COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course introduces students to traditional community structures and social welfare services for Mexican families (esp. women and children) which meet needs for food, housing, health care, and education. It focuses on the roles of family, church, and commerce, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations. It includes orientation to history, arts, and culture in Mexico City, home stays in Puebla, and four days immersed in an indigenous village. Each day, after visiting agencies and programs or hearing from those whose work focuses on meeting the needs of families, students work directly with clients in selected programs. These may include street children and youth, young women in a variety of vocational programs, and elderly.

GE Credit: Multicultural Studies Course (MCS-G)
Major or Concentration Credit: Social Work, Family Studies, Hispanic Studies, Women's Studies**requires specially focused work
Prerequisite: Introductory Social Work or social science course (soc, econ, pol. science)
Language competence: Spanish competence is not required for this interim but will enhance your enjoyment of the course. “Survival Spanish” is included in the orientation and home stays encourage your use of the language. Hispanic Studies majors and concentrators are expected to use Spanish.

Course Goals and Topics: Students will:

· identify "human needs" in Mexico, examine the role of the family in meeting those needs, and become familiar with the system of social services available to supplement efforts of the family, with special attention to services for women;

· study the modern context for Mexican social welfare -- political, cultural, economic and religious--, with focus on those services and policies related to needs and problems of rural, poor families, particularly women.

· become acquainted with significant social, psychological, economic, and cultural problems of families and individuals in central Mexico, particularly in the state of Puebla;

· visit a variety of public and private social services that can be seen as pieces of the puzzle that provides “social security” for Mexican families, especially those with special needs;

· discuss with individuals, families, and groups the resources that are available to help families meet the challenges of living in a metropolitan area, city, or village;

· investigate in depth a particular type of social service provision in Puebla and Cuetzalan, and in the Village of San Miguel Tzinacapan;

· examine personal values and beliefs which influence individual perspectives on the ways in which human needs are addressed in Mexico.

Note: Women’s needs are central to the study of social services and more than 50% of the course material will study responses to the needs of women in the families of central Mexico. The course adopts an analytical approach informed by a feminist perspective and gender is a basis of analysis. Required reading deals directly with the reality that women’s experiences have been different from that of men and often are overlooked or ignored.

GUIDELINES/EXPECTATIONS

To receive full credit for SW256, the student will fulfill the following expectations at an average or “C” level. Letter grades higher than “C” for the course depend upon the quality of the completed work, not simply completion. To receive full credit for SW256, you will:

Participate actively in all group events -- scheduled class meetings and group discussions, visits to programs, centers, agencies, and museums (in Mexico City, Puebla, and San Miguel), and home stay activities (see additional participation guidelines below);

Complete a service or volunteer component of 18-24 hours;

Purchase, bring, and read books, journals and articles as assigned. Many interesting books and relevant articles are available for this course in David’s library, some in Spanish; exams may be scheduled to assess understanding of assigned readings and critical lectures;

Required Readings:

Ramanathan, C.S., and R.J. Link. 1999. All our futures: principles and resources for social work practice in a global era. Belmont, CA: Brooks-Cole. ISBN 0-534-35587-0
Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, & 13 are required.

Required Readings Schedule will be handed out along with a packet of articles specifically chosen to relate to the experiences and guest speakers.

Midgley, James. 1997. Social Welfare in Global Context. Sage Publications; ISBN: 0761907882 Chapters 1, selections from 3, & 9 are required for social work majors to complete the Social Work Global Component

Berlitz Latin American Spanish phrase book and dictionary. 1998. Princeton, N.J.: Berlitz Publishing Company.

Note: Social work majors who have not completed the global component must read the following selections and pass a test on their content. The test will be administered during the last few days in Mexico City:
Ramanathan, C.S., and R.J. Link. 1999. All our futures: principles and resources for social work practice in a global era. Belmont, CA: Brooks-Cole. Chapters  3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, & 13 and
Midgley, James. 1997. Social Welfare in Global Context. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Chapters 1, selections from 3, & 9

Compilation of readings, including:

Barnet-Sanchez, H. 1997. “Frida Kahlo: her life and art revisited.” Latin American Research Review, 32(3), 243-257.

Castro, R. et al. 1998. “Family Responses to HIV/AIDS in Mexico.” Social Science and Medicine, 47(10), 1473-1484.

Churchill, N.E. 1999. “El Paseo del Rio San Francisco: Urban development and social justice in Puebla, Mexico.” Social Justice, 26(3), p. 156+.

Copeland, P. March 1998. “16 million revelers can’t be wrong.” Travel and Leisure.

Jordan, M. and K. Sullivan. 11/26/00. “Young Mexicans take center stage.” The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.

Lyons, K. 1999. “International perspectives on ‘the family.’” International Social Work: Themes and Perspectives. Brookfield, IL: Ashgate/ARENA. Pp. 67-85.

McFadden, J. and T. Walz. 1998. “The informal economy in a post-capitalistic society: the Mexican experience.” Social Development Issues, 20(2), p. 67-76.

Olavarrieta, C.D. and J. Sotelo, M.D. 1996. “Domestic Violence in Mexico.” JAMA, 275(24), p. 1937-1941.

Pearson, J.M. 1993. “Centro Feminil: a women’s prison in Mexico.” Social Justice. 20(3-4), 85-129.

Riding, Alan. 1985. Distant Neighbors: A portrait of the Mexicans. New York, Vintage Books. Chapters 10 “The Family Safety Net” and 12 “Indians Body and Soul.”

Trejo, G. and C. Jones, Eds.(1998. “Political dilemmas of welfare reform: poverty and inequality in Mexico.” Mexico Under Zedillo. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. Pp. 67-99.

Trussell, R. P. 2000. “The children’s streets: an ethnographic study of street children in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.” International Social Work, 42(2), pp. 180-199.
 

Additional readings (optional):
Almeida, F.H.E. and M.E. Sánchez. 1996. PRADE, the outsider and insider: community-based rural development in San Miguel Tzinacapan. (Personal copy)

Balderrabano, A, et al. 1990. “Social Assistance and Social Security in Mexico” in Elliot, D. et al. The world of Social Welfare: Social Welfare and Services in an International Context. Springfield, IL.: Charles Thomas Publishers.

Barragan, E. M. (Sept/Oct, 1998). “The Social Policy of the Mexican State.” El Mercado de Valores. Mexico: Nacional Financiera.

Bibus. T. 1995. “Reflections on social work from Cuernavaca, Mexico.” International social work 38, 243-252.

Brye, D.L. 1996. “Learning a Village: from ‘coyotl’ to’ amigo’ to ‘David’ to ‘padrino’.” Presented: March 7 to Southwest Conference of Latin American Studies, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Campbell, E. 1982. “The Virgin of Guadalupe and the female self-image: a Mexican case history.”  Mother worship edited by J.J. Preston. Chapel Hill, NC: U. of NC Press. 6-24. (2 copies)

Dominelli, L. 1997. “International social development and social work: a feminist perspective. Issues in International social work: global challenges for a new century by M.C. Hokenstad and J. Midgley. Washington, D.C.: NASW Press. 74-91. (4 copies)

Falicov, C. J. 1982. “Mexican Families.” From: Ethnicity and family therapy by  McGoldrick, M., J. Pearce, and J. Giordano. Guilford Press. (2 copies)

Fitzsimmons, T. “A monstrous regiment of women? State, regime, and women’s political organizing in Latin America.” Latin American Research Review, 35(2), 216-229.

Frias-Armenta, M. and L.A. McCloskey. April 1998. “Determinant of harsh parenting in Mexico.” Journal of abnormal child psychology, 26(2), 129-140.

Hodgdon, T. Winter 2000. “Fem: a window onto the cultural coalescence of a Mexican feminist politics of sexuality.” Mexican Studies-Estudios Mexicanos, 16(1), 79+.

Guillermina, R., et. al. Winter 1997. “Marital violence and its relationship to excessive drinking in Mexico.” Contemporary Drug Problems 24(4), 787-804.

Horcasitos, F. 1988. “The Nahuas of today.” The Aztecs then and now. 106-137. (2 copies)

Langner. T.S. 1969. “Psychophysiological Symptoms and the Status of Women in Two Mexican Communities.” From Comparative perspectives on social problems edited by V. Kavolis. Boston: Little Brown.

Lewis, O. 1951. “Inter-personal relations within the family.” Life in a Mexican village: Tepoztlan Restudied. Urbana, IL: U of IL Press. 319-352.

McNair, R. “The Family in the Community.”

Moctezuma, M.B. 1993. “The social and historical context for women and female family therapists in Mexico. Journal of feminist family therapy. 5(1), 55-64.

Sandstrom, A.R. 1982. “The Tonantsi cult of the Eastern Nahua.” Mother worship edited by J.J. Preston. Chapel Hill, NC: U. of NC Press. 25-50. (2 copies)

Smith, P.A. 1997. “The status of women in Mexico.” Economic dimensions of gender inequality: a global perspective edited by J. M Rives and J. Yousefi. Westport, CN: Praeger. 119-135. (2 copies)

Wood, S. 1997. “Matters of life at death: Nahuatl testaments of rural women, 1589-1801. Indian women of early Mexico edited by S. Schroeder, S. Wood, and R. Haskett. 165-182. (2 copies)

Write:
1. a log: Keep a log daily or in summary, when activities are routine (That is, you need not write the same thing over every day-(e.g. “ate breakfast” but you might want to note a memorable breakfast in your log); record physical symptoms and noticeable emotions, even if mild (this helps you tune in to illnesses earlier rather than later and helps diagnose culture shock).
2. a journal: Record your reactions, questions, speculations, analyses and conclusions related to events, experiences, feelings, or insights (perhaps with a theme-Women’s Studies; Hispanic Studies; SW Global or Policy; Family Studies), including those in Cuetzalan and San Miguel Tzinacapan, at least 20 times in a journal; entries should attempt to relate experiences, feelings, insights readings, presentations, and class discussions; in the journal record all occasions when you see a reading “come to life;” Journal entries should be more than description. Handle comparisons carefully.

Write at least three journal entries with the following format: (You need not use a “table,” but please address all four areas.)

Name an experience	How it challenged an expectation or visualization of yours	The new idea(s) the experience fostered; how I’m different because of this	Connections to readings, past classes, other experiences, etc.
XXXX	XXXX	XXXX	XXXX

Twelve other assigned entries:

• Jan 3: Describe your first impressions of Mexico City, the hotel, the market, and other places with which you had contact in the first day
• Jan 5: Describe your first/second impressions of Puebla (the city), your neighborhood, your house, and other places with which you had contact in the first couple of days.
• Jan 7 & 15: Describe your first (due Tue Jan 7) & second impressions (due Wed Jan 15) of your volunteer assignment. Describe the agency, the clients, the persons who provide the service. For the first write-up include names of the people with whom you relate most closely (ask them to write their first names; you will learn to ask “What is your name?” in Spanish), the building, neighborhood, etc. For the second write-up, contrast what you’ve learned in the few days that you have been working there. If for some reason, you do not go to volunteer activity on Monday, you may postpone the first impression until the day after you’ve gone once to your assignment.
• Jan 10: Choose a bus ride (or a walk if you do not take the bus) within the past 2 days going from your home to class or volunteer assignment or back home (that is, not with the large group/class). Describe what you saw on the bus, on the street before and after boarding, and what you learned from looking carefully at these things (analysis).
• Before Jan 17: Describe a family event or activity and compare and contrast with a similar family event at home in the U.S. Speculate on reasons for similarities and differences.
• Jan 17: Think about your time in Puebla. Write in your journal about one or two specific things you will miss when you've left Puebla and about one thing that you will not miss at all.
• Before Jan 24: Choose an interaction that you had with a person or persons of Cuetzalan and San Miguel Tzinacapan; describe the interaction and what makes it memorable for you.
• After Jan 26: How does Acapulco compare with Puebla and Cuetzalan?
• After Jan 24: Mexico – a feast for the senses: Taking into account what you have seen, heard, smelled, tasted, touched, and experienced with the 6th sense, describe your experience with Mexico. Make it specific. Imagine that you are making a “word painting.”
• Anytime: Write two separate entries that make a clear connection between something you read for the interim and something you experienced--that is, what was on the page, came alive.

Interview or talk with family members; describe the family using questions provided (at least 2 pages);
· Who are the members of the household? Are there extended family members nearby? Are any members elderly? Handicapped (that you can see—you are not expected to ask)
· If there are babies or very young children, what do you notice about their place in the family?
· What are the roles of the male and female members in the household? Similar or different from those you are used to?
· What are the occupations of wage earners in the family? Are some members in school? Which schools?
· What is the family’s relationship to the US? Visited? Have relatives here? Know it only from TV, etc.
· Describe the house, your room, the kitchen, and family activity areas.
· Describe the house “rules” or your sense of them—access to the kitchen (who cooks and who cleans up), water use for bathing, TV watching (who chooses the programs and which programs are chosen)
· Did you experience extended family activities, rituals, or ceremonies?  What did you notice?
· Do you have alone time/study time?
· Do you have a key to the house and know how to let someone know if you will be late?
· What is the arrangement for laundry? If you wash things out by hand, where do you hang them to dry?
· What is the arrangement for using the family telephone? Is there privacy when your parents call?
· Is the food similar to what you expected? Have you asked for things you’d like? Do you feel understood?
· What do you think you can do to “help out” in the family? How did they respond to the gifts you brought?
· If you do not feel well or are really sick, what does the family want you to do?
These are just “starter” questions. You need not use them all and you may add other similar ones. But these may give you a starting point for some discussion, in addition to the family pictures you brought.

4. An integrative term paper which demonstrates your knowledge of one human need addressed by social services in Mexico (needs of the elderly, orphans, the poor or economically marginalized, people with physical or mental disabilities, persons with AIDS, and divorced or abused women) and how you saw, heard, and read about those needs being addressed  in the family, city or town or village, and country.
Draw upon all readings, class activities, agency visits, interviews with individuals, and your volunteer placement. (10-15 handwritten pages)
Discuss particularly:
· How is the need you chose to focus on is identified and defined locally?
· What role does the family typically play in meeting or ameliorating the need?
· How does that definition of the need affect the development of a system of social services (including the family, but external to it) to address that need?
· How is the system for meeting the needs related to Mexico’s political, cultural, economic and religious institutions?
· Are the services you learned about public/private, formal/informal, residual/institutional, paid/voluntary, charity/justice, rural/urban?
· What is the relationship between reading you’ve done, speakers you’ve heard, and your first-hand observations in agencies and programs that support your learning?
· What is your assessment of how well the social welfare “system” seems to be working from both the points of view of the Mexicans you encountered and your own perspective, integrating concepts from Ramanathan & Link and Midgley, other readings and from related classes you have taken at St. Olaf?
· Include an examination of the personal encounter between your values, beliefs, and experiences and your understanding of the social services in Mexico.

Grading:
The grade will be based on the quality, as well as quantity, of academic work completed. Detailed expectations follow and specific criteria for some activities may be added.

Grade of  A:
· outstanding attendance - participates in all events, required and optional, (including volunteer assignment) and always arrives promptly;
· actively seeks to learn and help classmates learn about Family Social Services and fulfill the course goals--initiates, suggests, leads, gives feedback to David, Naurine, and others who ask;;
· is enthusiastic and cooperative in attitude;
· gives thought to scheduled activity and comes prepared, having read assignments and completed written work;
· listens to the speakers consistently and can be counted on to ask thoughtful questions and to contribute information and ideas;
· seeks opportunities to appropriately engage with Mexican people--agency or program personnel, children, home stay families, etc.;
· writes thoughtful, detailed journal entries almost daily--relates activities, experiences, and observations to readings and discussions; asks questions; looks for frameworks and themes

Grade of B:
· good attendance (attends all required events, including volunteer assignment, and some optional ones) and arrives on time;
· generally seeks to learn and help classmates learn about Family Social Services and fulfill the course goals;
· generally is enthusiastic and cooperative in attitude;
· gives thought to scheduled activity and comes prepared, having read assignments or completed written work on time;
· listens to the speakers and sometimes asks questions or contributes ideas;
· takes advantage of opportunities to appropriately engage with Mexican people--agency or program personnel, children, home stay families, etc.;
· writes thoughtful, detailed journal entries regularly--makes an attempt to relate activities, experiences, and observations to readings and discussions; includes some questions; may see frameworks and themes;

Grade of C:
· occasionally misses required event(s) including volunteer assignment, rarely attends optional events, and/or is sometimes tardy;
· shows up, but is often unaware of the activity, and unprepared--does not read assignments or complete written work on time;
· is generally present, but unenthusiastic and skeptical (“Show me that this is going to be fun/good/worthwhile”); may not listen to the speakers and rarely asks questions or contributes ideas;
· is tentative about engaging with Mexican people--agency or program personnel, children, home stay families, etc.; watches, rather than getting appropriately involved;
· writes as required in a journal--records general comments about activities and experiences but is not specific and makes little effort to relate them to readings and discussions.

Grade of D/F:
· misses required events (including volunteer assignment) and/or makes a pattern of being late;
· seems uninterested in course goals, and does not even participate in required activities;
· if present, is generally unaware of the activity, and unprepared--reads nothing and “will do the written work later”;
· when present, contributes nothing to the activity and may even try to disrupt by attitude or language;
· makes no effort to listen to the speakers, talks during presentations, hangs back, and asks questions that embarrass the group or speaker or that seem self-centered;
· engages in behavior that seems intended to disrupt or defeat classmates’ learning,
· retreats from possible engagement or engages inappropriately with Mexican people--agency or program personnel, children, home stay families, etc., ignores or rejects opportunities that are readily made available;
· writes emotional, judgmental journal entries on the bus on the day they are due--a few lines which generally can be reduced to “I liked it” “I didn’t like it.”/write no journal entries.

Specific failings that will very negatively affect your grade:

1. ANY behavior involving alcohol or drug use that comes to the attention of the instructor; (Remember that you may be terminated from the program and sent home for infractions of the St. Olaf Alcohol Policy); lesser offenses will impact your grade;

2. Leaving early or returning late from the “free weekend”; it is clearly stated that the free weekend begins Friday evening, Jan 24, in Puebla and ends Monday afternoon, Jan 19, in Mexico City.

3. ANY inappropriate or disrespectful relationship with

• a member or members of the home stay family,
• the assistants, guides, and speakers for our program,
• staff and clients at the Social Work Placements,
• your housemate or other classmates, or
• Mrs. Lennox, Mr. Steigauf, or Dr. Brye.

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