Universität Wien

070267 SE Research Seminar Applied Global History (2019W)

The Nicaraguan Revolution (1979). Perspectives from Global History

10.00 ECTS (4.00 SWS), SPL 7 - Geschichte
Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 25 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Tuesday 08.10. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 15.10. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 22.10. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 29.10. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 05.11. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 12.11. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 19.11. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 26.11. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 03.12. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 10.12. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 17.12. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 07.01. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 14.01. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 21.01. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10
  • Tuesday 28.01. 14:15 - 17:15 Seminarraum Geschichte 1 Hauptgebäude, 1.Stock, Stiege 10

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

This research seminar will not exclusively deal with the 1979 revolution in Nicaragua. Nevertheless, Nicaragua serves as a starting point to analyze 20th ct. revolutions and revolutionaries in Latin America. Its centrality is owed to the broad participation of Sandinista male AND female militants. It is the gender relation that matters in this definition of a revolution even though, it is only one of the many concepts of revolutions and revolts debated, not only in Latin America and the global South in general.
Considering the outcome of a revolution, to say, whether it was successful to overthrow a former regime in the long run by definitely defeating it, few cases count. The Mexican revolution of 1911-17, the Cuban revolution of 1959, Nicaragua's Sandinista revolution of 1979; but if it comes to revolutionaries not only the Tupamaros and Agusto César Sandino needs to be seen in the same way as Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa who were the very protagonists of the Mexican revolution. Fidel Castro in Cuba and Ernesto Che Guevarra are equally identified with the revolution in Cuba. But, was Salvador Allende also a revolutionary. Things are getting more complicated if we are adding unsuccessful revolutionaries who had not participated in the overthrowing of a regime but fought for liberation as guerrill*s, e.g. Domitila Barrios. She was a unionist and protagonist of the eventually defeated MNR resistance of Bolivia in 1952 ff. By the way, does Evo Morales' enduring government indicate a revolutionary move? And, how will history evaluate the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez? Last but not least, the term revolución also applies in the context of Rigoberta Menchu's resistance in Guatemala, or even more prominently in Mexico, when in 1994 the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN) launched its claims for autonomy from the Selva Lacandona of Chiapas, with comandante Ramona on front of it.

Assessment and permitted materials

The assumption of this common research seminar is that we will prepare an edited volume on one aspect of revolutions in Latin America.
Students are expected to attend all classes, to evaluate mid-term papers of each other (cross reading), to write a final research paper and to present the results of their research at the end of the class.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

The final grades are based on attendance and active participation in class, the oral presentations, including cross reading, and the final paper.

Examination topics

Reading list

Brands, Hal. Latin America’s Cold War. Cambridge, MA/London: Harvard University Press, 2012 [Chapter 6, The Nicaraguan Revolution, pp. 164-188].
Hobsbawm, Eric. Age of Extremes: the short twentieth century 1914-1991. London: Joseph, 1995 [Chapter 15, Third World and Revolution, pp. 433-460].
Hobsbawm, Eric John. Revolutionaries: contemporary essays. New York: Pantheon Books, 1973.
Vilas, Carlos M. “Popular Insurgency and Social Revolution in Central America", in: Latin American Perspectives 15:1, (1988), pp. 55-77.
Walker, Thomas W. (Ed.). Revolution and Counterrevolution in Nicaragua. Boulder, CO/San Francisco/Oxford: Westview Press, 1991.
Westad, Odd Arne. The Global Cold War. Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times. Cambridge [et. al.]: Cambridge University Press, 2005 [Chapter 9, The 1980s & the Nicaraguan Revolution, pp. 331-348.

Association in the course directory

MA Globalgeschichte: FK Angewandte Globalgeschichte (10 ECTS); MA Geschichte (SP Globalgeschichte 10 ECTS)

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:20