Course credit
3 credit hours
Course description
Historical, political, social, and cultural elements that form the civilization of Latin America.
Delivery
This course is available in a print-based format. Mail completed assignments to the GIS Office. We will forward them to the instructor for grading.
Prerequisites
UNI students: No credit if prior credit in 780:120.
May not be taken for credit toward History majors or minors.
Instructor
Robert Talbott, Professor Emeritus
Evaluation
15 assignments, 3 exams
Overview
This course, Non-Western Cultures-Latin America, satisfies the Non-Western requirement in the UNI Liberal Arts Core. It is designed to examine a broadly defined culture area, Latin America, so that students will be exposed to a different socio-cultural system. Since it is important for students to see how various segments of a socio-cultural system relate to each other, the environment and the history, this course deals holistically with the society and cultural life style.
The course will introduce students to the culture area, Latin America, so that they may come to appreciate its richness and diversity and discern the similarities and differences in the ways human beings interact with their environment and each other.
Included in the course will be the basic social scientific and humanistic concepts, terms, and attitudes so that students might overcome any ethnocentrism and understand and appreciate cultures other than their own. Students should recognize that when they learn about another culture area, they come to understand their own culture more deeply.
Course organization
Each assignment consists of introductory comments on the events, individuals, and issues covered in the readings, a reading assignment, a list of important names and terms, and questions. The lists and questions emphasize the major points to be understood in each lesson and help prepare you for the exams.
Some questions are broad and require you to draw for your responses from all of the readings assigned for that lesson and perhaps from earlier lessons. Other questions are more specific. Your answers may vary in length from a few sentences to several paragraphs. For lesson 1 you have a map assignment.
Grading
Your final grade will be based on the written assignments of the 15 lessons and the three exams. The first exam will be given after the fifth lesson and the second exam after the tenth lesson. The final exam will cover the last five lessons.
The exams will consist of both objective and essay questions. There will be 25 multiple choice questions worth one point each and three essay questions worth 25 points.
Each written assignment and exam will be given a letter grade (A, B, C, D, F) and a plus or minus (A-, D+) where appropriate. Your work on the 15 assignments will constitute one-fourth of the final grade, and each exam will also count one-fourth.
Textbook(s)
Keen, B. A History of Latin America. 6th edition, 2nd vol. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000.
Keen, B. Latin American Civilization: History and Society, 1492 to the Present. 7th edition. Bolder, CO: Westview Press, 2000.
Texts are available from www.bookfinder.com
University Book and Supply carries most books used in guided independent study.
To search for textbooks by course, click on "Select a Campus Term" and select Univ.Northern Iowa - Guided Independent Study
Visit the store at 1009 West 23rd Street, Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Phone: 319-266-7581 or 800-728-7581
Fax: 319-277-1266
E-mail: bookstore@panthersupply.com
To enroll
ONLINE
GIS enrollment information
IN PERSON
UNI Continuing and Distance Education
2637 Hudson Road (corner of 27th St. and Hudson Rd.)
Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0223
Campus map (Look for Building 31)
For more information
Cindy Klodt, Guided Independent Study
UNI Continuing and Distance Education
319-273-2123 or 800-772-1746
ContinuingEd@uni.edu