Introduction to Latino/a Literatures and Cultures
ENGL 279
Fall 2010
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 278, LAST 279 |
Who is Latina/o? This year an embattled Arizona state legislature raised the stakes for precisely this question by passing some of the strictest immigration enforcement policies the nation has seen in decades. Meanwhile, Latina/o music, food, literature, and style retain a special value in U.S. popular culture, where Latinas/os are seen as providing "fiery" and "exotic" flavor to the American character. How did Latina/o culture in the U.S. become at once so popular and precarious, both familiar and foreign, both mainstream and marginal? How do Latina/o thinkers and artists grapple with such historical paradoxes? This course will survey the history, politics and artistic production of Latina/o cultures in the U.S. from the colonial encounter to the appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Course in 2009. We will study literature, music, television, film, blogs, and news media, as well as works of visual and perfor! mance art that give voice to a diversity of social matters that concern Cuban, Chicana/o, Dominican, Puerto Rican and other Latina/o cultures in the U.S. We will also study important flashpoints in the history of U.S. relations with Latin America, as well as comparative scholarly approaches to the Americas broadly conceived, in order to map the transnational flow of culture that shapes the lives of Latina/o populations in the U.S. Topics will include the construction of race and ethnicity; national histories and differences within Latina/o culture; exile, immigration and citizenship; class, labor, and economic disenfranchisement; criminality and the prison industrial complex; major sociopolitical movements and revolutions; feminism, sexuality and the impact of the AIDS crisis; and the important role of artistic expression and experimentation in the construction of Latina/o identity. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Intercultural Literacy, Interpretation
Intercultural Literacy and Interpretation.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(ENGL)(ENGL-Literature) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Julia Alvarez, IN THE NAME OF SALOMÉ
Junot Diaz, DROWN
Juan González, HARVEST OF EMPIRE
Rigoberta Menchú, I, RIGOBERTA MENCHÚ
Achy Objeas, WE CAME ALL THE WAY FROM CUBA SO YOU COULD DRESS LIKE THIS?
Suzanne Oboler, ETHNIC LABELS, LATINO LIVES Miguel Piñero, SHORT EYES Juan Rulfo, PEDRO PÁRAMO Helena Maria Viramontes, UNDER THE FEET OF JESUS
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly one-page response papers, one presentation, a midterm paper (6-8 pages) and a final research paper (10-12 pages). Grades will be based on these assignments plus attendance and participation. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills the Literatures of Difference requirement and contributres to the Race and Ethnicity concentration in the English major. |
| Instructor(s): Perez,Roy Times: ....R.. 01:10PM-04:00PM; Location: FISK101; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 1 | JR non-major: 1 | SO: 6 | FR: 5 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 1 | Unranked: 1 |
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