Project for Historical Education

PHE's next workshop will acknowledge the two-hundredth anniversary of revolutions in Latin America. "Race and Revolution in Latin America: Independence and Its Consequences, 1808-1824," will take place on Saturday, September 29th, and will be taught by Dr. John Chasteen. Dr. Chasteen is the Daniel W. Patterson Distinguished Term Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His workshop will pull material and insights from his forthcoming book, Americanos: Latin American's Struggles for Independence, that will be published by Oxford University Press in 2008.

The workshop will be held at the Carolina Center for Educational Excellence in Chapel Hill and will begin at 10 am and end at 3 pm. Continental breakfast and a full lunch will be provided. Each participant will earn .5 Continuing Education Units. There is no cost for this program.

To register please send an email to phe@unc.edu by Monday September 24th.

We encourage you to let your friends and colleagues know about this workshop. Please direct them to our website or download our flyer and pass it on.

The Carolina Center for Educational Excellence is located at 9201 Seawell School Road in Chapel Hill. There is ample free parking. Directions to the workshop site can be found at: http://www.unc.edu/ccee/directions/

We hope to see you there!

In order to encourage participation from teachers across the state of North Carolina, PHE now offers travel stipends to participants who travel more than 100 miles to attend workshops. PHE will award a twenty-five (25) dollar stipend for each workshop attended by long-distance travelers. PHE will award the stipend at the end of the academic year in the spring. This stipend will be available to only those workshops held in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Funding for this travel grant and for PHE comes from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Our presenter John Chasteen has pointed me toward an excellent article on the history of Latin America. It provides a lot of background information that will prove useful for Saturday's workshop. I recommend that you read the article by visiting it online or by downloading it here. What we learn on Saturday will be the richer for doing so.

Dr. Chasteen has also given PHE brief descriptions of the morning and afternoon workshops. The morning session will be divided into two, as will the afternoon one. Below is his organization and conceptualization of the sessions:

MORNING SESSION - How and why did América move toward independence in 1808-1812?
While not without its tensions, colonial society in América was notably stable and hierarchical (even structured by a caste system), with no large scale movements for political transformation around 1800. The European presence was tiny, ruling through “hegemony” rather than force. The 1807-08 Napoleonic Invasion of Spain and Portugal suddenly and thoroughly destabilized the colonial system, however. Spain’s throne was usurped by Napoleon; Portugal’s was transported to Rio de Janeiro. Americano subjects rallied to the support of their monarchs in 1808-10, while, at the same time, affirming their autonomy from Spain and Portugal. They spoke of crowns “with two pillars,” equal and parallel, one in Europe and one in América.

AFTERNOON SESSION - What were the consequences?
Initial defeat of independence movements, 1811-1815. True revolutionaries took control of these movements, but most people, even their followers, did not share their republicanism. After recovering from the Napoleonic invasion, Spanish forces reconquered almost all of América. Eventual triumph of movements without strong social or ideological basis, 1816-1824. Spain’s military solution proved counter-productive, strengthening a sense of Americano distinctness. Fernando VII discredited himself. Independence comes as a consensus, with little reformist content, except for a firm commitment to popular sovereignty. Troublesome unfinished business, 1825-1875: There were large obstacles to making popular sovereignty a reality. This became an important cause of ensuing conflict throughout the region.

Thanks to all of you who have registered for our first workshop "Race and Revolution in Latin America: Independence and Its Consequences, 1808-1824." Remember that it is this Saturday September 29th from 10am to 3pm in Room C105-106 at the Carolina Center for Educational Excellence. Registration begins at 9:30am. For directions, please click here. Please contact phe@unc.edu if your plans change.