Pablo Piccato

Pablo has been one of my favorite teachers at Columbia so far. He's super chill and incredibly smart. I absolutely loved him for CC because discussion was always interesting and he guided it very well while also allowing everyone to share their own thoughts. He's definitely not THE easiest CC professor, and you do have to do SOME work, but that being said, you can easily get an A in the class without doing much more than the sparknotes readings. He's lowkey pretty lazy as far as grading goes; he assigned us a "group essay" second semester which let's be honest we all knew he just didn't want to grade 20 essays. But it's nice because CC shouldn't be about a heavy workload. The class is always super engaging and I thoroughly enjoy going to it. 10/10 would take this class (or any class with Pablo) again. He's incredibly intelligent and interesting to discuss texts with and this class was the highlight of the core for me.

I loved this class. Professor Piccato is smart, humble, insightful, and engaging. His accent is not a big deal at all and he is incredibly knowledgable. He's an expert on crime. And he is super adorable. You get out what you put in to the program--Piccato gives you the hilarious minutia that is 20th century Mexican history, and you string together the tragic themes.It was a great class. Chock full of information, but never trying. Highly recommend.

dissapointed with this class. Pablo has a lot of depth and is extremely intelligent, but the class is not structured well! In fact, there is almost no structure...Mexico history is fascinating, but the assigned readings were irrelevant (the only helpful reading was the supplementary bethell book which you should buy even though its no required if you want to pass the class), section was annoying and did not spark interesting discussion. every now and then, pablo will have very interesting lectures, but the power points were totally unorganized. how can you teach history esp mexican history through powerpoint and graphs that are too small to comprehend! still, pablo is a nice man and is very helpful outside of class if you need a scholar on mexican history-he is definitely approachable, its just too bad his class isn't more engaging. if you want a dry history lecture, go for this class, just be ready to bring your lap top and play solitare.

Ignore the previous two reviews. This class is unbelievably dry. Piccato is a nice enough guy, and he has a decent sense of humor, but his lectures are hopelessly unorganized and students spend most of the class time just trying to copy down the powerpoint slides before he jumps to another unrelated subject. The readings are manageable, if unnecessary. TAs grade everything both strictly and arbitrarily. Plus, pretty much any problem in Latin America over the last two centuries was blamed exclusively on America, with contrary opinions being shot down in the discussion sections (both by the TA and by fellow students). Take any other class instead, preferably something without such a ridiculously broad focus.

This course gave an overview of Latin American history from 1810 to the present, tied fairly well to global context. Professor Piccato is somewhat difficult to understand because of his accent, and he reads what he has prepared in a somewhat monotone manner... BUT his ideas are presented very cohesively (so stay awake! when you reread your notes at the end of class you'll be surprised) and he always has a very good analysis of deeper levels of history, such as class analysis. So many professors (I think it's a U.S.A. thing) are afraid to acknowledge class antagonisms; he's not. The class is stronger for it. The readings Piccato chooses are almost always great. No Mickey Mouse history here; rather, a lot of strong social analysis... a lot of the readings are labor-centric. Also, I should add that Picatto is a very approachable man. I would reccommend this course to anyone; It satisfies a Major Cultures credit if you want. You can take part one, which is Latin Am Civ up to 1810 as well -- I didn't, but it's also supposed to be a good class. There are people who hate the class because of Prof. Piccato's delivery style. Ignore them and tough it out; you'll be glad you did.

A basic interest in Latin America or in CC-like texts is probably needed at the start to motivate you, this class will definitely cultivate that interest in the region over time though! 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Fall 2023 Course: LACVUN1020_001_2023_3-PRIMTEXTSOFLATINAMERCIV : LACVUN1020_001_2023_3 - PRIM TEXTS OF LATIN AMER CIV Instructor: Caterina Pizzigoni

I would suggest more involvement of the professor in the discussions. I wanted to learn more about the context of each one of the books we read. 1 Columbia University: Arts & Sciences Spring 2023 Course: HISTGR8664_001_2023_1-HISTORIOGRAPHY-LATAM-MODPER : HISTGR8664_001_2023_1 - HISTORIOGRAPHY-LAT AM-MOD PER Instructor: Pablo Piccato

Professor Piccato helped guide us through the process of writing a thesis.

Piccato seemed to grow on the class as the semester went on. He wasn't a great teacher, but he is a nice guy and he generally has clear and interesting things to say about the material and occassionally he asks good questions. Conversation often lulls, though, and people often drone on and Piccato is rarely critical, but the atmosphere is at least always relaxed and open. Basically, Piccato seemed to put in as much work as the class did, which is to say, not much, but believe me you could do a lot worse for C.C.

This was a fantastic class that traced Mexican history, politics, and economics from Independence in 1810 to the present. Prof. Piccato’s lectures were both engaging and amusing. The TA’s were also helpful and available when needed. Ignore the previous complaints regarding Piccato’s accent—I had no trouble with it at all. My only advice would be to attend every lecture and do all the required readings. I also recommend that you read the Bethell book. While not comprehensive, it did an excellent job at complementing the class lectures and provided an overview of Mexican historical concepts.