History 293: Dirty Wars and Democracy

(Inauguration of the Monument to the Dead and Disappeared, General Cemetary, Santiago, Chile - 1990- La Nación)

Tuesday/Thursday 9:35-10:50 AM; King 337
Mr. Volk

Office: Rice 309
Office Phone: 58522
Email: Steven.Volk@oberlin.edu
Office Hours: Tues 11-Noon; Wed 1:30-2:30; Thurs 3:30-4:30, and by appointment

HIST 293 Blog	http://languages.oberlin.edu/hist293/
HISP 293: Dirty Wars LxC Section	http://www.oberlin.edu/faculty/svolk/hisp293f08LxCsyllabus.htm

 

Overview:

During the 1960s and 1970s, military dictatorships surged over the Americas, covering, at one point, every country in South America save Colombia and Venezuela. While military rulers were not an unusual occurrence in many Latin American countries, these regimes were in no sense “typical” military dictatorships. Indeed, they were striking for the intensely political nature of their aims, and for the economic approaches they imposed, as well as for the sheer brutality of their methods which targeted an almost exclusively civilian population. These were the regimes that gave rise to the term “dirty war,” introduced “disappear” into our grammar as a transitive verb, and which adapted and invented whole new lexicons of terror. At the same time, the very concept of a "dirty" war continues to raise a number of issues:

Aren't all wars “dirty”? One can certainly question whether there are any wars which don't involve or target civilian populations, unleash sexual violence against women, or, to the extent that they are fought by democratic powers, suspend the essential rules which characterize a democracy. Yet if the majority of wars historically can be said to have been fought against external enemies (those who resided on the other side of the border or who were otherwise "externalized" by virtue of their race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin), the essence of the "dirty wars" in Latin America is that they were launched against domestic populations defined by those in power as "foreign" by virtue of their (presumed) political beliefs.

Don't all states target domestic populations at various times? While all states hold a (theoretic) monopoly on the sanctioned use of force, and many will use this force disproportionally against specific (internal) populations, the "dirty wars" amount to a significant deployment of brute force intended to terrorize one's own population.

Many Latin American regimes of the 1960s and 1970s could fit the model of this "dirty war" state (which has also been called a “bureaucratic-authoritarian” dictatorship, a "national security" state, or a "state of exception"), but here we will concentrate only on the “Southern Cone” countries of South America, paying particular attention to Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

Grappling with the issues raised by the “dirty wars” is not past history in these countries, nor is it a topic of only marginal relevance in the United States. In terms of the former, in the past few years a growing number those accused of crimes committed under the "special circumstances" of the dictatorships in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Peru, Guatemala and elsewhere have been arrested and tried. In terms of the latter, two issues have brought the topic of the "dirty wars" directly to a U.S. focus. In the first place, over the last decade, the United States has begun to release thousands of documents which lend evidence to arguments that the U.S. government helped bring about and then support Latin America's dictators. Secondly, it is increasingly clear that Washington, in its efforts to pursue its own concept of national security, has adopted tactics distressingly similar to those used in the Southern Cone countries during the "dirty wars": torture, detention without charges or limits, disappearances, cross-border rendition, the amplification of executive power at the extense of legislative power, the increase of government secrecy, the expansion of warrantless domestic spying, etc. Clearly, to quote William Faulkner, "The past is never dead. It's not even past." (Requiem for a Nun)

Course Objectives:

Course Organization:

Classes will be held as lecture-discussions, with student participation actively encouraged. The course requires a significant amount of reading, and students are expected to keep up with the readings so as to be able to participate intelligently and energetically in class.

HIST 293 Blog: As a supplement to this course, I am managing a blog at: http://languages.oberlin.edu/hist293/. I intend the blog to be used for a number of purposes: (1) To provide up-to-date news about "dirty war" issues; (2) to give you a chance to share ideas, insights and perspectives in the informal environment of a blog; (3) to allow you to share your work, bibliographies, and other useful resources; and (4) to move your discussions from the classroom to the larger world.

HISP 293 - Dirty Wars LxC [Languages across the Curriculum]: Concurrent to this course, we are offering a one-credit course [HISP 293-01 - Dirty Wars LxC Section, CRN: 8115] to allow students to study and discuss course materials in Spanish. The section, which will meet once a week (tba), will be led by Patrick O'Connor from Hispanic Studies. It will require additional reading in Spanish, discussion in Spanish, and writing in Spanish. If you are interested in the course, you need to register for it separately from HIST 293 (although you cannot register only for HISP 293).

Assignments: Besides keeping up with the readings and participating in the blog, when possible, there are three main assignments in the class:

Grading:

Plagiarism: "The word plagiarism derives from Latin roots: plagiarius, an abductor, and plagiare, to steal. The expropriation of another author’s work, and the presentation of it as one’s own, constitutes plagiarism and is a serious violation of the ethics of scholarship." [American Historical Association, Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct]. As much as I would like to say that plagiarism doesn't occur at Oberlin, I encounter at least one, if not more, serious incident each semester. It is always very straight forward: students copy sections of other texts and attempt to pass them off as their own work. Copying the work of others goes against everything that a liberal education is about. It is a serious affront to the other students in the course, to me as instructor, and to the plagiariser him/herself. For further information on plagiarism at Oberlin, see the student Honor Code, pg. 1. If you have questions about what constitutes plagiarism, particularly in the context of joint or collaborative projects, please see me or raise it in class.

Students with Disabilities:

Appropriate accommodations will always be granted to students with documented disabilities. Any questions about the necessary process of documenting disabilities should be addressed to Jane Boomer, Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities (Peters G27-28; x5-5588).

Books Recommended for Purchase

All required readings are available in the Reserve Room of Mudd. Some (see the syllabus) are available in electronic copies posted on the course site in Blackboard. Additional copies of the books in the course can be obtained through OHIOLink -- just make sure you request them with enough time. The following books have been ordered for the bookstore and can be purchsed there as well as at on-line booksellers. Vendors such as Amazon (linked here) often offer used versions.

Syllabus

Sept 2, 4

Introduction: When the World Goes Mad

 

Sept. 9, 11	Reading
Chile - "Pre-History" - The Socialist Challenge	Peter Winn, Weavers of Revolution: The Yarur Workers and Chile's Road to Socialism (NY: Oxford University Press), 1989.

 

(Salvador Allende, "History isn't dead" - student project, Oberlin College, 2003)

Sept. 16, 18	Reading
Chile - The Foundational Years	Steve J. Stern, Battling for Hearts and Minds. Memory Struggles in Pinochet's Chile, 1973-1988 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006), Part I - to pg. 245.

 

Sept. 23, 25	Reading
Sept 23: Argentina - "Pre-History" - The Collapse of Civil Society	Martin Edwin Andersen, Dossier Secreto: Argentina's Desaparecidos and the Myth of the "Dirty War" (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993), pp. 23-172. (Available in Blackboard and Print Reserves)
Sept. 25: Guest Lecture: Hiber Conteris (The Revolutionary 1960s in Latin America)

(Tupamaro march, Uruguay)

Sept. 30 (no class), Oct 1	Reading
Argentina - The Foundational Years	Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture (NY: Oxford University Press, 1999), Introduction, Chapters 1 & 2 (pp. 3-88).

Oct. 7, 9 (no class)

Reading

Uruguay - The Foundational Years (Guest Lecture: Patrick O'Connor)

Lawrence Weschler, "Liberty," in A Miracle, A Universe (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990), 83-172. [Blackboard and Print Reserves] Jeffrey Ryan, "Turning on Their Masters: State Terrorism and Unlearning Democracy in Uruguay" in Cecilia Menjívar and Néstor Rodríguez, When States Kill: Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of Terror (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005), pp. 278-304. [Blackboard and Print Reserves] Mauricio Rosencof, "On Suffering, Song, and White Horses," and Hiber Conteris, "On Spatial and Temporal Exile: Expatriation and Prison Life," Saúl Sosnowski and Louise B. Popkin, eds., Repression, Exile and Democracy: Uruguayan Culture (College Park, MD: University of Maryland, 1987), pp. 120-132; 190-195. [Blackboard and Print Reserves]

 

October 14: First Assignment due at the start of class: The Way In. Each military dictatorship legitimizes its own rise to power, most often arguing that its seizure of power was intended to "save" democracy. Using a single country (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay or Brazil), analyze the political and rhetorical claims of the military as they took (and held) power. [7 pgs based on secondary and (where possible) primary sources]

 

Oct. 14, 16

Reading

The National Security State

Ariel C. Armony, "Producing and Exporting State Terror: The Case of Argentina," in Cecilia Menjívar and Néstor Rodríguez, eds., When States Kill: Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of Terror (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2005), 305-331. [Blackboard and Print Reserves] Alicia Partnoy, The Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival in Argentina, 2nd ed. (Cleis Press), 1998. Please familiarize yourselves with the United Nations Covenant against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Additional reading (recommended but not required): The "Bybee Memo." The Bybee Memo is one of a series of memos prepared for the Bush Administration that laid the legal groundwork for the torture of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, and at Guantanamo. It was written by largely by John Yoo, but signed by Jay C. Bybee. Both were lawyers in the Office of Legal Council. the office which provides legal counsel to the Attorney General.   [Fernando Botero, "Abu Ghraib #66" (2005)]

 

Fall Break: Oct 18-26

 

Oct. 28, 30	Reading
Narratives of Survival	Luz Arce, The Inferno: A Story of Terror and Survival in Chile, trans. Stacey Alba Skar (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), Parts I & II. [Note: read over fall break]

 

Nov. 4, 6	Reading
Chile: The Road Out	Steve J. Stern, Battling for Hearts and Minds. Memory Struggles in Pinochet's Chile, 1973-1988 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006), Part II.

("No más miedo" (No More Fear ) - Santiago, 1988)

Nov. 11, 13	Reading
Argentina: The Road Out	Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture (NY: Oxford University Press, 1999), Chapters 3 to end.

 

Nov. 18, 20	Reading
Transitional Justice: The Problems of Justice in a World of Terror	Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden (NY: Penguin), 1994.

 

November 25: Second Assignment due at the beginning of class: The project can be on any of the following three themes: (1) Terror, violence, and the exceptional regime: While different states allow different amount of legally sanctioned violence within their constitutional structures (including the use of capital punishment), constitutional states largely eschew the use of torture and non-judicially sanctioned capital punishment. Your projects should explore the theme of violence and the exceptional regime, including an exploration of the hazy area between legally sanctioned violence and extra-legal violence. (2) The internationalization of the "dirty wars" regimes. This project can explore relations between two or more Southern Cone dictatorships (e.g. Chile and Argentina), Operación Condor, or the relationship between the United States and any particular Southern Cone dictatorship. (3) Contesting the dictatorships: This project can focus on any single or comparative examination of the ways in which the dictatorships of the Southern Cone were challenged, resisted, and (ultimately) removed. You may approach this project as a group project which will involve 3-4 people per group, or as an individual project. The format of the project is open — it can be a written paper, a performance, a video, or any other media form. If you choose to write a paper, it should be 7-10 pages in length

 

Nov. 25, Dec. 2, 4	Reading
Transitional Justice: Prosecuting Dirty War Criminals (Pro-Allende demonstrators celebrate Pinochet's death, Santiago, Dec. 12, 2006) (Pro-Pinochet demonstrators mourn Pinochet's death, Santiago, Dec. 12, 2006)	Naomi Roht-Arriaza, The Pinochet Effect: Transnational Justice in the Age of Human Rights (Univ. of Pennsylvania Press), 2006. (pgs. to be assigned) (Headline of Buenos Aires daily announcing Pinochet's death: "What has hell done to deserve this?")

 

Dec. 9, 11	Reading
The Lessons of the Dirty Wars: History Matters	Recommended: Jane Mayer, The Dark Side. The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals (New York: Doubleday), 2008. See Jane Mayer's discussion of how the popular Fox TV show, "24," portrays torture.

 

December 18: Final Project due no later than 11:00 AM: Briefing book for Congress. Your task for the final paper is to write a briefing book directed to the foreign policy aides of an incoming U.S. Senator or Congressperson. It will be your decision whether you actually send this briefing book to the member of Congress, but you will be writing as if you will send it (i.e., your purpose is to be informative and educational, not to be persuasive/rhetorical, although, I would imagine that you will be interested in expressing a specific point of view). You will be writing as a historian (not as a policy person), as someone who has studied the purpose, methods, and outcomes of dictatorships in various Latin American countries. Your purpose is to draw lessons from those experiences and provide the "advice of history" to a new Congress. Your arguments can be directed to the abstract lessons learned during the "dirty wars" period, to U.S. policy during that period, or to both. But you will most critically have to engage with the questions of the lessons of history, when and how they are applicable to a different context, a different purpose. ["Briefing Books" should be approximately 10-15 pages long. Further information will be given on format and other aspects of writing.] NOTE: There will be no extensions on this project unless you request an official incomplete in the course. Projects not turned in on time without an official incomplete will not be graded.]