SPA 344 - Latinx Culture: Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

This survey course will explore the development of a distinctly Latinx culture in the U.S. beginning in the nineteenth century and ending in the present day, with a focus on how constructions of race, gender, sexuality, and citizenship have shaped this development. We will consider the long history and shifting borders of Anglo and Latina/o cultural and political interaction, countering the idea that U.S. Latina/o literary presence is a recent phenomenon in this country. Reading different genres alongside each other and exploring the relations between them, we will pay special attention to how these texts represent the interaction of minority and dominant cultures. Meanwhile, we will strive for analyses that consider the intersectionality of race, gender, class, and other social markers. Topics covered will include: the recovery of early Latina/o texts; the history and legacy of racism, colonialism, and zenophobia; the construction of canons; the effect of immigration and exile in the construction of ethnicities; the role of resistance in the formation of Latina/o culture; the politics of bilingualism; Chicana and Latina feminisms; culturally specific manifestations of gender and sexuality; the exoticization and marginalization of Latina/o culture; and the changing borders around nation and identity from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century.

Satisfies major in Hispanic Studies requirement
Satisfies Latin American Studies major requirement
Satisfies Gender and Sexualuity Studies major requirement
Satisfies the Justice Equality and Community requirement

 

Prerequisites & Notes
Spanish 260 and 270 or their equivalents. (Spring)