Mexico: Culture and Society 3102-FMCS
We will focus on (trans)national identity making, (im)mobility (migration, tourism, mediascapes etc.) poverty and violence, gender and ethnic imagery as well as social movements as these topics have promped a rethinking of basic assumptions about contemporary Mexican society. The reading material consisting mainly of ethnographic examples (case studies) is supplemented with varied mass media material (feature films, documentaries, commercials etc.).
Type of course
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
1. Knowledge:
Getting to know the history of modern Mexico with an emphasis on cultural, ethnic and social diversity.
Understanding of key concepts, concepts and theories used in the anthropological study of Mexican culture and society
Getting to know the specifics of Mexican studies, including the challenges and limitations of conducting ethnographic research in Mexico and the transnational communities of the USA.
2. Skills:
Ability to critically analyze and interpret cultural and social data about Mexico.
Ability to conduct field research and collect data from various sources.
Ability to analyze and present data in an understandable and interesting way for various audiences.
3. Social competences:
Sensitivity to the cultural and social diversity of Mexico as well as other non-European cultures and societies.
Ability to work in a team and establish intercultural contacts.
The ability to reflect on one's own prejudices and cultural stereotypes, and thus ethnocentrism in perceiving other socio-cultural contexts.
After completing the course, students are able to:
- use a selected foreign language at B2+ level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
- use specialist terminology in the field of ethnology and cultural anthropology in a foreign language
Assessment criteria
Assessment:
attendance (1 unexcused absence)
informed participation in class discussion (including 15-minute presentation)
short summaries of texts (sent beforehand)
final essay
Bibliography
Further reading:
Encyclopedia of Mexico: history, society and culture, t. 1-2, (1997) (red.) Michael S. Werner, Chicago: London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publ.
Gutmann Matthew C. (1996), The Meanings of Macho. Being a Man in Mexico City. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Gutmann Matthew C. (2002), The Romance of Democracy. Compliant Defiance in Contemporary Mexico, Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Lomnitz Claudio (2001), Deep Mexico. Silent Mexico. An Anthropology of Nationalism, University of Minnesota Press.
Lomnitz Claudio (2008), Death and the Idea of Mexico, New York: Zone Books.
Pilcher Jeffrey M. (1998), ¡Que vivan los tamales! Food and the Making of Mexican Identity, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Segura Denise A., Patricia Zavella (red.) (2007), Women and Migration in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. A Reader, Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Stephen Lynn (2002), ¡Zapata Lives! Histories and Cultural Politics in Southern Mexico, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Stephen Lynn (2005), Zapotec Women: Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in Globalized Oaxaca, Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Stephen Lynn (2007), Transborder Lives. Indigenous Oaxacans in Mexico, California, and Oregon, Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Weinberg Bill (2000), Homage to Chiapas. The New Indigenous Struggles in Mexico, London & New York: Verso.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: