Topics in Latinx Studies: Latinx Literature and Visual Culture

EMR 1010 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

This is a broad-based course that utilizes art and literature as political and historical tools of analysis. Students will be introduced to a variety of issues, debates, and methodologies which are central to Latinx studies. While engaging in a hands-on practice of self-inquiry and social critique, we will learn to model a comparative, intersectional, and transnational approach to study the work of influential Latinx writers, artists, and scholars. The class will facilitate contemporary discussions of cultural and political articulations of Latinidad. We will focus on key historical national and transhemispheric movements and events that have shaped the history of Latinx communities in the US such as ‘El Movimiento’ [Chicano Movement], the influx of Central American migration after prolonged civil wars and military interventions on the region, or the impact of NAFTA on the border. Given that Latinx creators often blur the boundaries of traditional literary, artistic, and scholarly genres, students will be working with works by diverse foundational figures which includes Afro-Nuyorican author Piri Thomas, queer Chicana multidisciplinary writer Gloria Anzaldúa and contemporary visual artists such as Firelei Báez and Guadalupe Maravilla. Topics addressed in the course will include: the history of U.S. imperialism in Latin America, transnational migration and the U.S.-Mexico border, the colonial legacies of anti-blackness, Latina feminism(s), or critical Latinx Indigeneities. The class is open and accessible to all students.