Church and State in Modern Latin America
HIS363K (39440); LAS366 (40155); RS368 (43710) Instructor: Dr. Matthew Butler
Semester: FALL 2010 Office: Garrison 3.414
Time: TUE/THU 11:00-12:30 (12:15) Office hours: THU 3:30-5:30
Venue: GAR 1.126 Phone: 512-475-7972
Prerequisite: Upper Division Standing Email: mbutler@mail.utexas.edu
Description
This course traces the history of the politics of religion, and of the religion of politics, in modern Latin America. Throughout, special emphasis is placed on the history of the Roman Catholic Church in the region. Within these basic parameters, the course is both thematic and chronological in its organization.
Chronologically, the course covers begins with a brief survey of the colonial period and then gives special attention to the national period running from independence (circa 1820) up to the Cuban Revolution (circa 1960), after which both Church and state entered significantly new and distinctive phases (e.g. the emergence of bureaucratic-authoritarian military dictatorships, and of Liberation Theology and Protestantization).
Thematically, special emphasis is placed on the causes of Church-state tension in the aftermath of Latin American independence (Church wealth; allegations of clerical aloofness from the nation; disputes over ecclesiastical patronage); and on the Church’s multifacetd response to the gradual rise of political liberalism (the counter-development of a modern, intransigent Catholic culture; the sponsorship of new devotions; the promotion of “social” Catholicism and Catholic political parties; mobilization of the laity and of women, especially; identification with supportive regimes). We will also consider the character of Latin American anticlericalism in this period; the diplomatic and political relationships linking the Latin American republics (and their national churches) with Rome; and the social and educational influence of the clergy. In the second half of the course, we will begin to emphasize significant national cases (Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Guatemala), allowing the course to branch out in a more comparative sense as we proceed.
As the focus on questions of devotion as well as power implies, we will not just be looking at the way in which the Church responded to changing political circumstances after the demise of the colonial regime, but at changes in religious practice and meaning, and how these were experienced by ordinary people.
During the course we will read as a group and make time to see a selection of relevant films. There will also be at least one field trip to the San Antonio Missions.
1. Course Materials
Set texts
Justo L. González and Ondina E. González, Christianity in Latin America: A History
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Graham Greene, The Power and the Glory (London: Penguin, 2003)
Austin Ivereigh (ed.) The politics of religion in an age of revival (London: ILAS, 2000)
Edward Wright Rios, Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism: Reform and Revelation in
Oaxaca, 1887-1934 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2009)
The Greene book is a short novel. Ivereigh is an anthology, while Wright Ríos is a case study of Mexico and González and González is a general survey. We will not be reading the texts systematically, but using selections in conjunction with the essays in the reading packet. Again, we can be selective in using these so that the reading load is appropriate.
Though it is not prescribed as a set text since it is out of print, the classic work by John Lloyd Mecham, Church and State in Latin America: A History of Politico-Ecclesiastical Relations (1934. Second ed. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1966), is absolutely indispensable as a work of reference. Long out of print it is available in electronic version through the UT library catalog (simply find the item and follow the links to the “electronic resource” version).
Reading packet contents
Christopher Clark, “The New Catholicism and the European Culture Wars,” in Clark,
Christopher, & Kaiser, Wolfram (eds). Culture Wars: Secular-Catholic Conflict
in Nineteenth-Century Europe (Cambridge: CUP, 2003), 11-46
John Lynch, “The Catholic Church in Latin America, 1830-1930,” in Bethell, Leslie
(ed.), Cambridge History of Latin America vol. IV (Cambridge: CUP, 1986), 527-95
Hubert Miller, “Conservative and Liberal Concordats in Nineteenth-Century
Guatemala: Who Won?,” A Journal of Church and State 33 (1991):115-30
Hubert Miller, “Liberal Modernization and Religious Corporate Property in Nineteenth-
Century Guatemala,” in Jackson, Robert H (ed.). Liberals, the Church, and
Indian Peasants: Corporate Lands and the Challenge of Reform in 19th-Century Spanish America (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997), 95-122
Robert Knowlton, “Expropriation of Church Property in Nineteenth-Century Mexico
and Colombia: A Comparison,” The Americas 25, no. 4 (1969): 387-401
Jeffrey Klaiber, “Anticlericalism in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries,” in
Lee Penyak and Walter Petry (eds.), Religion and Society in Latin America: Interpretive
Essays from Conquest to Present (Maryknoll, 2009), 157-174
Jeffrey Klaiber, “The Great Temple of the Law. The Nineteenth-Century Origins of
Anticlericalism,” in Jeffrey Klaiber, Religion and Revolution in Peru (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1977), 7-23 (inc. notes 201-4)
Jeffrey Klaiber, “González Prada’s Anti-Catholic Knee. The Rise of Radical
Anticlericalism,” in Jeffrey Klaiber, Religion and Revolution in Peru (Notre Dame” University of Notre Dame Press, 1977), 24-44 (inc. notes, 205-9)
Pamela Voekel, “Liberal Religion. The Schism of 1861,” in Martin A. Nesvig (ed.),
Religious Cultures in Modern Mexico (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2007), 78- 105
Frederick B. Pike, “Heresy, Real and Alleged, in Peru: An Aspect of the Conservative -
Liberal Struggle, 1830-1870,” Hispanic American Historical Review 47 (1967): 50-74
Terry Rugeley, “A Culture of Conflict. Anticlericalism, Parish Problems, and
Alternative Beliefs,” in Terry Rugeley, Of Wonders and Wise Men. Religious Cultures in Southeast Mexico, 1800-1876
(Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001), 169-202
Douglass Sullivan-González, “Carrera, the Church, and Nation Formation,” in
Douglass Sullivan-González, Piety, Power, and Politics: Religion and Nation
Formation in Guatemala, 1821-1871 (Pittsburgh: U. of Pittsburgh, 2008), 81-119
Derek Williams, “The Making of Ecuador’s Pueblo Católico, 1861-1875,” in Political
Cultures in the Andes, 1750-1950, ed. Nils Jacobsen and Cristóbal Aljovín de
Losada (Durham: Duke University Press, 2005), 207-29
Karen Mead, “Gender, Welfare, and the Catholic Church in Argentina: Conferencias
de San Vicente de Paúl, 1890-1916,” The Americas 58, no. 1 (2001): 91-119
Arthur F. Liebscher, “Towards a Pious Republic: Argentine Social Catholicism in
Córdoba, 1895-1930,” A Journal of Church and State 30 (1988): 549-67
Patience Schell, “An Honorable Avocation for Ladies: The Work of the Mexico City
Unión de Damas Católicas Mexicanas, 1912-1926,” Journal of Women’s History, 10, no. 4 (1999): 78-103.
Gertrude Yeager, “In the Absence of Priests: Young Women as Apostles to the
Poor, Chile, 1922-1932,” The Americas 64, no. 2 (2007): 207-42
Enrique Dussel, “Catholic Church in Latin America since 1930,” in Bethell, Leslie (ed.),
Cambridge History of Latin America vol. VI (Cambridge: CUP, 1994), 547-82
Jean Meyer, “The Conflict between the Two Swords,” in Jean Meyer, The Cristero
Rebellion (Cambridge: CUP, 2006, reprinted 2009), 32-66
Matthew Butler, “Revolution and the Ritual Year: Religious Conflict and Innovation in
Cristero Mexico,” Journal of Latin American Studies 38 (2006): 465-90
Michael A. Burdick, “Perón, Religion, and the Catholic Church,” in For God and the
Fatherland: Religion and Politics in Argentina (Albany: SUNY Press, 1995), 45-81
Austin Ivereigh, “Catholicism and Peronism,” Catholicism and Politics in Argentina,
1810-1960 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1995), 145-82
Margaret Crahan, “Catholicism in Cuba,” Cuban Studies/Estudios Cubanos 19 (1989): 3-24
Jeffrey Klaiber, “The Catholic Lay Movement in Peru: 1867-1959,” The Americas 40,
no. 2 (1983): 149-70
Hannah Stewart-Gambino, “The Chilean Church’s Rural Policy, 1925-52,” in The
Church and Politics in the Chilean Countryside (Boulder: Westview Press, 1992), 63-89
Supplementary bibliography (suggested reading)
Kristina Boylan, “Gendering the Faith and Altering the Nation. Mexican Catholic
Women’s Activism, 1917-1940,” in Olcott, Jocelyn et al, Sex in Revolution: Gender, Politics, and Power in Modern
Mexico (Durham: Duke U. Press, 2006), 199-222
Michael Burleigh, Earthly Powers: Religion and Politics in Europe from the French
Revolution to the Great War (London: Harper Collins, 2005)
___. Sacred Causes. Religion and Politics from the European Dictators to Al Qaeda
(London: Harper Collins, 2006)
Matthew Butler, “Liberalism, Anticlericalism, and Anti-religious Currents in the
Nineteenth-Century,” in Virginia Garrard-Burnett and Paul Freston (eds.), in
Cambridge History of Religions in Latin America (forthcoming)
___. ‘Religious Developments in Mexico, 1865–1945,’ in Stephen J. Stein (ed.), Cambridge
History of Religions in the Americas (3 vols. Cambridge University Press, forthcoming
as ch. 32, vol. 2)
___. Popular Piety and Political Identity in Mexico’s Cristero Rebellion: Michoacán,
1927-1929 (Oxford: OUP, 2004)
Owen Chadwick, A History of the Popes, 1830-1914 (Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress, 2003)
Michael P. Costeloe, Church and State in Independent Mexico: A Study of the
Patronage Debate, 1821-1857 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1978)
Margaret Crahan, “Cuba: religion and revolutionary institutionalization,” Journal of Latin
American Studies 17, no. 2 (1985): 319-340
___. The Church and revolution: Cuba and Nicaragua (La Trove: La Trove University Institute
of Latin American Studies, 1983)
David F. D’Amico, “Religious liberty in Argentina during the first Perón regime, 1943-
1955,” Church History 46, no. 4 (1977): 490-503
Helen Delpar, Red against Blue: The Liberal Party in Colombian Politics, 1863-1899
(Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1981)
Michael Dodson, “Priests and Peronism: Radical Clergy and Argentine Politics,” Latin
American Perspectives 1, no. 3 (1974): 58-72
Eamon Duffy, Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1997)
Peter Henderson, Gabriel García Moreno and Conservative State Formation in
Nineteenth-Century Ecuador (Austin: UT Press, 2008)
John Hoyt Williams, “Dictatorship and the Church: Doctor Francia in Paraguay,” A
Journal of Church and State 15, no. 3 (1973): 419-436.
José Roberto Juárez, Reclaiming Church Wealth: The Recovery of Church Property
after Expropriation in the Archdiocese of Guadalajara, 1860-1911 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 2004)
John M. Kirk, “Between God and the Party: The Church in Revolutionary Cuba, 1969-
1985,” Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 11, no. 21 (1986):
93-109
Jeffrey Klaiber, The Catholic Church in Peru, 1821-1985: A Social History
(Washington: Catholic University Press of America, 1992)
Patricia Londoño-Vega, Religion, Society, and Culture in Colombia: Antioquia and
Medellín 1850-1930 (Oxford: OUP, 2002)
Tomás Eloy Martínez, Santa Evita (NY: Vintage, 1997)
Paul Christopher Manuel; Lawrence Reardon; Clyde Wilcox (eds.),The Catholic
Church and the Nation-state: Comparative Perspectives (Georgetown:
Georgetown University Press, 2006)
Jesús Méndez, “Church-State Relations in Argentina in the Twentieth Century: A
Case Study of the Thirty-Second International Eucharistic Congress,” A
Journal of Church and State 27 (1985): 223-43
Lee M. Penyak and Walter J. Petry (eds.), Religion and Society in Latin America: Interpretive
Essays from Conquest to Present (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2009)
John C. Super, “Interpretations of Church and state in Cuba, 1959-1961,” Catholic
Historical Review 89, no. 3 (2003): 511-29
Richard Trexler, Reliving Golgotha: The Passion Play of Iztapalapa (Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 2003)
Derek Williams, “Assembling the ‘Empire of Morality’: State-Building Strategies in
Catholic Ecuador, 1861-1875,” Journal of Historical Sociology 14 (2001): 149-74
Mary Watters, A History of the Church in Venezuela, 1810-1930 (Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press, 1933)
Gertrude Yeager, “Female Apostolates and Modernization in Mid-Nineteenth-
Century Chile,” The Americas 55, no. 3 (1999): 425-58
There is a vast literature in Spanish also, which covers any imaginable aspect of Church-state relations. A good starting point to explore this parallel literature is Jean Meyer, Historia de los Cristianos en América Latina (Mexico City, 1989)
Films
We will make time to view a selection of films that have a direct bearing on the religious question in Latin America, which may including some of the following: Nazarín, Canoa, Yo la peor de todas, ¡Qué Viva México!, El desierto adentro, El niño Fidencio: el taumaturgo de Espinazo
Primary documents
Select first hand documents will be supplied and distributed for discussion in class.
2. Assessment
There will be three forms of written assessment, in the form of eight short written papers (roughly one a fortnight); a mid-term quiz completed in class; and a longer final paper. There is no final exam for this course. Details on the mid-term and final will be given nearer the time. With prior agreement, small amounts of extra credit may occasionally be available by reviewing non-assigned readings by or attending relevant lectures outside class. The credit weightings for specific assignments break down as follows:
(i) Reading papers: 8 x 1-2 pp. double-spaced papers @ 5% each (= 40%)
These papers will take the form of single-question short essays based on the weekly readings. These papers are designed to ensure critical engagement with the readings and stimulate classroom discussion. Completing the papers involves a commitment as much from you (the writing) as from me (the grading). My commitment to you is that I will normally undertake to return papers within 7 days, just as you will complete your assignment in 7 days.
Reading papers are due in Weeks: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12
NB: you are allowed one freebie reading review: that is, you may elect to omit one review with no penalty. In this case, I will simply duplicate the highest grade from the other reviews that you complete across the semester. All I ask is that you notify me at or before the relevant deadline (by email or in class) that you will be exercising this option, so that I do not grade the paper as simply missing and penalize it with a zero grade.
(ii) Mid-term quiz: short answer and/or multiple choice responses (20%). For Week 8
(iii) Final paper: 10-12 pp. double-spaced (40%). For Week 15
There are two tracks for completing the final paper, one following a standard or default essay question and the other based on a topic of your choice in agreement with me. Students writing more individualized papers have previously covered topics such as the cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico; the Church and its links to the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua; and the conservative Catholic state pioneered by Gabriel García Moreno in nineteenth-century Ecuador. Substantial bibliographical research is required for both papers. There is no preference or bias in favor of either the standard or individual option, though the latter can often produce more interesting work.
Grading policies
(a) Weighting at a glance
Reading response papers (x 8 @ 5% ea. = 40%)
Mid-term quiz ( = 20%) +
Final essay (= 40%)
__________________________________________
= 100%
(b) Grading scale
UT now has a plus/minus scale for both coursework and final grades, and which will be used in this course. Letter grades will be given for individual assignments and are deemed equivalent to the percentage bands given below. At the end of the semester, the accumulated scores will be converted into a final % and final letter grade for the course using the same scale. The grading scale used in this course will be as follows:
Percentage
|
Grade
|
93-100%
90-92%
|
A
A-
|
87-89%
|
B+
|
83-86%
|
B
|
80-82%
|
B-
|
77-79%
|
C+
|
73-76%
|
C
|
70-72%
|
C-
|
67-69%
|
D+
|
63-66%
|
D
|
60-62%
|
D-
|
Below 60%
|
F
|
To do well in the assignments, you will need to keep pace with the readings; develop your analytical skills (e.g. concerning different interpretations of Latin American history, not just factual recall); develop your compositional skills (by presenting a reasoned, opinionated case on paper); and improve your communication skills (by contributing to discussions). By the end of the course, you will have an understanding of the theoretical and historical problems associated with organized religion in Latin American states and detailed knowledge of specific cases drawn selectively from across the region.
3. Course Format and Provisional Schedule
The course convenes twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Usually, but not infallibly, the format will consist of a Tuesday lecture/introduction followed by a more group-based discussion on Thursday, when assignments will also be due; roughly every two weeks you will be asked to produce written papers in response to the readings.
Wk.
|
Date
|
Topic/Activity
|
Readings by Class/Assignments
|
1.
|
THU 26 AUG
|
Registration
|
Syllabus
|
2.
|
TUE 31 AUG
THU 2 SEP
|
The Colonial LAm. Church
The LAm. Church & Independence
|
González & González, Christianity in Latin America, “The Arrival of Christianity,” pp. 40-63, & “Shaping of the Faith,” pp. 64-103
González & González, Christianity in Latin America, “Reform Movements,” pp. 104-30
Assignment: Paper 1 [“Render unto Caesar”]
Field Trip: SAN ANTONIO MISSIONS (TBC)
|
3.
|
TUE 7 SEP
THU 9 SEP
|
Church and State: Basic Concepts
Catholicism & LAm. Modernity
|
Ivereigh, “The Politics of Religion,” pp. 1-22; Clark, “The New Catholicism,” pp. 11-46
Lynch, “The Catholic Church in Latin America, 1830-1930,” pp. 527-95
Assignment: Paper 2 [The Modern Church]
|
4.
|
TUE 14 SEP
THU 16 SEP
|
The Bones of Contention (1): Church Patronage
The Bones of Contention (2): Church Property
|
Miller, “Conservative and Liberal Concordats,” pp. 115-130
Miller, “Liberal Modernization and Religious Corporate Property,” pp. 95-122; Knowlton, “The Expropriation of Church Property,” pp. 387-401
Assignment: None
|
5.
|
TUE 21 SEP
THU 23 SEP
|
Bones of Contention (3): Jurisdiction
Film: Nazarín
|
Brading, “Ultramontane Intransigence” in Ivereigh, Politics of Religion, pp. 115-142
Klaiber, “Anticlericalism in the 19th and 20thC.,” pp. 157-174
Assignment: Paper 3 [The Perfect Society]
|
6.
|
TUE 28 SEP
THU 30 SEP
|
Black Irreligion? Anticlericalisms (1)
Or True Religion?
Anticlericalisms (2)
|
Klaiber, “The Great Temple of the Law” and “González Prada’s Anti-Catholic Knee,” in Religion and Revolution in Peru, pp. 7-23 & 24-44
Bicentenary Panel 28 Sep.: “Many Mexicos: Religion, Independence, and Revolution” Location & time TBA (Blancarte, Ceballos, Connaughton)
Voekel, “Liberal Religion,” 78-105; Pike, “Heresy, Real and Alleged,” pp. 50-74; Rugeley, “A Culture of Conflict,” Of Wonders and Wise Men, pp. 169-202
Assignment: Paper 4 [19thC Anticlericalism]
|
7.
|
TUE 5 OCT
THU 7 OCT
|
The Church Triumphant (1): Guatemala
The Church Triumphant (2): Ecuador
|
Sullivan-González, “Carrera, the Chuch, and Nation Formation,” in Piety, Power, and Politics, pp. 81-119
Williams, “The Making of Ecuador’s Pueblo Católico,” pp. 207-229; Londoño, “Politics of Religion,” in Ivereigh (ed.), Politics of Religion, pp. 141-65
Assignment: Paper 5 [Clericalist States]
|
8.
|
TUE 12 OCT
THU 14 OCT
|
“Social” Catholic
Movements
Mid-term quiz
|
Mead, “Gender, Welfare, and the Catholic Church,” pp. 91-119; Liebscher, “Towards a Pious Republic,” pp. 549-68
Schell, “An Honorable Advocation for Ladies,” pp. 78-103; Yeager, “In the Absence of Priests,” pp. 207-42
|
9.
|
TUE 19 OCT
THU 21 OCT
|
Devotional Revolutions?
Film: El niño Fidencio
|
Wright Ríos, Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism,
pp. 43-137
Wright-Ríos, “The Second Juan Diego,” and “Gender Dynamics of Devotion,” in Revolutions in Mexican Catholicism, pp. 206-41, pp. 242-69
Assignment: Paper 6 [Mexican devotions]
|
10.
|
TUE 26 OCT
THU 28 OCT
|
Research Time
Research Time
|
Dussel, “The Church since 1930,” pp. 547-82
|
11.
|
TUE 2 NOV
THU 4 NOV
|
Mexico’s Church & the Revolution
Film: El desierto adentro
|
Meyer, “Conflict between the Two Swords,” in Cristero Rebellion, pp. 33-66; Butler, “Revolution and the Ritual Year,” pp. 465-90
Greene, The Power and the Glory
Assignment: Paper 7 [The Cristero Rebellion]
|
12.
|
TUE 9 NOV
THU 11 NOV
|
Argentina’s Church in the 19th/20thC
Argentina’s Church & Peronismo
|
Ivereigh, “The Shape of the State,” in Ivereigh, Politics of Religion, pp. 115-142 & pp. 166-187
Burdick, “Perón, Religion, and the Catholic Church,” in God & the Fatherland, pp. 45-81; Ivereigh, “Catholicism & Peronism,” Catholicism and Politics, pp. 145-82
Assignment: Paper 8 [Political Religions]
|
13.
|
TUE 16 NOV
THU 18 NOV
|
Revolutionary Cuba and the Church
Liberationism and Peru’s 20C. Church
|
Crahan, “Catholicism in Cuba,” pp. 3-24
Klaiber, “The Catholic Lay Movement in Peru,” pp. 149-70
|
14.
|
TUE 23 NOV
THU 25 NOV
|
Film: Canoa
Thanksgiving Holiday
|
Writing Final Paper …
|
15.
|
TUE 30 NOV
THU 2 DEC
|
The Chilean Church
Course close
|
Valenzuela & Valenzuela, “Politics of Religion in a Catholic Country,” in Ivereigh, Politics of Religion, pp. 188-223; Stewart-Gambino, “The Chilean Church’s Rural Policy,” in Church and Politics, pp. 63-89
Final paper due and survey
|
4. Classroom Policies
Attendance. You are allowed up to four unexcused absences. Each additional unexcused absence will carry a 5% penalty, applied to the course grade. If you arrive late, it is your responsibility at the end of class to ensure that you are marked as “present” for that day. For medical absences to be excused, a doctor’s statement/evidence is usually required. If you miss class, consult with me about catch-up procedures/materials for that day.
Late work. Please bring completed assignments to class on the due day. For work submitted late, and without demonstrably good cause, there will be a penalty of one letter grade per day, up to a maximum of three days & including weekends. Work submitted more than three days late will be given a grade of zero. I do not accept work by email attachment, except by agreement.
Extensions will be granted only by agreement: they are exceptional, not guaranteed.
Email. I will try to answer reasonable email queries within a couple of days. Please check your email for course announcements.
Plagiarism. Plagiarism will result in an official report to the registrar and/or automatic failure of the course (see UT policy below).
Other syllabus information required by the Provost’s Office:
Policy on Scholastic Dishonesty drafted by Student Judicial Services (SJS)
Students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. For further information please visit the Student Judicial Services website: http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs.
University of Texas Honor Code
The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community.
Use of E-Mail for Official Correspondence to Students
Email is recognized as an official mode of university correspondence; therefore, you are responsible for reading your email for university and course-related information and announcements. You are responsible to keep the university informed about changes to your e-mail address. You should check your e-mail regularly and frequently—at minimum twice a week—to stay current with university-related communications, some of which may be time-critical. You can find UT Austin’s policies and instructions for updating your e-mail address at http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.php.
Documented Disability Statement
If you require special accommodations, you must obtain a letter that documents your disability from the Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (471-6259 voice or 471-4641 TTY for users who are deaf or hard of hearing). Present the letter to me at the beginning of the semester so we can discuss the accommodations you need. No later than five business days before an exam, you should remind me of any testing accommodations you will need. For more information, visit http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/.
Religious Holidays
By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, I will give you an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.
Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL)
If you are worried about someone who is acting differently, you may use the Behavior Concerns Advice Line to discuss by phone your concerns about another individual’s behavior. This service is provided through a partnership among the Office of the Dean of Students, the Counseling and Mental Health Center (CMHC), the Employee Assistance Program (EAP), and The University of Texas Police Department (UTPD). Call 512-232-5050 or visit http://www.utexas.edu/safety/bcal.
Emergency Evacuation Policy
Occupants of buildings on the UT Austin campus are required to evacuate and assemble outside when a fire alarm is activated or an announcement is made. Please be aware of the following policies regarding evacuation:
- Familiarize yourself with all exit doors of the classroom and the building. Remember that the nearest exit door may not be the one you used when you entered the building.
- If you require assistance to evacuate, inform me in writing during the first week of class.
- In the event of an evacuation, follow my instructions or those of class instructors.
- Do not re-enter a building unless you’re given instructions by the Austin Fire Department, the UT Austin Police Department, or the Fire Prevention Services office.
This course contains a Global Cultures flag.