Dr. Lydia Garner
Office: TMH-228
Email: lg11@txstate.edu
Phone: (512)245-3745
Lydia M. Garner is Associate Professor at Texas State University-San Marcos, where she teaches sophomore undergraduate World history, upper level Latin American history, and graduate seminars in Latin American history. She holds a PhD in Latin American history with specialization in Brazilian history from The Johns Hopkins University and has taught at Johns Hopkins and The University of Delaware. She is the author of articles and reviews published in the United States and in Brazil.
Recent Research Topics :
State and Race in Brazil during the Reign of Pedro II.
The Council of State and the Joint-Stock Companies.
Favorite Publications
:
Justica Administrativa no Brazil do Segundo Reinado, REVISTA DE HISTORIA, Univ. Sao Paulo
Settling the Brazilian Frontier: the Role of Military Colonies, 1849-1889, Journal of Borderland Studies
Awards and Accomplishments :
Elected Correspondent Member of the Brazilian Institute of History and Geography. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Classes taught :
HIST 2311: World History to the 17th Century
This course discusses the rise, evolution, and demise of civilizations from pre-history to the 16th century. It explores the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, the Americas, and of Greece and Rome, their social and political organization and the major characteristics of their religions. The course concludes with discussion of the recovery of Western Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries and the relationship between civilizations, the environment, and natural resources.
HIST 2312: World History from the 17th Century to Present
This course offers a basic chronological synthesis of historical surveys of Western Europe, Muslim Center, Far East, Africa, and the Americas. It establishes the state of the World in the 15th century, traces the rise of Western European hegemony from that period to the end of the Cold war and unveils the decline of influence and power of the other regions of the World. It brings the present challenges of the New World Order in the Age of Globalization.
HIST 3322: Colonial Latin America
This course offers a general view of the three major pre-Columbian civilizations of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, their demise under the European conquest and the development of colonial societies in Spanish and Portuguese Americas. It examines the establishment of Royal government, the economic and labor models and the development of the region at the end of the 18th century with the impact of the diseases on the natives and the exchange of food crops across the Atlantic. The course concludes with the movements for independence and its reasons.
HIST 3324: Latin America from Independence to Present
This course discusses the broad patterns that have dominated the region since independence and the fundamental problems of substantially all Latin American countries. It explores five major themes: challenges to the formation and consolidation of the new nations; economic patterns; territorial expansion; reform populism; models of race relations; and present challenges. The discussion covers the following areas: Mexico, Central America, the Southern Cone, the Bolivarian countries, and the exceptions of Paraguay and Brazil.
HIST 3325F: Militarism in Latin America
This course is an in-depth survey of 20th century Militarism in Latin America that examines the reasons for their taking of power and the process of transition to democracy. It further discusses the different types of militarism in Latin America, from the praetorian model in Nicaragua to the professionalized military in the Southern Cone countries trained and modernized by European Military Missions. It also explores the results of this training and education that led in some cases to intervention to prevent social and political chaos, or, to introduce industrialization and social reforms.
HIST 3325G: Revolutions in Latin America
This course focuses on the major causes of the Guatemalan, Cuban, Chilean, and Nicaraguan revolutions and analyzes these historical events in the context of the social, political, and economic problems of Latin America in the 20th century, combined with the period of the Cold War. Emphasis is given in identifying the major causes, evolution, and results of each revolution in order to arrive at an understanding of the conditions and major problems of Latin America in that period.
HIST 3325H: Development and Underdevelopment: The Economic History of Latin America
This course discusses the economic history of Latin America from the colonial period to present and addresses the major phases of its development and the characteristics of its economies. It further discusses the several economic models that at different periods guided these economies and the differentiation of these economies at the end of the 20th century guided by the level of modernization and industrialization of each country. The course concludes with a discussion of these economies as of today with the common market of the MERCOSUL and its links with the European Common Market and trade expansion with the Far East.
HIST 3326: The Southern Cone of Latin America
This course examines the Southern Cone of South America, a distinctive region that encompasses the countries of Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil that in the second part of the 20th century developed its own dynamic, political balance, and geopolitical interests. Particular emphasis is placed on the commonalities and the forces of division associated with the region by examining geographic factors, colonial experience, challenges of independence and state building, national experience in the 20th century, and the geopolitical doctrines of the Antarctica Continent.
GRADUATE SEMINARS :
HIST 5323A : THE AGE OF PEDRO II IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE: BRAZIL, ARGENTINA, MEXICO
This seminar discusses society and culture in Brazil during the reign of Pedro II (1840-1889) from the perspective of the challenges of state building to consolidate independence and organize and consolidate the national state. Among the challenges were the problems of centralism vs federalism, elite power, economy, and slave labor. The topic lends itself to comparative history in the areas of elite power and the organization and consolidation of new national states like Argentina and Mexico in the same period, and serves to unveil the complexity of the process of state building in Latin America.
HIST 5324A : ELITES IN LATIN AMERICA
This seminar examines a cross-cultural perspective of a selective group of Latin American elites from the colonial period to present in the major characteristics and patterns of behavior of three types of elite that have been important forces throughout the history of Latin America, namely: economic elites, military elites, and intellectual/administrative elites. The comparative approach offers an understanding of the significance of these elites in molding Latin American societies.
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