Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America
- Sept 26 (M): Political Economic History I
- II. Sept 28 (W) Political Economy II and Geopolitical Framework II
- III. Oct 3 (M) Demographic Change and Cultural and Environmental Challenges
- Oct 5 (W): Political Economic Transformation I
- Oct 10 (M): Political Economic Transformation II
- Oct 12 (W): Geopolitical Framework; Demography, and Culture
- Oct 17 (M): Environment
Africa, South of the Sahara
- Identify the dominant mode of production in Africa in the 1500’s
- Describe how kinship organizes access to resources and how it relates to African cosmology
- Identify the main trade routes linking West African and Southern/East African kingdoms to the Old World, and Africa’s main export commodity.
- Identify where, when and why Europeans first settled in Africa
- Describe the organization of the slave trade in West Africa, considering who captured and who bought slaves. Explain two reasons why European infiltration was limited from the 1600-1850’s
- Explain three reasons that broad European infiltration became possible by the 1880’s
- Describe what happened at the Berlin Conference, and how Europeans managed the conquest of a continent
- Explain what initiated the Great Trek, and what gave Britain incentive to fight for all of South Africa
- Identify on a map and describe the 4 major economic activities under colonial rule
- Explain 2-3 ways in which Africans were forced to participate in these activities
- Describe the level of economic and social development that occurred during colonialism
- Contrast capitalist and socialist paths to economic development by: 1) where capital investment comes from; 2) the role of the state in the economy, and 3) when social benefits are distributed to the people.
- Describe Africa’s “economic nationalism,” identifying its 2 main sources of income and 3 main expenditures
- Explain why the continent fell into a debt crisis in the 1980s/90's.
- Describe the SAP recipe for Africa, and clarify why it is seen as “neocolonial”
- Identify Africa’s dominant economic sectors through the pre-colonial, colonial, post-independence and post-’80s eras
- Liberia Article Questions
- Gabon Film Questions
- Describe Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa's general approach to the European Settler situation, and clarify why they hesitated to simply expropriate the land
- South Africa Film Questions
- Africa's Continental Divide Ariticle Questions
- Explain how colonial borders helped to create ‘states,’ but not ‘nations’ at the time of independence
- Explain how the system of indirect rule also undermined the development of ‘nations’
- Use the Nigerian and Sudan cases to illustrate 3 forces of “balkanization” in Africa.
- Sudan Article Questions
- Identify where most African countries sat in the political economic spectrum in the 1960’s-80s, and explain why
- Identify the direction towards which African countries are expected to shift with the ‘help’ of SAP’s
- Use the Nigerian case to describe new political institutions that are expected to strengthen democracies
- Identify the stage of the demographic transition cycle that best reflects most African countries’ current statistics, and explain whether or not they substantiate theory
- Explain 2-3 reasons why Africa’s fertility transition may stall over the next few decades – highlighting reasons anticipated by demographic transition theory and reasons not considered by theory
- Identify the shape of Africa’s pop. pyramid, and clarify where it lies on the Total Pop. Growth Curve
- Explain 2-3 economic and social implications of this pyramid structure
- Identify on a map where AIDS has had greatest impact in Africa
- Draw the theoretically expected population pyramids of a country hard hit by AIDs. Draw the pyramid that has actually occurred. Explain the difference.
- Explain 2-3 economic and social implications of an “AIDs’ pyramid
- Compare Africa to the rest of the developing world in terms of both the degree and rates of urbanization
- Describe the dominant forces behind Africa’s urbanization (push/pull), how most people make a living in cities, and how that impacts the provision of social services
- Explain 2 reasons why most African countries chose European official languages after independence
- Identify on a map where Islam and Christianity are strongest, and where they converge
- Explain why some might argue that many Africans practice ‘syncretism'
- Identify on a map Africa’s three main agro-ecological zones, and describe the main ag. challenge within each
- Identify the three regions of Africa most prone to drought
- Explain the three main positions/explanations concerning whether or not desertification is occurring in the Sahel zone, and why
- Famine in Somalia Article questions
Latin America
- Identify the dominant modes of production in Latin America in the 1400’s
- Identify the locations of the Inca, Aztec and Mayan Empires
- Describe the general topographic, agricultural and demographic landscape in 1492
- Identify Spain’s two early economic activities, where they were focused, and explain how they established control of land and labor
- Identify 2-3 factors that lead to the population crash
- Describe the two main forms of the hacienda system. For each, clarify land and labor relations between the latifundia and minifundia
- Contrast the hacienda and plantation, including goals, ownership, labor, economic linkages and location
- Explain the implications of the Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary
- Identify on a map the spread of plantations
- Contrast slave and modern plantations, AND contrast SLA plantations with Brazilian coffee plantations
- Define Import Substitution Industrialization, and explain 2-3 benefits and 2-3 problems with the strategy
- Explain why Mexico and Brazil were in a better position to launch this strategy than many others
- Define Export-led Industrialization, and explain 2-3 benefits and 2-3 problems with the strategy
- Clarify when and why L.A. shifted from ISI to ELI
- Use Mexico’s pre-NAFTA divided (north/south) industrial policy to illustrate the impact of ISI and ELI models on wages and urban/social infrastructure
- Describe how Mexico’s post-NAFTA industrial policy has differentially impacted the north and south- Identify 2-3 examples of semi-industrialized and ag export-led economies today
- World Beats Path to Latin America's Door Article Questions
- Describe how Post-WWII modernization of the hacienda led to landlessness
- Identify two strategies that governments adopted to alleviate pressure from the new landless class
- Contrast strengths and weaknesses of the 3 models of land reform experienced in L.A.
- Use Mexico to illustrate a “mixed” model, and describe its general spatial distribution in Mexico
- Describe the US’s position on land reform in Latin America and why
- Kingdom Divided Film Questions
- Use Mexico’s experience under NAFTA to illustrate the impact of SAP’s on land reform policy
- Clarify the global capitalist recipe for “how to feed the world” and identify recent events that have undermined confidence in that approach
- Latin America’s bid to keep its lush land Article Questions
- Aid tactic: Lift small farmers Article Questions
- Columbia Vows to restore lands Article Questions
- Describe the origin of most state boundaries, two reasons for subsequent conflicts, and an example for each
- Explain why many Latin American countries were called the “Banana Republics” from the 1850’s-1950’s
- Identify where most LA countries fit in the political-economic spectrum in the 60’s-80’s, and explain why. Describe the shift that has been occurring since the 1990’s.
- Where have all the dictators gone Article Questions
- Argue whether the region’s statistics support or refute demographic transition theory
- Machisma Article Questions
- Contrast the population pyramids of countries with semi-industrialized vs ag export-led economies
- Guatemala Film Questions
- Describe 2-3 forces of urbanization, explain whether the dominant story is one of pushes or pulls, and explain the implications for the quality of urban development and life
- Identify where immigrants and where indigenous/mestizo groups dominate, and the exception
- Identify Spanish L.A.’s four main class/ethnicity divides
- Identify where most emigrants go. Describe how they contribute to the L.A. economy, and describe current trends
- Identify Brazil's 4 main economic booms/immigrant waves and their locations
- Brazil Film Questions
- Identify LA’s dominant religion, and describe the origins of L.A.’s syncretic religions
- Identify on a west-east transect map, and describe, SLA's 4 rural livelihood systems, including dominant crops, land ownership, and labor patterns
- Describe the process behind Central America’s "hamburger connection"
- Describe the process behind Brazil’s historic “World Bank Fish Bone,” identifying 2 ways in which it was similar to Central America, and two ways in which it was distinctly different
- Describe the process behind Brazil’s new Soybean Connection, and explain why it may be more difficult for the ecosystem to recover