HI2E7-30 A History of Modern Mexico (EUTOPIA)
Introductory description
Over the past century, Mexicans have endured a revolutionary civil war, two religious uprisings, a vicious Cold War counter-insurgency, nearly fifty years of authoritarian government, countless devaluations, and nearly a decade of violent confrontations between drug cartels. Yet Mexicans have also experienced far-reaching social reforms, unparalleled levels of economic growth, rapid rates of industrialisation and urbanisation, and seventy years of relative political stability. This module seeks to understand these contradictions and the ways in which they have affected Mexicans’ everyday lives.
These processes, the bargaining between civil society actors and the state and the uses of the past and the understanding of history in these processes can only be understood through an understanding of the History of Mexico in the Modern period since the arrival of Europeans and Africans in Mesoamerica in 1519.
Module aims
Students will be asked to examine at a range of subjects including; the way that local communities have used the law and the political ideas of the day to defend their interests, the development of the ideas of race, caste, class and gender, the relationship between the Church, the state and civil society and ideologies of revolutionary leaders, like Emiliano Zapata, Pancho Villa, and Subcomandante Marcos; the politics of the world’s longest running one party state; the long struggle for indigenous rights; the experiences of Mexico’s urban poor; and the machinations of the country’s cartels.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Term 1
Week 1: Mexico: An Introduction
Week 2: Mexican Independence (1810-1821)
Week 3: Democracy and Dictatorship (1821-1846)
Week 4: The Mexican American War (1846-1848)
Week 5: Civil War and Benito Juarez (1848-1876)
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: Porfirio Diaz: The Liberal Dictator (1876-1910)
Week 8: The Mexican Revolution (1910-1920)
Week 9: Revolutionary Reform (1920-1940)
Week 10: Cultural Reform (1920-1940)
Term 2
Week 1: Counter Revolution and the PRI State (1940-1968)
Week 2: The PRI State and the Mass Media (1940-1976)
Week 3: The 1968 Student Movement
Week 4: Guerrillas and Counter Insurgency (1965-1982)
Week 5: Modern Mexico: Neoliberalism and Democratization
Week 6: Reading Week
Week 7: Modern Mexico: Zapatistas and Indigenous Rights
Week 8: Modern Mexico: Migration and the Border
Week 9: Modern Mexico: The Drug Trade and the War on Drugs
Week 10: Narcoculture
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of historical and theoretical interpretations of modern Mexico.
- Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
- Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material for the study of modern Mexico.
- Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing scholarship.
- Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.
Indicative reading list
Reading lists can be found in Talis
Subject specific skills
See learning outcomes.
Transferable skills
See learning outcomes.
Study time
| Type | Required |
|---|---|
| Lectures | 18 sessions of 1 hour (6%) |
| Seminars | 20 sessions of 1 hour (7%) |
| Tutorials | 2 sessions of 1 hour (1%) |
| Other activity | 2 hours (1%) |
| Private study | 256 hours (86%) |
| Total | 298 hours |
Private study description
History modules require students to undertake extensive independent research and reading to prepare for seminars and assessments. As a rough guide, students will be expected to read and prepare to comment on three substantial texts (articles or book chapters) for each seminar taking approximately 3 hours. Each assessment requires independent research, reading around 6-10 texts and writing and presenting the outcomes of this preparation in an essay, review, presentation or other related task.
Other activity description
Revision seminars
Costs
No further costs have been identified for this module.
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A1
| Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
|---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
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| Seminar contribution | 10% | No | |
Reassessment component |
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| 1000 word reflective essay in lieu of Seminar Contribution | Yes (extension) | ||
Assessment component |
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| 1500 word essay | 10% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| 3000 word essay | 40% | Yes (extension) | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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| 7 day take-home essay with citations and a bibliography | 40% | No | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Feedback on assessment
- written feedback on essay via Tabula
- student/tutor dialogues in one-to-one tutorials
-peer and group feedback in class and in study groups
Courses
This module is Optional for:
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ32 Undergraduate English and History
- Year 2 of UENA-VQ34 Undergraduate English and History (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V5 Undergraduate History and Philosophy
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM11 Undergraduate History and Politics
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM13 Undergraduate History and Politics (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL15 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with a term in Venice)
This module is Option list A for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V1V7 Undergraduate History and Philosophy (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VM13 Undergraduate History and Politics (with a term in Venice)
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL15 Undergraduate History and Sociology (with a term in Venice)
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-V100 Undergraduate History
- Year 2 of UHIA-V102 Undergraduate History (Renaissance and Modern History Stream)
This module is Option list C for:
- Year 2 of UHIA-VL13 Undergraduate History and Sociology