HIST 8B
Modern Latin America
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Introductory survey of social, political, and economic history of Latin America after independence, region that includes Mexico, Central and South America, and Caribbean. Formation of independent nation states and political regimes and quest for sovereignty and its challenges in shadow of U.S., approached from bottom up through lens of social history, everyday life, and popular culture. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2021 - I thought the class was alright. Professor Derby's lectures were somewhat disorganized and occasionally hard to follow, but she and the TA Becca were helpful in clarifying when you ask questions. The class was mostly based on two papers and discussion posts in the Slack. The papers weren't graded too harshly and Becca was helpful if you wanted feedback on your work. The textbooks are necessary for the papers, but you don't need to read everything, just enough to include the material for the topic you're writing about. I definitely learned a lot of new and interesting information overall, despite the disorganization.
Winter 2021 - I thought the class was alright. Professor Derby's lectures were somewhat disorganized and occasionally hard to follow, but she and the TA Becca were helpful in clarifying when you ask questions. The class was mostly based on two papers and discussion posts in the Slack. The papers weren't graded too harshly and Becca was helpful if you wanted feedback on your work. The textbooks are necessary for the papers, but you don't need to read everything, just enough to include the material for the topic you're writing about. I definitely learned a lot of new and interesting information overall, despite the disorganization.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2024 - It was refreshing to finally have a Latino professor at this school which made me really found of professor perez-montesinos but the lectures got so boring sometimes. Don't get me wrong, the material is very interesting when you really sat down and discussed it, but the lectures felt like they just dragged. We were assigned readings from two books each week which you needed to discuss in discussion section, with that being said, you don't really need to go to lecture to learn the material. Even just skimming the book is enough. Vivian is the best TA and is so refreshing again to see a fellow Latina in higher education. He assigns take home quizzes spread out through the quarter but they aren't very hard to find iykwim. What i really enjoyed tho was the extra credit he offered if we attended presentations related to latin america that were given on campus. I found myself attending and learning a lot of really cool things. Midterm was a short story that had to be set in 1800-1920s latin america so if you know just the basics of the class, its really easy. Final was 4 short answer questions, each a page long that were take home. Cake. Overall I would recommend this class because its very easy to get by in and it is very interesting to learn about latin america. Hopefully his lecture style becomes less dense , if not, just save your NYT Games for this class.
Winter 2024 - It was refreshing to finally have a Latino professor at this school which made me really found of professor perez-montesinos but the lectures got so boring sometimes. Don't get me wrong, the material is very interesting when you really sat down and discussed it, but the lectures felt like they just dragged. We were assigned readings from two books each week which you needed to discuss in discussion section, with that being said, you don't really need to go to lecture to learn the material. Even just skimming the book is enough. Vivian is the best TA and is so refreshing again to see a fellow Latina in higher education. He assigns take home quizzes spread out through the quarter but they aren't very hard to find iykwim. What i really enjoyed tho was the extra credit he offered if we attended presentations related to latin america that were given on campus. I found myself attending and learning a lot of really cool things. Midterm was a short story that had to be set in 1800-1920s latin america so if you know just the basics of the class, its really easy. Final was 4 short answer questions, each a page long that were take home. Cake. Overall I would recommend this class because its very easy to get by in and it is very interesting to learn about latin america. Hopefully his lecture style becomes less dense , if not, just save your NYT Games for this class.