Disclaimer: Not a final version. Content subject to change.
GPHY 258 – The Geography of South America
Course Coordinator
Office
Contact Time
Format
Class assessment
Email: [email protected]
W. George Lovell
D305 Macintosh-Corry Hall
One three-hour lecture per week
Phone: 533-6000 extension 36041
Lectures, discussions, and film screenings based on course texts and readings
Galeano Project Proposal: 20%; Galeano Project: 40%
Final “Take-Home” Exam: 40%
GPHY 258 is designed to serve as an introduction to the lands and peoples of South America. Course content requires
students to think critically about the historical forces shaping the geography of the vast and complex continent. The
varying nature of colonial experiences is of primary concern, with similarities and differences drawn between the
operation of the two great imperial powers, Spain and Portugal. We focus in Weeks Two through Six on Brazil, with
themes of European arrival and intrusion, indigenous survival, environmental alteration, political and economic
organization, and the national ethos of order, progress, and development subjected to scrutiny. In Weeks Seven
through Twelve we focus on parts of South America under Spanish, not Portuguese rule during colonial times, paying
particular attention to Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, where themes of troubled nationhood,
international drug trafficking, violence and revolution, the role of Great Britain as well as the United States, and the
consequences of geographical marginalization are highlighted.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
 To provide a critical appreciation of how present-day conditions of life throughout the region came to be.
 To foster a better understanding of how Canadian and U.S. interests affect South American realities.
COURSE TOPICS
As indicated in the course overview above.
SELECTED COURSE TEXTS & READINGS
Eduardo Galeano, Memory of Fire trilogy, available from the Campus Bookstore:
Volume One, Genesis (1985).
Volume Two, Faces and Masks (1987).
Volume Three, Century of the Wind (1988).
Geography 257 (Fall 2016) Coursebook, available from the Campus Bookstore.