This class was so boring. It was to the point that the vast majority of the class stopped showing up. We would have "reading" quizzes every few weeks, but they didn't correspond with the actual assigned readings nor the lectures. Don't waste your time doing the readings. I see no point if they don't actually help you with the class, I was upset after I had done all the reading and took the first reading quiz just for none of the material to correspond. Also, I had Sophia Yazpik as my TA and she was just a mean person. Not a harsh grader though, but when one of the other TAs did a guest lecture, after she finished Yazpik said "just give up" under her breath. She also laughed at one of my questions... I don't know why you would even sign up to be a TA if you dislike helping students so much.

Wonderful class. I was genuinely hooked on Latin American history by the end of it, and that is entirely due to the structure of the class. There is an even split of textbook and primary source readings, which expands your knowledge far beyond just reading the textbook. Note that the readings can be pretty long, over 50 pages per week often. The midterm is great, as it is a creative short story. The final is a take-home free-response exam, and quite lightly graded. Overall, I would highly recommend.

This class is cool for anyone really because it is pretty relaxed I would say. It is the kind of class where you just get a lot of information but you don't have to remember all of it, even most of it, if anyone was looking for a doable GE. The quizzes are all take home, as well as the final and the midterm, the final being a take home of 4 prompts that can get a little tricky but pretty easy to track where in the textbook you can find your answers, and the midterm being a short story about Latin America. Lectures, honestly you can skip here and there, just because the class is structured in a timeline sort of way, and so the stuff you are required to read, which isn't too bad or long week by week, is of the same timeline and roughly related to what he talks about in lecture, but it doesn't always relate, it can just be of the same time. He can be a little hard to hear sometimes and none of the lecture notes are provided, but honestly for the short stories, quizzes, and final, all you really need is the textbook and reader (which for our class he provided). Definitely if anything, attend your discussion session (he will say that as well), because a big portion of your grade is participation and the TAs, at least for my quarter, all seemed pretty nice, and they are the ones grading your writing ultimately.

It was refreshing to finally have a Latino professor at this school which made me really found of professor perez-montesinos but the lectures got so boring sometimes. Don't get me wrong, the material is very interesting when you really sat down and discussed it, but the lectures felt like they just dragged. We were assigned readings from two books each week which you needed to discuss in discussion section, with that being said, you don't really need to go to lecture to learn the material. Even just skimming the book is enough. Vivian is the best TA and is so refreshing again to see a fellow Latina in higher education. He assigns take home quizzes spread out through the quarter but they aren't very hard to find iykwim. What i really enjoyed tho was the extra credit he offered if we attended presentations related to latin america that were given on campus. I found myself attending and learning a lot of really cool things. Midterm was a short story that had to be set in 1800-1920s latin america so if you know just the basics of the class, its really easy. Final was 4 short answer questions, each a page long that were take home. Cake.
Overall I would recommend this class because its very easy to get by in and it is very interesting to learn about latin america. Hopefully his lecture style becomes less dense , if not, just save your NYT Games for this class.

Would highly recommend taking this class as a GE! Lectures are easy to follow and honestly even if you miss a few lectures, you do not risk losing marks because there are no in person exams. Quizzes are there every alternate week and the midterm consists of a short story on the topic of your choice, and is pretty easy to complete. I would definitely recommend taking Elizabeth Landers as your TA, she is extremely helpful and kind! The final is a take home essay based on content given in the lecture as well as in the textbook.

I took this class for a Historical Analysis GE, and I would not recommend it for that purpose if you're looking for minimal effort. It was a great class if you're a History major, and I loved learning history that was not included in our curriculums in depth growing up. However, the discussion sections were very tedious and required deep knowledge of extensive historical texts, as well as constant participation, so it is not an easy way to knock out the GE.

legit so easy def take this class. A solid amount of reading but other than that lectures are super unnecessary to go to and midterm and final are short papers that aren't graded harshly at all.

a class so good it made me minor in the subject

I personally really enjoyed this class! Because I took it winter quarter of 2022 it was completely virtual but I still feel like I got a good grasp on the material. Professor Montesinos is clearly very passionate about what he does and even though lectures aren't necessarily required to get a good grade, they are still fascinating and not at all boring. I also enjoyed that instead of a real midterm we had a narrative paper. The quizzes were not hard at all as long as you actually did the readings! Readings were definitely long and I would recommend doing them, but it's a small price to pay for not really needing to attend lectures or take a hard final. Overall I would recommend this class as an easy-ish GE, and it fulfills your diversity requirement!

Very fun class! The course covers history of Latin America from European colonization to the present. The main book used was "Born in Blood and Fire" by John Charles Chasteen. The book has two components, a main text (that you may or may not be able to find for free online...) and a supplemental reader that I purchased (~12$). Discussions were mandatory, once per week in a group of maybe 15. Most of the discussions involved the week's assigned readings so be sure to read them to avoid contributing to awkward silence.

There is no weekly homework. We were required to visit a cultural exhibit at either LACMA or the Skirball center (if El Sueño Americano is still at the Skirball center I highly recommend it). We also had several opportunities to get extra credit by watching movies. There were two or three 10-question online quizzes directly from the text (they were not difficult at all). The midterm project was to write a historical fiction narrative set in Latin America and the final was several take-home essay questions. Profesor Perez-Montesinos extended the final submission time by two days due to COVID. The TAs are very helpful and available for any assistance on writing.

Profe seems very passionate about the subject, but you have to listen in class if you want to get anything out of it because his slides are mostly broad bullet points. He likes to focus on studying voices that are often previously ignored in the study of Latin American history. The readings were all pretty interesting. Only about 2/3 of students attended lecture and those that didn't seemed to do fine. Overall, the class was not very hard and very much worth taking for GE credit.