This class would be amazing if another instructor teaches. Prof Mendez is very disorganized, unsympathetic, and a terrible instructor. Always tripping over herself lecture, guilt-tripping students, patrolling around about phones rather than actually lecturing, etc. Made me dread coming to class. TAs carry. Avoid this class (her) if possible!

I think the ratings are very harsh; I honestly thought this class was extremely interesting and mattered deeply to the current happenings of our world right now. Very reading heavy, but it was important for your midterm and final take-home projects. I suggest you engage and think about the material deeply to do well and get lucky with a nice TA

Some of these reviews are harsh but rooted in honesty. Your experience and grade will depend entirely on your TA. Prof Mendez is extremely passionate and knowledgeable but struggles with organization. Lectures can be rough and she LOVES to cold call. A fine GE class but very unstructured and content heavy. Not a hard class but your TA is everything

The class is not that bad. It was pretty easy to do the assignments, it is just weekly quizzes (easy) and 2 opinion based responses on canvas. She is VERY strict about attendance, lecture and sections, and quite unorganized with the actual lecture content. She was very confusing, honestly the TAs carried, but depends on which one you get.

The class is actually really easy, I would suggest taking it for your GE. Just never show up to the lectures, and you'll be fine by doing the reading. All grading is based on papers so there is no need to show up for lectures. By far the worst lecturer I've ever had, please don't take this class if you don't like doing reading.

I honestly should have listened to the reviews :(

so so so baddddddd

Worthless presence in the classroom and earth in general. Shouldn't be allowed to respirate. Makes you wish a hero would do a service to everyone else at this university.

Very disorganized. This was probably the most chaotic course I have ever taken at UCSB. She did not necessarily teach as she had guest professors do a lecture once a week and when she did lecture the material she would go over was in tangents as she would get off topic. Assigned reading with 80+ pages and did not clearly lecture her own research.

Professor Mendez is very knowledgeable about Latin American history, however, her methods in teaching are a bit disorganized. The TAs carried the class, filling in the context of the week's lectures (and explaining more than Mendez). We had weekly quizzes, weekly discussion posts, and 2 papers. Overall, it is manageable but become close to your TA!

Professor Mendez is the absolute worst professor to teach history. Her lack of fu''ing showing up to class on time shows that. 30 minutes late lol. she never helps at all! Got my section switched and emailed TA and prof, numerous times. No response to any of my emails!! Prof Mendez is the perfect example of being the worst teacher!!! TA, no bueno!!

Avoid this class. Lectures are confusing/hard to follow and she doesn't grade any assignments. UCSB should improve its hiring process because being a professor does not ensure good teaching. It is unacceptable to receive substandard education given the high cost of tuition. I took this class Winter quarter 2023. GRADES HAVE NOT BEEN SUBMITTED YET.