This course provides an introduction to the social and cultural reality of Latinos and Latinas in the United States with a particular emphasis on the largest demographic group, the population of Mexican descent. Although we will mainly focus on literary works from the 20th century, we will look at some of the early responses to the cultural encounters between Spaniards and Native Americans, and between Spanish-speaking peoples and Anglos. Autobiographies, chronicles, fiction, music, and visual arts will be used as documents testifying to the diverse backgrounds and experiences of Latinos in the United States. The concept of the borderlands will be introduced as a prism look at cultural identities within the United States as the products of complex negotiations both inside and outside its geographical borders.
SYLLABUS
Unit 1: Introduction and paradigms
Readings:
Suzanne Oboler, "The Politics of Labelling"
Gloria Anzaldúa, "The Homeland: Aztlán"
Recommended: Acosta-Belén and Carlos Santiago,"Merging Borders"
Unit 2: Early encounters
Readings:
Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, "The Account"
Francisco Palou, "From the Historic Account of the Life and Apostolic Work of the Venerable Fray Junípero Serra"
Film screening: Lourdes Portillo, "Columbus On Trial"
Unit 3: Occupation and resistance
Readings:
Pablo de la Guerra: "The Californios"
Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, The Squatter and the Don (fragments)
Anonymous, El Corrido de Gregorio Cortez. (Original and translation included in course pack)
Americo Paredes With his Pistol in his Hand (7-32, 147-150)
Recommended: Carey McWilliams, "Californios"
Unit 4: Immigration and empire
Readings:
José Martí, Our America (fragments)
Bernardo Vega, Memoirs of Bernardo Vega (fragments)
Recommended: Edna Acosta Belén and Carlos Santiago "Merging Borders" (In Unit 1).
Unit 5: Latino/a validation and ethnic consolidation
Readings:
Fabiola Cabeza de Baca, We Fed them Cactus. Selections in course pack.
Recommended: Carey McWilliams, "The Fantasy Heritage", Carey McWilliams, "Heart of the Borderlands"
Unit 6: Cultural memory
Readings:
Richard Rodríguez, Hunger of Memory (selections)
Norma Cantú, Canícula (selections)
Unit 7: The politics of language and bilingual aesthetics.
Readings:
Gloria Anzaldúa "How to Tame a Wild Tongue"
Poems by Tato Laviera, Gina Valdés, Gustavo Pérez Firmat.
Unit 8: Gender, race, and class in contemporary Latino/a fiction
Sandra Cisneros, (short stories from Woman Hollering Creek)
"Eleven", "Salvador", "Barbie-Q", "Mericans", "My Tocaya", "Woman Hollering Creek", "La Fabulosa", "Never Marry" "Remember the Alamo", "Bread", "Little Miracles; Kept Promises", "Bien Pretty"
Film: John Sayles, Lone Star.
REQUIRED COURSE MATERIALS
•Course reader
•Richard Rodríguez, Hunger of Memory (1981)
•Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek (1989)
METHODOLOGY & ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
The course will be taught in English and will consist of lectures, discussions, student presentations, and one or two film screenings. The readings and films will be in English, although some of the texts may be bilingual or incorporate code switching.
Students are expected to have read the readings assigned for each week before coming to class and to be ready to discuss them. Students will be asked to lead the discussion of one or more weekly readings. In addition to the readings in the syllabus students will do a group project on a book assigned by the instructor.
There are no flexible deadlines for readings, papers, presentations, and exams. The final exam is cumulative.
ASSESSMENT
•Student participation (20%)
•A term paper (25%)
•A midterm exam (25 %)
•A final exam (30%)
Print this page