University Honors 350, Section 1

The Response of the Indians of Latin America to European Colonization

Fall Semester, 2000

Professor John E. Kicza

Wilson Hall #301C

Office Phone: 335-4704

Home Phone: 334-6936

Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday, 11-12

This section of Honors 350 is devoted to understanding the character of the impact of the conquest and colonization by Europeans on a variety of Latin American indigenous societies and how their resilience and creative responses enabled many such peoples to survive, and sometimes even thrive, to the present day. The emphasis of the course, however, is placed on roughly the first century after the initial encounters, for most essential patterns, institutions, and perspectives had been established by the end of that time. Nonetheless, some attention is devoted to later eras, when such is appropriate.

The bulk of the courses is structured around a number of documentary and feature films on early culture contact between the Europeans and the Native Americas and around discussion of a substantial amount of reading. I can promise you, though, that if you have any interest in the subject of the course, you will find the reading interesting, multidimensioned, and quite accessible. A schedule of the films and of the due dates for the reading assignments and for the four paper assignments is attached. There will be ample opportunity to discuss each film after it is shown and also the reading assignments. In fact, the class periods when reading assignments are scheduled will be devoted to a discussion of them. Further, I will not hesitate to carry lively discussions over to the following class periods.

The five required books in the course will all be read in their entirety. They are:

Ross Hassig, Mexico and the Spanish Conquest.

Serge Gruzinski, The Conquest of Mexico.

Steve J. Stern, Peru’s Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest: Huamanga to 1640.

Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570.

Ramón Gutiérrez, When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away.

In addition the class will read the following articles and book chapters, all of which are available on the Honors Reserve Shelf:

Sarah Cline, “The Spiritual Conquest Reexamined: Baptism and Christian Marriage in Early Sixteenth-Century Mexico,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 73:3 (August 1993), 453-480.

Grant D. Jones, “The Last Maya Frontiers of Colonial Yucatan,” in Murdo J. MacLeod and Robert Wasserstrom, eds., Spaniards and Indians in Southeastern Mesoamerica: Essays on the History of Ethnic Relations, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983), 64-91.

Kristine L. Jones, “Warfare, Reorganization, and Adaptation at the Margins of Spanish Rule: The Southern Margin (1573-1882),” in Frank Salomon and Stuart B. Schwartz, eds., The Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas, Volume III: South America, Part 2 (Cambridge, Edg.: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 138-187.

John E. Kicza, “Patterns in Early Spanish Overseas Expansion,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3^rd Series, 49:2 (April 1992), 229-253.

John E. Kicza, “The Peoples and Civilizations of the Americas Before Conquest,” American Historical Association Essays on Global and Comparative History, 1998, 59pp.

James Lockhart, “Receptivity and Resistance,” in idem., Of Things of the Indies: Essays Old and New in Early Latin American History, (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999), Chapter 11.

David Sweet, “The Ibero-American Frontier Mission in Native American History,” in Erick Langer and Robert H. Jackson, eds., The New Latin American Mission History, (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995), 1-48.

Stephanie Wood, “Adopted Saints: Christian Images in Nahua Testaments Of Late Colonial Toluca,” The Americas, 47:3 (January 1991), 259-293.

Stephanie Wood, “The Cosmic Conquest: Late-Colonial Views of the Sword and Cross in Central Mexican Títulos,” Ethnohistory, 38:2 (Spring 1991), 176-195.

Assignments: Every student will write four papers for the class. The first two are 5-6 pages in length and each will count for 20% of the final grade. The second two are 6-8 pages in length and each will count for 25% of the final grade. The assignments will be given out at least a week in advance. Students should feel free to ask questions about the papers and to show me outlines and rough drafts. You will receive a forthright evaluation. The other 10% of the final grade will reflect the student’s participation in class.

Course Schedule:

Week I - August 28-September 1:

August 28, Lecture; August 30, Lecture; September 1, Discussion of Readings #1: Kicza, “The Peoples and Civilizations;” Hassig, Chapters 1 & 2; Stern, Introduction and Chapters 1 & 2.

Week II - September 4 is Labor Day, No Class. September 6-8:

September 6, Lecture; September 8, “500 Nations, #3: Clash of Cultures.”

Week III - September 11-15:

September 11, “Sixteenth-Century Perceptions of Latin America: Civil or Savage;” September 13, “500 Nations #2: Mexico;” September 15, Discussion of Readings #2: Kicza, “Patterns,” Hassig, Chapter 3-9, Cline, “Spiritual Conquest Reexamined.”

Week IV - September 18-22:

September 18, “Ten Who Dared: Francisco Pizarro;” September 20, “Aguirre: The Wrath of God;” September 22, “Aguirre: The Wrath of God” continued.

Week V - September 25-29:

September 25, Lecture; September 27, Discussion of Readings #3: Hassig, Chapters 10 & 11, Gruzinski, Introduction and Chapters 1-3, Stern, Chapters 3 & 4; September 29, Lecture.

Week VI - October 2-6:

October 2, “Cabeza de Vaca;” October 4, “Cabeza de Vaca” continued; October 6, First Paper Assignment Due.

Week VII - October 9-13:

October 9, Lecture; October 11, “Columbus and the Age of Discovery #6: The Columbian Exchange;” October 13, Lecture.

Week VIII - October 16-20:

October 16, Lecture; October 18, Lecture; October 20, Discussion of Readings #4: Gruzinski, Chapters 4-7, Stern, Chapters 5-8, Wood, “Adopted Saints” and “The Cosmic Conquest.”

Week IX - October 23-27:

October 23, “How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman;” October 25, “How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman” continued; October 27, Second Paper Assignment Due.

Week X - October 30-November 3:

October 30, Lecture; November 1, Lecture; November 3: Discussion of Readings #5: Clendinnen, Introduction and Part I, Gutiérrez, Introduction and Parts I & II, Kris Jones, “Warfare, Reorganization, and Adaptation;” Sweet, “Ibero-American Mission System.”

Week XI - November 6 - 8: November 10 is Veterans Day observed; No Class.

November 6, Lecture; November 8, Lecture.

Week XII - November 13-17:

November 13, “Black Robe;” November 15, “Black Robe” continued; November 17, No Class.

Week XIII - November 27-December 1:

November 27, Lecture; November 29, Lecture; December 1, Third Paper Assignment Due.

Week XIV - December 4-8:

December 4, Lecture; December 6, Lecture; December 8, Discussion of Readings #6: Clendinnen, Part II & Epilogue, Gutiérrez, Part III & Epilogue, Grant Jones, “The Last Maya Frontiers,” Lockhart, “Receptivity and Resistance.”

Week XV - December 11-15:

December 11, “The Mission;” December 13, “The Mission” continued; December 15, Lecture.

Finals Week: December 20, Fourth Paper Assignment Due.