Course Description
A survey of Latinx literature and key topics in Latinx literary studies. Students will explore how Latino/as have imaginatively dramatized issues such as barrio life, exilic nostalgia, internal colonialism, historic traumas, border crossings, Spanglish, mestizaje, machismo, and new notions of the American Dream.
Athena Title
Latinx Literature
Prerequisite
ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1103 or ENGL 1050H or ENGL 1060H
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students in this class will: • Become familiar with major authors and works in the Latinx literary canon • Become conversant in key terms and concepts in Latinx literatures and cultures • Appreciate the richness and heterogeneity of Latinx literatures and cultures • Identify myths and stereotypes about Latino/as • Understand the history and geopolitics of Latinx migrations to the United States • Discuss the meaning and the value of pluralistic dialogue and multiculturalism • Become conversant in methods for literary and rhetorical analysis • Improve their critical thinking and analytic writing skills
Topical Outline
Topics will vary by instructor, but a typical version of the course could include the following: • History and Identity • Language and Cultural Politics • Chicano Power • The Poetics of el Barrio • Exile and Reconciliation • War and Sanctuary • Machos, Xicanas, and Queer Latinidades • Afro-Latinidad and the Magically Real
Syllabus