Syllabus: 'Latin American Geographies,' an undergraduate seminar at Ohio Wesleyan University (2015) (original) (raw)
*This course fulfills the Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights requirements for a secondary field " History is always written from the sedentary point of view and in the name of a unitary State apparatus, at least a possible one, even when the topic is nomads. What is lacking is a Nomadology, the opposite of a history " ~ Deleuze and Guattari (A Thousand Plateaus) The current global moment carries the mark of border-crossings and transgressions where not only people are on the move, but also ideas and images about them. The refugee, the migrant, and the terrorist – while itinerant figures of different orders – they all inspire particular narratives about what constitutes " human nature " and inhumane practices. This seminar course for both undergraduate and graduate students explores the multiple meanings of mobility and stasis by examining the (dis)placement and circulation of people and things along with the (folk)tales that accompany "being on the road." New roads through rainforests can bring improved economic conditions to rural areas; they can also bring disease and environmental destruction. So-called " uncontacted " tribes still inhabit in parts of the Amazon rainforest and Bedouin tribes continue to trouble Middle Eastern states. These nomadic populations present a challenge to state politicians, in theory because they represent a nomadic legacy and the possibility of insurrection, along with the belief that they cannot coexist with the modern, fixed, nation-state. If history is always written from the seated point of view, what does a mobile history or global outlook look like? How do our perspectives on movement inform notions (or realizations) of peace, war, progress, and development? And what does it mean to tell a tale in motion? From the side of the road and on the highway, who and what can move or stay-as well as who can tell the tale-has defined those people and things gain and maintain social value.