Latino/Chicano Literature
This course will survey the literatures and cultures of Latino/as and Chicano/as in the United States and Canada. We will read authors such as Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Tomás Rivera, Piri Thomas, Sandra Cisneros, Junot Díaz, and Carmen Rodríguez. The settings will range from nineteenth-century California to twentieth-century Spanish Harlem and South Side Chicago, as well as glitzy Miami and multicultural Vancouver today. The themes to be discussed include identity, racism, memory, shame, pride, crime, exile, and international geopolitics, plus the usual literary topics of sex, death, and tortured adolescence. Students will edit Wikipedia articles as one of their assignments.
Instructor: Dr. Jon Beasley-Murray
Prerequisite: One of SPAN 202, SPAN 207. Or successful completion of a language placement exam or an assessment interview.
Language of Instruction: Spanish