Introduction to Latinx Literature and Culture

Catalog description

In the US, Latinxs are often treated in quantitative terms—as checkmarks on census forms, or as data points in demographic surveys. However, Latinxs have always been more than mere numbers: while some have stayed rooted in traditional homelands, and while others have migrated through far-flung diasporas, all have drawn on and developed distinctive ways of imagining and inhabiting the Americas. In this course, we will explore the resulting range of literature and culture: to understand how Latinxs have resisted and/or reinforced settler colonialism and racial capitalism, we will survey two centuries of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, performance, music, visual art, and more. With our interdisciplinary and intersectional approach, we will consider why Latinidad has manifested differently in colonial territories (especially Puerto Rico), regional communities (especially the US–Mexico borderlands), and transnational diasporas (of Cubans, of Dominicans, and of a variety of Central Americans). At the same time, we will learn how Latinxs have struggled with shared issues, such as (anti-) Blackness and (anti-)Indigeneity, gender and sexuality, citizenship and (il)legality, and economic and environmental (in)justice. During the semester, we will practice Latinx studies both collectively and individually: to enrich the professor’s lectures, the teaching assistants’ engagements, and our in-person discussions, each student will complete a reading journal, a five-page paper, a creative project, and a final exam