Introduction to Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Studies

Catalog description

An interdisciplinary introduction to Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x Studies engages students in the critical study of race, colonialism, labor, immigration, poverty, gender, sexuality, patriarchy, intersectionality, and resistance. Students analyze how racism is socially constructed and how ethnocentrism, Eurocentrism, white supremacy, anti-Indigeneity, and anti-Blackness shape historical and contemporary realities. The course examines the impacts of colonization, U.S. imperialism, and settler colonialism on Indigenous, Chicana/o/x, and Latina/o/x communities, while highlighting struggles for decolonization, sovereignty, and self-determination. Using intersectional frameworks, students explore how race, class, gender, sexuality, and immigration status intersect to create both oppression and resilience. Literature, poetry, corridos, and testimonios are studied as cultural texts of identity and resistance, while oral histories, reflective writing, and creative projects connect academic scholarship with lived experience. Finally, social movements such as the Chicano Movement, immigrant rights campaigns, labor organizing, and cross-ethnic coalitions like Black Lives Matter are analyzed as sites of resistance, equity, and liberation, preparing students to critically assess structures of power and envision transformative change. 54.00 hours lecture. (Letter grade only)