That may be the strangest lesson title yet... These two areas have relatively little in common, except that one closed Chapter 34, and the other began Chapter 35. We'll check in on some key events in both regions.
Latin America - I'll be honest when I tell you that the period from the end of World War II to the 1980s in Latin America is hardly one of my specialties. However, we'll do an activity below that should hit many of the most salient and important specifics from that period up to today in Latin America.
Before anything else, we can debrief a bit about yesterday's Jerusalem 2009 Peace Conference. In particular, I am interested in home this activity changed or reinforced your attitude toward the Middle East and/or any of the particular sides. As I mentioned, I intend to offer you a choice of essay questions (take home) that includes one on the Middle East.
Remember that you have a batch of Current Events due on Friday, March 6th. (I will be out that day, so you can expect that it will be largely a work day.) You'll know all the Unit #8 Identifications and Essay Questions by then. My plan is that we'll do the Chapter #35 quizzes the regular way. For Chapter 36, you will receive a packet of the five quizzes on Friday, and you can complete them on your own as assignments between then and Wednesday's final day of class.
Central Asia - As you read in Chapter 34, a number of the nations of Central Asia were created in the aftermath of the breakup of the Soviet Union. We can check in very briefly with both the Transcaucasian and Central Asian states, but then we'll focus a little bit more on Afghanistan.
Latin America - I'll be honest when I tell you that the period from the end of World War II to the 1980s in Latin America is hardly one of my specialties. However, we'll do an activity below that should hit many of the most salient and important specifics from that period up to today in Latin America.
First, I think it is interesting to take a minute and consider what the book establishes as four key practices in a democracy.
- free elections
- citizen participation
- majority rule, minority rights
- constitutional government
Whether you are looking at Latin America or elsewhere, consider the factors conditions that might both foster and threaten these practices. Let's hear some of your ideas.
Facebook comes to Latin America... I think I've told you that I have never seen either Facebook or MySpace. That doesn't mean that I've been living in a cave and haven't heard about the "25 Random Things about Me" fad. In that spirit, we're going to try and introduce you to "25 Not Quite Random Things about Latin America" as a quick assignment.
You will select one of the "things" below, and there are two components to the assignment.
First, you will have one minute (no more) to explain your thing, and its significance to the class. We will try and get as many of those in today as we can, hopefully starting with 2 minutes left in class.
Second, you will be expected to make a blog posting of 100-150 words or so regarding your topic. Give us the basic facts and significance of your item. If you want to include a link to something useful, feel free to do that. (These blog postings should be made on the entries provided, and they are due before class time tomorrow.)
Here's the Facebook-inspired list of "25 Not Quite Random Things about Latin America":
Juan and Evita Peron - Argentina
"Dirty War" - Argentina
"Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo" - Argentina
Evo Morales - Bolivia
"Lula" da Silva - Brazil
Salvador Allende - Chile
Augusto Pinochet - Chile
Isabel Allende - Chile
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Colombia
FARC - Colombia
Plan Colombia - Colombia
Fidel Castro - Cuba
Guantanamo Bay - Cuba
"Papa Doc" and "Baby Doc" Duvalier - Haiti
Tonton Macoute - Haiti
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) - Mexico
Frida Kahlo - Mexico
Tlatelolco Massacre - Mexico
Chiapas - Mexico
NAFTA - Mexico
Vicente Fox - Mexico
Zapatista Army of National Liberation - Mexico
Manuel Noriega - Panama
Operation Condor - "Southern Cone" dictatorships
Hugo Chavez - Venezuela
Remember that we looked at some of the Cold War events in Central America already, so that's why terms like Contra and Sandinista are not on the list...
HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Wednesday, March 4th
Please continue your reading in Chapter 35 with Section 2, "The Challenge of Democracy in Africa" (pp. 1040-1045) The quiz will be multiple choice.
Your contribution to the "25 Not Quite Random Things about Latin America" blog posting is due before the start of class time tomorrow. My expectation is somewhere between 100 to 150 words, and no credit will be given if it is not expressed in your own words. (You can go up to 250 or so words if you are really interested in your topic, but more than that is probably overkill.)
Remember that your final batch of Current Events are due on Friday, March 6th. You can download this template for your Final Set of Current Events. (Remember, you are picking stories from particular areas, not according to the AP History themes we had been using.)
