English
277-0-01: Introduction to Latina/o Literature

Instructor: John Alba Cutler
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Expected Enrollment: 50

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Latinos are hard to pin down. Sociologically, linguistically, geographically, Latinos defy definition and containment. This course examines “movement” as a way of introducing some key texts and themes in US Latino literature. First, we will consider how the activist movements of the 1960s and 70s influenced the formation of Latino identities and politics. We will also investigate how Latino narrative and poetry are constantly in movement between languages, places, and cultures. How do Latino writers situate themselves in relation to the nation at large as well as to their particular communities? How do the differing histories of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans both inform and resist the pan-ethnic Latino label? What does it mean to found an identity on the very idea of flux?

TEACHING METHOD: Lecture, and discussion sections.

EVALUATION METHOD: Midterm, final, two short essays.

READING: When I was Puerto Rican, Esmeralda Santiago; . . . y no se lo tragó la tierra / And the Earth Did Not Devour Him, Tomás Rivera; The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz

[Course Descriptions for Fall 2009] [Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences] [ENGLISH English]