GEOG40800 Latin America: social movements and postcolonial approaches

Academic Year 2020/2021

The aim of this module is to provide students with methodological and conceptual tools to develop a research project, addressing theoretical or empirical issues in the field of critical postcolonial, subaltern and decolonial geographies with a specific focus on space, society, indigenous issues and social movements in Latin America. We will explore the role of space and geography within the wider interdisciplinary debates on the aforementioned topics, with a special emphasis on the contributions given by scholars from Latin America, including the authors who promoted the Modernity-Coloniality-Decoloniality (MCD) Project or “Decolonial Turn” (Walter Mignolo, Enrique Dussel, Edgardo Lander, Ramón Grosfoguel, Carlos-Walter Porto-Gonçalves among the others), the research strands on post-development and the pluriversal (Arturo Escobar, Gustavo Esteva, Myriam Lang and others), postcolonial feminism and the rising of women in Latin American geographies (Silvia Rivera Cusicanqui, María Lugones, Sofia Zaragocin among the others) and critical approaches to territory and social struggles inspired by theories in anarchism, socialism and autonomy (Marcelo Lopes de Souza, Raúl Zibechi, Bernardo Fernandes, Sam Halvorsen, Rogério Haesbaert among the others). We will address the geographical implications of their theories, exploring mainly the concepts of autonomous struggles, colonial difference, subaltern spaces and geopolitics of knowledge.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module, students should have:

1. A foundational knowledge of critical, radical, feminist, postcolonial and decolonial geographies and of their historical and epistemological critiques of Euro-centrism in the context of present social, geopolitical and environmental issues in Latin America.
2. Gained a critical understanding of theoretical and methodological approaches targeting the development of a personal research project on the above topics, drawing on current literature and based on a chosen problematic. For this, every student will be requested to expose weekly scholarly texts chosen in the module’s reading lists or proposed by the student, to critically examine these texts and to explain how they can be used to build a research plan.
3. Developed capacity to conceive a research project on one of the above topics and to write it according to international standards, to be able to use it for future personal plans (MA dissertation, PhD applications, etc.). Personal feedback on the project’s topics and on the way of writing it will be provided all along the module.
4. All the module’s core readings and didactic materials are in English, but the capacity to read texts in another language between Spanish, Portuguese and French might be considered a plus, and the students with these skills will be encouraged to engage with original texts in these languages for their individual research projects.

Indicative Module Content:

Introduction to the module
Introducing Latin American scholarship: problems with territory
Subaltern studies and decoloniality
Beyond development: lessons from Latin America
Latin American social movements - which radical action?
Guest lecture by a South American scholar (TBD)
Cases from the Latin American Left, and their critiques
Race: mocambos quilombos and favelas
Latin American critical and feminist geographies: the rising of women
Cities and social movements in Latin America
Fields and social movements in Latin America

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

20
Specified Learning Activities

85
Autonomous Student Learning

70
Total

175
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Drawing on the tradition of non-directive pedagogies and on the idea of research-based teaching, I inform my teaching philosophy to the aim of stimulating students to build their own critical spirit and to problematize the inputs they receive instead of accumulating notions. I also strongly believe in geography as an engaged and intellectual discipline able to help individuals building original and critical views of the world from the earliest stages of study, rather than to merely acquire technical skills or 'practicalities'. Paying attention to matters on differences of cultures and standpoints in the theoretical framework of 'situated knowledge' and the 'standpoint theory', I assume that there is never a unique answer for a question. For that, whenever possible I am committed to avoid mnemonic or quantitative methods of assessment promoting instead qualitative assessment based on short essays, reading reports and assignments, including seminary discussion, especially at graduate level. Therefore, enhancing students' critical and personal interpretations of reading experiences rather than their simple assimilation is a very central point for my teaching strategy. For this module, I privilege the seminar form including students' presentation and collective discussion. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Project: Essay Assignment preliminary Plan Week 6 n/a Graded No

10
Continuous Assessment: Reading summaries and papers' presentation all along the semester (seminar classes) Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

40
Essay: Essay Assignment Coursework (End of Trimester) n/a Graded No

50

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.

Name Role
Dr Christine Bonnin Lecturer / Co-Lecturer