In 2006, the massive nation-wide May Day protests and marches, were not only emblematic of immigrantworker resistance, but a turning point in evolving Latina/o/x pan-ethnoracial identities. Through the rallying cry of “Day Without an Immigrant,” across cities from Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago to Atlanta, diverse peoples of the United States became exposed to the fundamental ways Latin@/x populations are embedded within the very fabric of the nation through their endless labor, contributions, innovations, and community-building. In this introductory course, students study the field of Mexican American and Latina/o/x Studies as an interdisciplinary and intersectional arena of academic inquiry, which centers on challenging and dismantling the inherent inequalities and multiple oppressions foundational to the making of the United States through the eyes of the Mexican American, Chican@/x, Latin@/x experience. We survey the historical, political, socioeconomic, and cultural fabric, which shapes this heterogenous populace and examine the formation of Latin@/xs as an ethnoracial group(s) in the United States. We explore the multifaceted histories of colonialism in the Americas and U.S. imperialism through an investigation of transnational, transborder contexts of corporate, military, and political interventions that have (re)defined national boundaries and human migrations in the Americas. Last, students use an intersectional approach to unravel how race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, language, migration, indigeneity, and citizenship are integral to the multiplicity identities forming Latinidad.

This course introduces students to a variety of theoretical and substantive issues covered under the interdisciplinary rubric of Cultural Studies. Focusing primarily on the Mexican American historical, cultural, literary, and social experience, students will read and discuss a wide range of materials that explore and represent the general framework of Cultural Studies. A partial listing of this framework includes literary production, cultural critique, historical analysis, media studies and ways of knowing. This course focuses on distinct ways of “thinking” within cultural criticism, and their utility in the study of Mexican America and LatinX experience. A particular focus of this class is the relationship between representation and the production of difference: racial, gender, class, and other forms of social cleavage.

Among the many catalysts that centralized the narratives of Chicanas into the discourse the U.S. Southwest/Mexican Borderlands, the 1971 La Conferencia de Mujeres por la Raza in Houston inspired how Chicanas/Xicanas, xicanindias, mestizas, indigenous, Mexican American, and brown women defined themselves, asserted their roles and identities, and shared their stories. This course privileges the stories, struggles, contestations, imaginations, writings, and accomplishments of Chicanas in the United States in the mid-twentieth and early twentieth-first centuries. Through a close examination of literature, and attention to historical and theoretical materials, we will create a growing understanding of the significance of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, class, language, spirituality, and citizenship in affecting the daily lives and social worlds of Chicanas. By end of the semester, we will also gain a complex insight into the importance of how Chicana feminism, Xicanisma, intersectionality, migration, borders, and community are formative in the Chicana experience(s).

The reading and lecture course examines the historical development of the Mexican community in the United States since 1848, with an emphasis on the period between 1900 and the present.  The primary purpose of the course is to address time and place specific variations in the incorporation of the Mexican community as a national minority and bottom segment of the U.S. working class.  One of my central concerns is to explain two inter-related historical trends in this incorporation, steady upward mobility and unrelenting social marginalization.  I emphasize work experiences, race thinking, social relations, trans-border relations, social causes and larger themes in U.S. history such as wars, sectional differences, industrialization, reform, labor and civil rights struggles, and the development of a modern urbanized society. Also, I incorporate relevant aspects of the history of Latinos, African Americans, and Mexico.


Texts:
Manuel G. Gonzales, Mexicanos, A History of Mexicans in the US (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999).
Angela Valenzuela, “The Drought of Understanding and the Hummingbird Spirit,” Unpublished essay in my possession.
Emilio Zamora, Claiming Rights and Righting Wrongs in Texas, Mexican Workers and Job Politics during WWII (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2009).
Emilio Zamora, “Guide for Writing Family History Research Paper.


Grading:
Mid-term examination (25%),
Final examination (25%),
Research paper (30%),
Two chapter reports (10%)
Film report (10%).

E 342M  l  Life and Literature of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

Instructor:  González, J

Unique #: 34920

Semester:  Fall 2020

Cross-lists:  MAS 345D

Prerequisite:  Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.

Description:  This course will trace the origins and development of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands in literary and filmic representations from the U.S.-Mexican War (1846-1848) through the twenty-first century.  The making of the borderlands as a site of national identity and cultural formation on both sides of the border will be examined in terms of race, gender, class, language, and sexuality, particularly as these are mobilized as ideologies of domination and practices of resistance.  Situating expressive cultural practices within their historical social contexts will be a major feature of this course.

Possible readings:  Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La frontera; Oscar Cásares, Where We Come From; Carlos Fuentes, The Crystal Frontier; Carmen Bollusa, Texas: The Great Theft; Américo Paredes, George Washington Gómez; Emmy Pérez, With the River on Our Face; Arturo Islas, Migrant Souls; Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe; Jovita González and Eve Raleigh, Caballero; Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian; Larry McMurtry, Streets of Laredo; Phillip Myers, The Son; Javier Huerta, American Copia: An Immigrant Epic; Javier Zamora, Unaccompanied; Norma Elia Cantú, Canícula; Tómas Rivera, …y no se lo tragó la tierra; Rolando Hinojosa Smith, Estampas del Valle; James Carlos Blake, Borderlands: Short Fictions; Fernando Flores, Tears of the Truffle Pig; Aristeo Brito, El diablo en Texas.

Possible films:  Sleep Dealer; The Infiltrators; El Norte; Born in East L.A; No Country for Old Men; A Touch of Evil; Border Incident.

Requirements & Grading:  The course grade will consist of: attendance and participation (10%); in-class free writing exercises and quizzes (10%); two peer review reports (10%; 5% each); and two substantial analytical essays (70%).  The first of these essays must be significantly revised; the first draft of this 5-6-page essay will count for 20% of the final grade, while the revised draft will count for 20%.  The second essay of 8-10 pages will count for 30%.  Failure to complete all required coursework will result in a failing course grade.

This course examines the interconnectedness of Mexican American history and environmental studies. It is not designed to be an exhaustive survey of either. Rather, we will orient our discussions around two crucial historical-ecological contexts: the desert and commercial agriculture.

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A bilingual is defined as an individual who functions in more than one language on a regular basis. This course will provide an introduction to classic and recent work on bilingualism from psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives. After reviewing basic concepts and methods in psycholinguistics and sociolinguistics the course will address empirical studies and theoretical frameworks related to such topics as stages of bilingual language acquisition and the role of age of acquisition, how bilinguals perceive and segment speech sounds, how word meanings are accessed and stored, how sentences are understood and planned, how characteristics of written language affect reading, how mixed language utterances are processed, how bilingualism  is perceived  in the United States, the historical contexts of bilingualism, and bilingual education. Given the interdisciplinary nature of the topic we will draw on research from cognitive psychology, (socio)linguistics, computer science, education, and neuroscience. Students will have the opportunity to apply course concepts by making their own bilingualism related internet memes and Spotify playlists. This course will consist of lectures, discussion, as well as in-class discussion of readings led by students.

In this undergraduate seminar, we will critically examine the contemporary politics, geographies, and practices of Latina/o migration and asylum in the United States. We will begin our discussion with an assessment of the current migration crisis at the international level. This includes an overview of increased border enforcement and militarization as well as the varied challenges confronting migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers from the mid-twentieth century through the contemporary period. Secondly, we will situate processes of Latino/a migration within the larger historical trajectory of U.S. economic and military conquests in the Americas, focusing on the region of Central America in particular. Causes and consequences of Latino/a migration with respect to Honduras and El Salvador will serve as important case studies in this regard. Lastly, we will examine U.S. asylum policy and practices in concert with the expansion of immigration detention and deportation and the racialization and criminalization of Latinos/as. 

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Explore the political experiences of the United States Latino populations.

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With the publication ofEntre Guadalupe y Malinche, editors Inés Hernández-Ávila and Norma Elia Cantú solidify their mandate to legitimize Tejan@/x Studies as an arena worthy of ongoing research, study, and comprehension. Furthermore, they center the narratives of Tejanas as a necessary part of the conversation to understand this emergent field of inquiry and integral to Chicana Studies. In this course, we investigate the history of Tejanas to reaffirm and reclaim their place and role in the histories of Native Americans, woman, Chican@/xs, Greater Mexico, and the United States. We will further explore how transfronterizismo and transregionalism  complicate this history. Last, we will contemplate how their stories are fundamental to illuminating the struggles, resistance, and liberation of Chicanas, xicanindias, mestizas, and afromexicanas from precontact to decolonization.

Course Rationale
Immigration patterns have significantly affected the development of U.S. society. No country accepts more immigrants than the United States; yet, the history of US immigration is dotted with policies to restrict immigration. In the 1990s, the United States experienced a record number of new legal immigrants, primarily from Asia and Latin America (Mexico), breaking the 1900 – 1909 record, and in 2000 – 2009 the number of immigrants admitted again set a new record. But at the same time, the United States deported record numbers of migrants. This course uses a sociological perspective to gain an understanding the social forces that drive migration to the United States, how migrants organize their migration, how immigration affects US society, and US policies towards immigration patterns. II.

Course Aims and Objectives
Aims

This course is designed to provide a sociological understanding concerning the nature of immigration in U.S. society, including an understanding of how immigration affects large (macro) and small (micro) social units in the society, and contributes to social diversity in our country. The course also provides an understanding of the social – structural nature of international migration (migration in the world system). 

Specific Learning Objectives

• Gain background information on the development of immigration patterns in U.S. society and discuss the social forces that affect these patterns from the perspective of historical and recent immigration trends. 
• Review and discuss different perceptions about immigration patterns, and how these perceptions vary as the immigrant groups come from different cultural backgrounds. 
• Review and use government online sources concerning annual immigration numbers and characteristics. 
• Develop an awareness of the significance of immigration for the development of U.S. society, including impacts on social and cultural diversity. 
• Review major laws affecting migration patterns to U.S. society 
  

Cultural Diversity Objective Flag:
“This course carries the flag for Cultural Diversity in the United States. Cultural Diversity courses are designed to increase your familiarity with the variety and richness of the American cultural experience. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one U.S. cultural group that has experienced persistent marginalization.” 

Format and Procedures
The course is designed with the expectation that it will follow an intertwined format of lectures and class discussions. A key expectation is that students will come to class prepared to discuss issues covered in the class, or at least come to class with a curious and critical predisposition to become intellectually engaged in the class. All students are expected to contribute to class discussion, with a high regard for an open academic dialogue, which values respect for the ideas, opinions, and views of others. Class attendance is required (but not graded) and highly encouraged.

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The guiding principle of this course is that Latinx literary studies is necessarily interdisciplinary scholarship. The course will benefit students of Latinx cultural studies who are interested in incorporating literature into their work as well as students of literature interested in incorporating interdisciplinary ethnic studies methods into their work. Readings each week will pair a Latinx literary text with scholarship from a range of disciplinary perspectives as we interrogate how Latinx literary studies engages with history, sociology, anthropology, performance studies, etc. and with social justice questions (immigration, health, feminism, sexuality, etc) that exceed the confines of singular academic disciplines.

Course Description:

Think of a borders approach to the past as a tool that can open up new ways of understanding the past.  This tool helps you see connections between people and places, and it helps you envision the networks that both bind together and separate groups.  It is simply a beginning point in understanding and a way to ask new questions and evaluate evidence.

One example of this approach is to examine how linguistic and cultural traits persist over time and how they change to fit new circumstances.  You might ask, for example, why the Comanche changed and did not change as they marketed more buffalo hides to European descent people.  The answer might lead you to examining changes in how they treated captives or the evolving role of women.  A borders approach is a window to the past that leads in many exciting directions.

This course focuses on two types of borders–borders between places and borders between groups.  Another way to phrase this is to say physical borders such as lines on the map and cultural borders such as religious differences or differences in myths and memories. It assumes that borders divided, united, and helped define both places and groups. It also assumes that borders were fluid, constructed, and reconstructed. 

The core area of the course includes places today called Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico, but the flow of goods, peoples, habits, cultures, and ideas to and from this core region includes movement north and south between the Southwest and Mexico, back and forth on the Atlantic, from and to the South, the Mid-continent, and the West of North America.

Thus the key groups included Indian peoples, Mexicans and Tejanos, Anglos, African Americans, and European ethnic groups such as German Texans or French Louisianans.  Groups and the borders between them also included such things as gender and class.  We will explore how each group helped define another, how, for example, white became not black.

This is a course then about borders between and within a region from roughly 1700 forward, and how those borders shaped and defined a region’s culture, economy, politics, and identity.  The goal is for all in the class to come to a working definition of this broader meaning and the impact of borders. It is a course meant to open up the historical imagination and equip you with a tool for research, writing, and thinking. Along the way it offers much about the history of the Southwest and its peoples.

In the groundbreaking collection, Indigenous and Decolonizing Studies in Education,editors Linda Tuhiwai Smith (Nga¯ti Awa, Nga¯ti Porou),Eve Tuck (Unangaxˆ), and K. Wayne Yang pose a necessary and revolutionary challenge to educators and their pedagogies. By asserting, “Water is life. Land is our first teacher,” they remind us, as indigenous educators (and I would add educators of Ethnic Studies), it is our first imperative to unhinge and unsettle the Western and colonist approaches, which permeates educational settings, learning practices, and theoretical and methodological approaches around teaching. Courses in Ethnic Studies are a unique opportunity to fulfill, broaden, and complicate the roots of social justice and liberation inherent to this trans/interdisciplinary field, which centers intersectional perspectives and recognizes the heterogeneous student population we engage.

This seminar prepares students for university/college teaching as well as nontraditional learning environments. It will emphasize an interactive forum for discussing learner-centered teaching in Mexican American and Latina/o/x Studies, and Ethnic Studies at large. We will also examine diverse classroom strategies and pedagogical techniques specific to this interdisciplinary field(s) that stresses race, gender, sexuality, class, and disability as crucial frameworks to learning. Ultimately, student will engage in the praxis of teaching by writing courses and leading a mock class.