UA CLASS THIS FALL: The Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery

Special Topics:  Fall 2013 Class MAS 496A
The Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery
Professor Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez, PhD
DATES 8/26/2013 – 12/11/2013
Tues  3:30-6pm
Cesar Chavez Bldg, Rm 104

Rodrigu7@email.arizona.edu 520-626-0824
Office Hours: TUES 1-3pm or by apt

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This class will examine the dark ages philosophy of the Doctrine of Discovery, that which created the colonial model of the world.  It will examine how this doctrine continues to be alive and have reverberations in Arizona today. It will examine the papal bulls of the colonial era and the Requerimiento, documents that enabled the doctrine. It will examine international law, The Monroe Doctrine, The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the Gadsen Purchase, and the 2007 UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples.

Students will examine the international treaties and decrees that determine(d) what makes people human/inhuman, whether they have souls and are godless, whether they are legal/illegal, and what makes people entitled to full equality under the law.

The class will be taught as part of collaboration between Indigenous scholars throughout the country, including Steve Newcombe (Pagans in the Homeland), along with Tonatierra in Phoenix and Calpolli Teoxicalli and the Indigenous Alliance Without Borders in Tucson. The class will examine the proceedings of an April 19-20, 2013 conference on the same topic. This includes an examination of HB 2281 and SB 1070 in relationship to the doctrine and international law.

Knowledge of Spanish is useful, but not necessary. Students will carry on individualized or collaborative research projects involving these topics. Creative projects are encouraged. Students will write one personal/research paper and one research paper, and several in-class assignments – by hand. The content of these research papers may become the basis for presentations for a symposium. 

This course requiring previous coursework in Mexican American Studies. For further info, please contact: MAS at Margaret Yrun: mcyrun@email.arizona.edu - 520-626-8103 or Chavez Bldg. Rm. 208  - Tucson, AZ 85721.