Introduction to Latinx Studies

Catalog description

This course addresses the question of how Latinidad is defined. What is Latinx Culture? We will explore the political and cultural genealogy of the term ¿Latinx¿ as an ethnic-racial category that is contested and disputed. Through the exploration of theoretical texts and cultural materials such as literature, art, video, performance and film, we will address how Latinx communities have navigated political and economic systems like racial capitalism and settler colonialism. Through an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach, we will determine why Latinidad has manifested differently in colonial territories (especially Puerto Rico), regional communities (the U.S.¿Mexico borderlands), and transnational diasporas (of Cubans, of Dominicans, of Andean countries and of a variety of Central Americans). We will understand how Latinxs have struggled with shared issues, such as (anti-) Blackness and (anti-)Indigeneity, gender and sexuality, citizenship and (il)legality, and globalization.