.htm
http://www.granma.cu/ingles/index.html
http://www.cuba.com/usrealtions.htm
http://www.destinationcuba.co.uk/about/
http://welcome.topuertorico.org/history.shtml
http://welcome.topuertorico.org/government.shtml