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.

Bilingualism is a complex phenomenon that refers to the capacity to speak and communicate indistinctly in two or more different languages. Then, it is not a semantic feature of the natural language; it is a pragmatic characteristic of its use. Since language is a property of groups of speakers, bilingualism is a skill showed and belonging to certain individuals. Because of the nature of our contemporary society, this phenomenon is a lived reality for a number of individuals in several communities inside and outside the US. This is to say, the fact that several communities in the Américas conserve a native language besides the official one extends between the members of these communities the knowledge and use of different ways to communicate.

The main purpose of this course is to analyze the linguistic, cognitive, social, and cultural aspects of this complex phenomenon. To do so, the course supposes that the main characteristics of the (different variables of the different) languages are independent of the origin of these communities. The course will primarily focus on the relationship that is established between English (as the vernacular language) and the second co-existent language, especially the binomial with Spanish (approximately 70% of course material) and other common US bilingual language experiences as well. The idea is to analyze the bilingual speaker in context within the community to which she belongs, especially relating to Mexican American and US-Latino communities.

TEXT:

Multiple Voices. An Introduction to Bilingualism, by Carol Myers-Scotton (Oxford: Blackwell, 2006). Additional texts will be available on the Blackboard.

GRADING:

25% Final Paper

25% Two Short Essays (12.5% each)

10% Peer-Review Sessions

10% Oral Presentation

30% Attendance and Participation

(5% additional extra-credit short essay)

The first Festival de Flor y Canto in University of Southern California in 1973 marks an overt shift in the literary production of Chican@/xs. A celebration of the expressions and creations, which inform Mexican American, Chicana@/x literature and culture, this gathering, was one of numerous key outlets to showcase this profound vastness and diversity. In this class, we will consider the range of stories, narratives, and texts critical to understanding the daily lives, resistance, exploitation, and rebellions within Mexican Americans and Chican@/xs in the United States. Through a careful reading of the novel, short story, and poetry, memoir, and film we will uncover the relevant themes, which are central to (me)Xican@/xs, xicanindi@/x, mestiz@/xs, indigenous, and brown communities across Greater Mexico. By the end of the course, students will achieve a growing comprehension into subjects such as curanderismo, rasquachismo, segregation, incarceration, migrations, familia, feminism, womanhood, queerness, and la frontera, to name but a few.

Readings

Anaya, Rudolfo A. Bless Me, Ultima. Reprint. New York: and Central Publishing, 2013.

García, Sarah Rafael. SanTana's Fairy Tales/Cuentos de SanTana. Translated by Julieta Corpus. Austin: Raspa Magazine, 2017.

Salinas, Raúl R. [raúlrsalinas]. Un Trip through the Mind Jail y Otras Excursions: Poems.Reprint. Houston: Arte Público Press, 1999.

silva, ire'ne lara. Flesh to Bone. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 2013.

Description:  Gloria Anzaldúa famously called the border between México and the United States a “1,950 mile-long open wound,” “una herida abierta,” where “a third country—a border culture” has arisen on either side of the Rio Grande/Río Bravo and beyond.  In this course, we will traverse the borders of language(s), geography, history, and identity negotiated by Mexican-American artists from Texas in a variety of literary genres, visual art, and film.  Our methods will be intersectional—attending to class, gender, sexuality, religion, etc., in addition to race—as we explore these (re)definitions of what it means to be, in Cherríe Moraga’s words, American “con acento.”

The primary aim of this course is to help students develop and improve the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills needed for success in upper-division courses in English and other disciplines.  They will also gain practice in using the Oxford English Dictionary and other online research tools and print resources that support studies in the humanities.  Students will learn basic information literacy skills and models for approaching literature with various historical, generic, and cultural contexts in mind.

This course contains a writing flag.  The writing assignments in this course are arranged procedurally with a focus on invention, development through instructor and peer feedback, and revision; they will comprise a major part of the final grade.

Tentative Texts:  Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (nonfiction, memoir, theory); Alonzo, Jotos del Barrio (play); Silva, Flesh to Bone (short stories).

Requirements & Grading:  There will be a series of 3 formal writing assignments, the first of which must be revised and resubmitted (70% of the final grade in total).  Excluding the final project (critical or creative), the second assignment may also be revised and resubmitted by arrangement with the Instructor.  Students will also have the opportunity to practice writing in a variety of other genres, including reading journals (or the occasional quiz), creative writing exercises, and in-class presentations (30% of the final grade).

E 314V  l  3-Mexican American Literature and Culture

Instructor:  CdeBaca, L

Unique #:  35150

Semester:  Spring 2022

Cross-lists:  MAS 314, 39835

Prerequisites:  One of the following: E 303C (or 603A), RHE 306, 306Q, or T C 303C (or 603A).

Description:  The stories Chicanas/os tell about Mexico reveal the manifold ways in which we imagine Chicanidad, or Chicana/o identities.  By examining how Mexican American authors construct “Mexico” as a political force, a spiritual homeland, and an imagined nation, this course explores the place of Mexico in twentieth and twenty-first century Chicana/o narrative.  Examining questions of indigenism, spirituality, mestizaje, gender, class, migration, and popular culture, the course will survey how Mexican Americans define Mexicanidad (Mexicanness) and how Mexican identity and nationalism affect Chicana/o identity and questions of borders, cultural nationalisms, and transnationalisms.  Complicating a neat dialectic, we’ll also examine the works of Mexican authors and artists who look to Chicana/o cultural productions to complement their own understanding of Mexicanidad.  Pairing short stories, novels, autobiography, live performance, and film with histories and criticism, we will discuss the various ways in which narratives shape material realities, allowing us to envision nations and cultures as shared, contested, mediated, and imagined spaces of story

Texts:  Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza; Sandra Cisneros, Caramelo; Richard Rodriguez, Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father; Luis Alberto Urrea, The Hummingbird’s Daughter.

Additional selections from: Octavio Paz, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Miguel León-Portilla, Maria Josefina Saldaña-Portillo, and Christina Garcia Lopez

Requirements & Grading:  Attendance/Participation (20%); Weekly Reading Journals (30%); 2 Critical Analysis Essays (30%; Cultural Readership Research Project (20%).

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A seminar for advanced undergraduates to hone reading and writing skills for graduate study. We will cover a range of materials  focusing on Mexican American and Latinx Cultural Studies Theories with emphasis on the politics of cultural production in the 21st century.  Students will complete independent research projects that include ethnographic field methods, media studies, archival work and more.

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I. Course Rationale

Since the 1940s, US control of the Southwest border has remained a major challenge in immigration policy. Border control has become one of the most debated topics in the country, including in federal and state legislative bodies. Annually thousands of unauthorized migrants cross the US-Mexico border into the United States to participate in US labor markets and in other social institutions. A consequence of unauthorized immigration and of the implementation of border control measures for deterrence has been the deaths of hundreds of migrants annually. Over the years, the deaths have added up into the thousands. The social effects of border control and the occurrence of migrant deaths have become sociological topics investigated by sociologists and other researchers to increase our knowledge and understanding of international migration and the effects of border policies.

 II.  Course Aims and Objectives

Aims

 This course is designed to provide a sociological understanding of border control and migrant deaths at the US-Mexico border. Of particular importance for the course is research knowledge concerning border control policies and patterns of migrant deaths.

 Specific Learning Objectives

• Gain information and understanding of the development and effects of US border control policies concerning the following: border control campaigns, social and public perceptions of the border, migrant death patterns in border areas, government plans to redirect migration, ethics of border control, human rights and critical perspectives related to migrant deaths, bureaucratic ideology in border control, migrant death forensics, smuggling, community responses to migrant deaths, recent research on border control and migrant deaths.
• Review and discuss different approaches and measures for border control. 

• Review and analyze government statistical reports concerning annual migrant apprehensions at the border and annual counts of migrant deaths in border sectors. 

• Develop an awareness of the significance of border control for the development of US immigration policy. 

• Review major impacts of US border control measures for local communities. 

Cultural Diversity Objective: 

“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.” . .

 “Ideally, the Cultural Diversity Flag will challenge students to explore the beliefs and practices of an underrepresented group in relation to their own cultural experiences so that they engage in an active process of self-reflection.” 

III. 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 thematic 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 expect 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 assumed and expected, and highly encouraged.

Students will have an opportunity to evaluate qualities of the course, including the instructor.  The purpose of the student evaluations is to provide feedback to help improve the teaching experience.

IV.  Assumptions

My assumptions about the nature of immigration in U.S. society is that it a) follows an historical course, b) flows from the interaction between human agency and social structures, c) takes normal paths of social division and degrees of accommodation and social incorporation, d) is partly affected by social constructions regarding different national-origin groups, and e) has its most profound significance within the dynamics of social reproduction (constant remaking of societies). 

V. Course Requirements

1. Class attendance and participation policy

Class attendance is required but not graded. I will assume that all students enrolled in the course attend all class meetings, and thus are informed of all class matters stated in class. Please try to arrive in class on time.  Also, you should review previous lecture notes and bring questions to class about points you did not clearly understand—including points from the assigned readings.  Please be attentive in class (turn off phones or set to vibration). You are greatly encouraged to participate in class discussion, and to do so in a manner that respects the rights of others to also participate.  If you have a problem hearing the lectures and discussion, or viewing class presentations, please let the instructor know immediately. 

Religious Holidays

UT Austin policy requires that you notify course instructors at least 14 days in advance if you plan to be absent due to a religious holiday. You will be given an opportunity to make up activities (exams, assignments, etc.) that you miss because of your absence due to a religious holiday.  You will be given a reasonable time to make up an exam or assignment after your absence. 

2. Course Readings/Materials 

a) Required books

Dunn, Timothy J. (D)  2009.  Blockading the Border and Human Rights: The El Paso Operation that Remade Immigration Enforcement. Austin: University of Texas Press.

De Leon, Jason. (DL) 2015.  The Land of Open Graves:  Living and Dying in the Migrant Trail.  Oakland: University of California Press.

b) Websites to review:

Migration Policy Institute: http://www.migrationpolicy.org/

Pew Hispanic Center: http://pewhispanic.org/

UC-Davis Migration News: http://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Immigration Statistics): http://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/

Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/

Population Reference Bureau: http://www.prb.org/

 3. Assignments, Assessments, Evaluation, Dates

a) The course contains three exams and a paper requirement. The exams will consist of multiple-choice items. All exams have to be taken on the dates specified; the only exceptions to this rule are cases involving an emergency and authorization by UT Austin.  In such exceptional cases, essay makeup exams for the first two regular exams have to be taken within a week after the originally designated dates in the specified sociology room for makeups. In the rare possibility that a student needs to take a makeup for the third exam, arrangements with have to be made with the instructor. Makeup exams will consist of essay questions only. Students who miss a scheduled exam must alert the instructor beforehand and consult with the instructor regarding the makeup.  There is no procedure for making up the Final Exam outside of cases that are of a true exceptional and unusual personal pressing situation. Students have to take all exams on the dates and times specified.  Exams cannot be taken earlier or later than the dates and times specified.

 The paper requirement is a research brief of 1,350 words (5 pages) on a class-related border/migration topic for which at least three (3) research journal publications are consulted and cited in the text, and listed in the Reference section of the paper.  The motive for the paper is to give the student an opportunity to read research journal publications. Grading of the paper will include checking for a) the required number of words (1,450), b) the three required journal sources, and c) the adequacy and strength of the presentation in the paper.

 4. Use of Canvas:  Canvas will be used to help manage the course and to pursue interaction with students.  Canvas will be used to make announcements, distribute information, communicate with students, and post grades.  Students are encouraged to use Canvas to communicate and share relevant comments and information.  Please check your Canvas site regularly to look for communications from the instructor or from other students in the class.  Support for using Canvas can be obtained from the following websites:  https://utexas.instructure.com/courses/633028/pages/welcome-to-canvas; http://guides.instructure.com/m/4212

 VI.  Grading

 a) Three exams of 50 multiple-choice items (worth 100 points each).

• 100 points per exam x 3 exams = 300 points

 b) Paper requirement worth 50 points

Total possible points = 350

 c) Letter grades based on 350 possible cumulative points:

 A = 325-350     A- = 315-324

B+= 304-323    B  = 290-303    B-= 280-289

C+= 269-279    C  = 255-268    C-= 245-254

D+= 234-244    D  = 220-233    D-= 210-219

F  = 209 or fewer points

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This course is an opportunity for students to gain practical and hands-on experience in the workplace through the lens of Mexican American and Latina/o/x Studies. You will participate in a nonpartisan, direct-service capacity internship where you will work with a  Mexican American, Chicana/o/x, Latina/o/x, Indigenous-centered community, civic, or government organization/program/entity that is frontline-led and addresses of questions of economic, political, social, and/or cultural inequalities, justice, and/or empowerment. 

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