Marisol LeBrón

Scholars, journalists, and pundits have argued that the new status of Latinxs as the “majority minority” population in the United States would diminish the political and economic power of the Black community and exacerbate simmering tensions between Black and Latinx groups. This course troubles sensationalistic accounts of Black and Latinx conflict by: 1) challenging the notion that Blackness and Latinidad are mutually exclusive; and 2) focusing on what interactions between Black American and Latinx groups illuminate about race and power relations in the United States. While this course asks what real and perceived moments of tension tell us about structures of inequality experienced by both groups, the readings in the course move beyond the dominant conflict paradigm to look at the complex relationship between Black American and Latinx communities and the structural forces and contexts that shape their interactions. In particular, this course will focus special attention on moments of coalition as Black American and Latinx groups have labored alongside one another to challenge the existing power structure and create a more just society.

Readings:

• Lauren Araiza, To March for Others: The Black Freedom Struggle and the United Farm Workers.
• Vanessa Ribas, On the Line: Slaughterhouse Lives and the Making of the New South.
• John D. Márquez, Black-Brown Solidarity: Racial Politics in the New Gulf South.
• Johanna Fernández, The Young Lords: A Radical History
• Savannah Shange, Progressive Dystopia: Abolition, Antiblackness, and Schooling in San Francisco
• Paul Ortiz, An African Americana and Latinx History of the United States

Course Description:

How does the criminal justice system make itself felt in the everyday lives of Latinxs? From border enforcement, to stop and frisk, to the phenomenon of mass incarceration, many Latinxs find themselves and their communities enmeshed within a dense web of surveillance, punishment, and detention. This interdisciplinary course will examine the historical, political, economic, and social factors that have, in many ways, criminalized Latinidad and/or rendered Latinidad illegal.

We will examine how race, class, education, gender, sexuality, and citizenship shape the American legal system and impact how Latinxs navigate that system. This course will pay special attention to the troubled and unequal relationshi between Latinxs and the criminal justice apparatus in the United States and how it has resulted in the formation of resistant political identities and activist practices.

Readings:

Timothy Black, When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets, New York: Vintage Books, 2009.

Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Migra!: A History of the U.S. Border Patrol, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.

Patrisia Macia-Rojas, From Deportation to Prison: The Politics of Immigration Enforcement in Post-Civil Rights America, New York: New York University Press 2016.

Eduardo Obregon Pagan, Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riots in Wartime L.A., Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.

Victor M. Rios, Punished: Policing he Lives o Black and Latino Boys, New York: New York University Press, 2011.

All other readings for this course will be available online.

This course will examine historical and contemporary examples of Latina/o/x political, social, and cultural practices in the United States through an interdisciplinary lens. We will explore the transnational nature of Latinidad and how Latina/o/x culture and identity is shaped by power relations and socio-political dynamics both in the United States as well as in countries of origin. This course will begin with discussions of what constitutes Latino/a/x identity and what constitutes Latino/a/x studies, laying the foundation for the analytical work we will do for the remainder of the semester. We will turn to themes ranging from colonialism and conquest, to sexuality and gender, to transnationalism and immigration, to race, poverty, and spatial inequality, to language, music, and media representations. Within each section of the course, students will be asked to articulate their thoughts via both written work and class participation, creating a classroom environment wherein students collectively think through the politics, histories, and implications of Latina/o/x identity.

Course Description:

How does the criminal justice system make itself felt in the everyday lives of Latinxs? From border enforcement, to stop and frisk, to the phenomenon of mass incarceration, many Latinxs find themselves and their communities enmeshed within a dense web of surveillance, punishment, and detention. This interdisciplinary course will examine the historical, political, economic, and social factors that have, in many ways, criminalized Latinidad and/or rendered Latinidad illegal.

We will examine how race, class, education, gender, sexuality, and citizenship shape the American legal system and impact how Latinxs navigate that system. This course will pay special attention to the troubled and unequal relationshi between Latinxs and the criminal justice apparatus in the United States and how it has resulted in the formation of resistant political identities and activist practices.

Readings:

Timothy Black, When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets, New York: Vintage Books, 2009.

Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Migra!: A History of the U.S. Border Patrol, Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.

Patrisia Macia-Rojas, From Deportation to Prison: The Politics of Immigration Enforcement in Post-Civil Rights America, New York: New York University Press 2016.

Eduardo Obregon Pagan, Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riots in Wartime L.A., Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003.

Victor M. Rios, Punished: Policing he Lives o Black and Latino Boys, New York: New York University Press, 2011.

All other readings for this course will be available online.

Assignments and Grading:

Class Participation: 15%

Presentations: 25%

Midterm Essay: 25%

Final Essays: 35%