Latin America

Map of Mexican Drug Cartels

I’m currently working on a project that compares the drug trade in Mexico and Brazil. My goal is to try to understand the factors that have made the Mexican trade so bloody in comparison with Brazil’s trade. I believe that part of the reason is the nature of border. Most of the cocaine trafficked into Brazil passes through highly porous borders in Amazonia, which would be impossible to close to the same degree as the U.S.-Mexican border. The Brazilian drug trade is also geographically fractured, despite the existence of major drug organizations such as the First Capital Command (PCC), Red Command, Pure Third Command, and “Amigos dos Amigos.” The Mexican drug trade also overlays a major movement of migrants from southern Mexico and Central America to the United States; this both creates a population vulnerable to crime, but also develops networks that move people from south to north outside the control of the state. There is no parallel migration in Brazil. One issue I face with this project is the large number of variables that make the drug trade different in these nations. …

Video Reviews: Amazon Games

"Amazonian Macaw - Ara Ararauna In Front Of A Blue Sky" by xura at freedigitalphotos.net
“Amazonian Macaw – Ara Ararauna In Front Of A Blue Sky” by xura at freedigitalphotos.net

This fall quarter I taught a hybrid class on Modern Brazil, which had both a History and International Studies section. We spent three weeks during the course covering modern Amazonia, during which we discussed Indigenous issues in depth. One of the videos that we watched was Amazon Games, which was available through the streaming video service at the Portland State University library. The documentary described a modern sporting event in the Amazon River basin that brings together different nations throughout the region for an annual contest. The video (released in 2005) began by showing two different Indigenous nations (Enawanes and Matis) preparing to travel for the games, then followed them to the competition itself.

The selection process for the games was a fraught one, as was the decision to take part in the competition. Some Aboriginal peoples in one nation were concerned what would happen to their people if the plane taking the competitors to the games crashed with all of their best hunters. Obviously, another risk would be that the Indigenous participants might bring back disease. But the Aboriginal people themselves were excited to participate, and clearly discussed the risks of travel. My students thought that overall the games were positive for the athletes, who wanted to engage in the competition and meet other Indigenous peoples. They also hoped to make money by selling handicrafts. There was a great deal of good natured banter about who would go, and the scene in which the Indigenous peoples were seeking to make latex balls -a difficult process- was a funny one. …

Syllabus for an online “Introduction to Latin American Studies” course

This winter I am teaching an “Introduction to Latin American Studies” course in a fully online format. In order to create a sense of community, I have scaffolded a number of assignments around a slideshow presentation that students will upload in the final week, which will entail students sharing their work throughout the course. I have no text assigned for the course. Instead, I have assigned articles accessed through permanent links to the library database, while the videos are accessed through the streaming video feature of my university library. Please note that for this reason almost all links in this syllabus will not work for people outside the Portland State University system. I hope that this syllabus gives some of you ideas as you work on your own syllabi. I also want to thank Christine Boyle, whose own outstanding syllabi and course inspired my own class.

If you are interested in Latin America, you might also wish to see my own book on military terror in Brazil.

Shawn Smallman, Portland State University

Global Perspectives: Latin America

University Studies, UNST 233/INTL 240

A fully online class

 

Professor Smallman                                            Graduate mentor: TBA

Rm. 345, East Hall

Phone: 503-725-99XX

E-mail: smallmans@pdx.edu

 

Office Hours: Monday 1-3pm using Google Chat.

 

Introduction:

 

With Latinos/as now the largest minority group in the United States, and Brazil’s economy larger than Britain’s, Latin America is attracting considerable attention in the United States. While its people struggle to preserve the region’s artistic, literary and cultural heritage, Latin America also is experiencing rapid political and economic change. This class explores the rich diversity of peoples, histories and cultures that together define Latin America, from the Caribbean to the Southern Cone. This class will also give you a foundation from which to choose classes in the Global Studies cluster, if you decide to pursue it. Bienvenidos! Sejam Bemvindo! …

Ancient Migrations: the evidence of Oceania

Moai at Rano Raraku by Aurbina at Wikipedia Commons
Moai at Rano Raraku by Aurbina at Wikipedia Commons

In earlier post I talked about the fact that some places that appear remote -such as the Arctic- have long experienced globalization. Norse traders left their signs in the Canadian High Arctic centuries before Columbus, while an Inuit artist carved a small wooden statue  of a European visitor with a cross on its chest, and European style clothing. But a Chinese coin in the Yukon, and a Viking outpost in Newfoundland, Canada, are not the only relic of these ancient cross-oceanic movements of people and goods.

Perhaps no location on earth is as remote as Easter Island, an island located over 2000 miles to the west of South America in the Pacific. But there has long been evidence that before European discovery in 1722, the islanders had already made contact with the Americas, given that they cultivated sweet potatoes, a crop from the Americas. But now we have more direct evidence, in the genetics of the Rapa Nui, the indigenous peoples of Easter Island. A recent study has found that genes from the native peoples of the Americas entered the Rapa Nui population between 19 and 23 generations ago. In a sense this is unsurprising, because the Polynesians were such incredible travelers that they had settled remote islands throughout vast areas of the Pacific. If they could reach New Zealand -and the sub-Antarctic islands to its south, including the Antipodes- why not South America? If you are curious about learning more about these people -and their amazing navigation skills- please see Tom Koppel’s work, Mystery Islands: Discovering the Ancient Pacific. While people know about the strange statues of Easter Island, they may not be familiar with Nan Madol and other wonders. …

Video Review: The Galápagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden

"San Cristobal Island And Kicker Rock/leon Dormido, Galapagos" by xura at freedigitalphotos.net
“San Cristobal Island And Kicker Rock/leon Dormido, Galapagos” by xura at freedigitalphotos.net

People are fascinated by islands, as world’s apart from the ordinary, where people can escape from others, or imagine a different world. This attraction has long drawn people to some of the most unlikely islands imaginable, including Floreana island in the Galápagos. Although small, off major shipping lanes, and plagued by periodic drought, Floreana island appeared attractive to those Germans in the 1930s who were looking for an escape from their society. Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine’s video uses letters, home movies, and oral history to recreate the story of three groups of Germans that came to populate the island. …

A book review of Dave Zirin, Brazil’s Dance with the Devil

1st Royal Engineers, who reached the first FA cup final in 1872, from Wikipedia Commons
1st Royal Engineers, who reached the first FA cup final in 1872, from Wikipedia Commons

With the World Cup starting in Brazil this week, it’s worth reviewing a book on Brazil, soccer and international sporting organizations. Dave Zirin is a well-known sports writer who has covered other major events, such as the summer Olympics in Athens. HIs book seeks to explain why preparations for the World Cup, as well as the 2016 Summer Olympics, have created a wave of protest within the country. The book is written in a popular style, by a non-expert in Brazil. The strength of the book is his deep understanding of both FIFA (the International Soccer Association) and the Olympics. Overall, his book is a good introduction to the issues in a readable format. By the end the reader will have no difficulty understanding the current wave of outrage in Brazil caused by the preparations for these events. …

Brazil, soccer, and tragedy

Christoph Niemann has an incredibly beautiful animated story book about Brazilian soccer in the New York Times. The piece integrates photography, video, music and animation to tell the story of the Maracanaço, when Brazil lost to Uruguay in 1950. Brazilians remember this event as a collective trauma to the national psyche. Even if you are not a soccer fan, you will want to see this. This storybook is a work of art that should be mandatory viewing before the World Cup begins in Brazil next week. Want to see more posts about Brazil? Click here. Or you can find my own work on military terror in Brazil here.

Shawn Smallman

Brazil’s “Nobody deserves to be raped” campaign

When I did my doctoral research in Brazil during the 1990s there was a pervasive fear of the police. I remember once watching as the police hunted someone who had gone into hiding, while I sat safely in a tram in central Rio de Janeiro. As the police poked into alleys and boxes, the other passengers had a look of disgust on their face, while the people on the street looked terrified. I escaped any serious crime while living in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and 1993. But I knew many people who had stories about carjackings, muggings and worse. When I did fieldwork in Sao Paulo in 2005 for my book in HIV in Latin America, I interviewed drug traffickers and users, most of whom were using crack, although injecting drugs were also common amongst an older generation of drug users. I went into the favelas, many of which were totally under the control of the drug lords at that time. One day I was at an NGO that did harm mitigation work around drugs. We were supposed to work in a favela that afternoon, but then a phone call came. The drug lords had closed the favela to protest some action that the government had taken, and nobody could enter it that day. …

Drought in Northeastern Brazil

"Mystery Land" by prozac1
“Mystery Land” by prozac1

In 1990 I did an immersion program in Pernambuco, Brazil. I spent weeks in Recife and the colonial city of Olinda, where I saw baroque churches, staggering poverty and urban life. I also heard the rich folklore and oral traditions that survived in the region regarding everything from nineteenth century bandits to messianic leaders. And of course I learned about the droughts, which have engulfed the region time after time. Lately there has been a great deal of attention given to the drought in the American West, and in particular California. But there is also a drought in Brazil that is so bad that dams cannot be relied upon to supply power. The Global Post has had a great series of reports on the disaster, which includes text, video and a photo essay. And if you want to have a deeper understanding of events there, read Nicholas Gabriel Arons’ Waiting for Rain: The Politics and Poetry of Drought in Northeast Brazil. Or if you want to dive into literature to understand the region’s past, read Jorge Amado’s Violent Land. You can also see more posts about Brazil at this blog here. Or you can find my own book on Brazil here.

Shawn Smallman, Portland State University

Energy Reform in Mexico and Brazil

"The Offshore Drilling Oil Rig And Supply Boat Side View" by num_skyman at freedigitalphotos.net
“The Offshore Drilling Oil Rig And Supply Boat Side View” by num_skyman at freedigitalphotos.net

I’ve just returned from three weeks in southern Mexico, where the biggest political issue in the news has been the President’s energy reform plan. In 1938 Mexican President Lazaro Cardenas nationalized the petroleum industry. This measure attracted popular acclaim in Mexico, and fury in the United States. While President Roosevelt was pressured to act, he knew that World War Two was coming, and had little interest in alienating a key neighbor. The state oil company PEMEX is now Mexico’s largest economic organization, and a source of national pride. When you travel in Mexico, all of the gas stations have the green stripe and red eagle of PEMEX. But now the company faces massive challenges. …

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. See our Privacy Policy for details. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. If you do not consent, click here to opt out of Google Analytics.