SOCI0756-1

Duration

15h Th, 15h SEM

Number of credits

	Master in population and development studies (120 ECTS)	3 crédits
	Extra courses intended for exchange students (Erasmus, ...) (Faculty of social sciences)	3 crédits

Lecturer

Laurent Delcourt, Bernard Duterme, Marc Poncelet, Frédéric Thomas

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

26/9 - Historical, social and political overview of Latin America and the Caribbean

A land of contrasts, the Latin American continent is considered the most unequal in the world. An important part of its social structures, its conflicts, and its place on the international scene is rooted in its colonial and post-colonial history. The introduction will provide a synthetic overview of the continent, highlighting lines of rupture and continuity up to the present day; it will also provide a framework for the following sessions.

17/10 - "Extractivism" and socio-environmental issues

Rich in natural resources, the Latin American continent has traditionally based its development on the export of raw materials. At the beginning of the 21st century, in a particular regional and global, political and economic context, this strategy is renewed. Between the escape from poverty and the dependency trap, the deployment of public policies and environmental degradation, the promotion of development and the intensification of social conflicts, the results of this strategy continue to be debated, and shed light on issues that are still relevant today and that go beyond Latin America.

14/11 - Land, agrarian policies and the rural world

Many of the social problems facing Latin American societies have their origins in their agrarian past, marked by the private appropriation of space, the preponderance of large estates and the marginalization of the peasantry. Inherited from the colonial period, the land structure has profoundly shaped social relations and conditioned political dynamics on the continent. Faced with the process of land concentration, the rural world will nevertheless mobilize. Access to land will become the main leitmotiv of Latin American social - and revolutionary - movements in the 20th century. And agrarian reforms were initiated by progressive governments and plebiscitary regimes. But these reforms were also met with resistance from the elites and a dynamic of counter-reforms. These will accompany the movement of "conservative modernization" of agriculture that began in the 1970s.

5/12 (a) - Progressive governments, social policies and popular movements

Latin America still a rebel? The first fifteen years of this century were marked by a wave of progressive governments in the subcontinent. And by new social policies. This was followed by alternations - from the right to the left - that were either populist or more traditional, in a context of severe economic and political crises. The great reconfigurations of the period did not extinguish or unify social struggles: calls for redistribution on the one hand, respect for the environment and the territories on the other. The issue has become the main dividing factor in Latin American protests, despite the processes of containment, co-option, repression and dilution that undermine them.

5/12 (b) - The indigenous question: between exclusion and affirmation

The indigenous question remains central in Latin America. First, because the "first peoples" are part of the plural identity of the region and continue to represent in several countries - Guatemala, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador... - important "minority majorities" and in others - Mexico, Chile... - strong "active minorities". Secondly, because it is from these populations that rebellions have arisen in recent decades, thanks to the political and economic liberalization of the continent, which are the bearers of a new "decolonial" relationship to modernity and which demand a reconciliation of the principles of equality and diversity within national states and the globalized economy.

Frédéric Thomas, Laurent Delcourt, Bernard Duterme, CETRI researchers.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

At the end of this course, students will have a solid overview of the many issues (social, economic, environmental) that cross Latin America.

They will read contributions and debate with the course speakers.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Reading of scientific and grey literature.

Interest in the theme of the course.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

ex cathedra course

4 sessions of 3 hours face-to-face.

26/09

17/10

14/11

5/12

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course

Additional information:

Face to face

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Contacts

Justine Contor

jcontor@uliege.be

Melissa Schneider

melissa.schneider@uliege.be

Latin America: political, economic and social reconfigurations