Making Latino America

Catalog description

This course introduces scholarship on Latinx history, a field of critical importance to U.S. History, American studies, Latinx studies, ethnic studies, Latin American studies, and African American history. In order to cover a plethora of Latinx experiences, it will focus on Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Central American, and other Latinx communities from the 1840s into present, though it does not adhere to a strict chronological time frame. This course attempts to show the hemispheric nature of Latinx history. It also emphasizes a notion of Latinidad as a contingent historical process. Key themes which survey its complexity include the nature and legacies of imperialism; the politics of peoplehood and citizenship; trans-border connections; the importance of race, class, and gender in defining politics and culture; the emergence of ethnic nationalisms; and the development of urban enclaves. In particular, our class will focus on linking these dynamics to present-day issues and debates.