4:00p-5:15p TR (70) 3 cr.

TOPIC: AMERICANO LITERATURE

We will explore the emergence of Latino/Americano literature in the latter part of the twentieth century as a mirror of the social and cultural politics that have created contemporary America. Although this is in essence "ethnic" literature that we are reading, the focus of the course will be to understand how "ethnicity" and "race" go to the core of an American self-conception and a national ethos. Hence the title of the course: "Americano Literature."

We will read Mexican American/Chicano, Cubano, Puerto Rican, and other Latino texts and use an interdisciplinary framework for discussing poetry, fiction, and film. All texts are in English or in translation.

Texts:
Arturo Islas, Migrant Souls; Tomas Rivera, And the Earth Did Not Devour Him; Rolando Hinojosa, The Valley; Edward Rivera, Family Installments; Ernesto Quinonez, Bodega Dreams; Cristina Garcia, Dreaming in Cuban; and a reader.