Latina/o Literary Cultures and Counter-Cultures
ENGL 348
Spring 2011
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
FGSS 348, THEA 347 |
In this course we will examine instances of counter-cultural expression in Latina/o literature, performance, and popular media. Counter-culture in this context refers to a variable set of subject positions and aesthetic forms that include feminist and queer art and criticism, socialist political movements, punk, the avant-garde, sexual cultures, and the paraliterary (comic books, zines, speculative fiction). We will approach latinidad--the feeling of being Latina/o--as a having a fluctuating sense of value from text to text, appearing and disappearing according to the exigencies of the artist situated at a particular historical, political and cultural juncture. We will encounter moments in major Latina/o texts where to be Latina/o is a concrete experience, placed at the center of the subject's encounters with the world and built up strategically to enable protest, recognition, and inclusion. In other, minor moments in Latina/o writing, latinidad will seem deconstructed down to subtle transmissions of linguistic style, poetics, humor and feeling. We will also consider Latina/o literature's relationship to major American literary movements, such as realism, the Beat generation, and postmodernism. Texts will include novels, plays, poems, graphic novels, scholarly monographs, art, film and performance footage. We will draw insights from the fields of queer studies, performance studies, and literary theory and history. We will also maintain a blog on which you will post your own critical ventures into Latina/o counter-culture. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Intercultural Literacy, Interpretation |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (FGSS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Gloria Anzaldúa, BORDERLANDS/LA FRONTERA
Francisco Aragón, ed., THE WIND SHIFTS: NEW LATINO POETRY
Junot Diaz, THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO
Michelle Habell-Pallan, LOCA MOTION: THE TRAVELS OF CHICANA AND LATINA POPULAR CULTURE
Maria Irene Fornés, FEFU AND HER FRIENDS and PLAYS
Achy Obejas, MEMORY MAMBO
Jamie Manrique, LATIN MOON OVER MANHATTAN
Cristy C. Road, BAD HABITS: A LOVE STORY
Juana María Rodriguez, QUEER LATINIDAD: IDENTITY PRACTICES, DISCURSIVE SPACES
Richard Rodriguez, HUNGER OF MEMORY
Guillermo Rosales, THE HALFWAY HOUSE
Alina Troyano, I, CARMELITA TROPICANA: PERFORMING BETWEEN CULTURES
Additional readings will be provided in class, including work by Erich Auerbach, Jacques Derrida, Fredric Jameson, Raymond Williams, Samuel Delaney, Gloria Anzalúa, Rey Chow, Kandice Chuh, and José Esteban.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly one-page response papers, one presentation, and a 10-12 page research paper due in three drafts over the course of the semester. Grades will be based on these assignments plus attendance and participation. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills the English major requirement for Literatures of Difference and contributes to the fulfillment of the Race and Ethnicity concentration. |
| Instructor(s): Perez,Roy Times: ....R.. 01:10PM-04:00PM; Location: CRT285; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 6 | JR major: 6 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 1 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 3 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 3 |
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