U.S. Latino Literature

Catalog description

This course proposes to problematize socio-political and historico-cultural issues concerning U.S. Latinos and Hispanic immigrants in the United States. This will involve the analysis and application of assimilation, transculturation and bilingualism theory, and rhetorical/translational problematics of the material under examination. Also of interest will be an ongoing class discussion of Latinos/Hispanics in history, the media, entertainment, politics, and education. Students will consider the question of the "borders," geographical, political and societal, that may or do exist between U.S. mainstream society, Latinos and Hispanic immigrants, and strategies employed by hyphenated-Americans for overcoming, subverting or undermining this situation. Materials for the course will include literature, film, essays, and music by and about Latinos and Hispanics in the United States. FALL 2023: Mapping Dreams and Nightmares: Seeing and Writing the US-Mexico Border This course will focus on the US-Mexico border, with particular emphasis on visual representations of the border from both the US and Mexico, and on the unique, vibrant fronteriza cultures that result in the space betwixt and between. The course will emphasize key moments and events in the history of the border, including for example the Mexican Revolution, the creation of the border patrol in the 1920s, the Bracero program, Operation Wetback, the Chicano movement, Operation Gatekeeper, and will consider how visual and textual representations have responded to and been conditioned by the political and economic relationship between the US and Mexico, particularly in the wake of neoliberal policies. We will draw on a wide variety of materials, including film, video, visual arts, performance, border theory, and literary and journalistic texts. Prerequisite: 82-345