Fall 2002
ES399/CRN:15162
Chicanas/Latinas: Work and Politics
30 Pacific Hall, Tuesday and Thursday, 2-3:20pm
Matt Garcia
Office:305 McKenzie Hall
6-0903
Office Hours: Wednesday, 8:30-9:30am; 2:30-4:30pm
or by appointment
Description:
For over four centuries, women of Latin American descent have been creative, innovative forces shaping the cultural and economic development of North America.Their lives, however, have long remained in the shadows of history seen merely as landscape figures rather than historical actors.This class aims to shed light on the political positions and work experiences of Latinas living throughout the US and beyond.My definition of “work” will be liberal, ranging from unpaid domestic labor, to paid industrial and agricultural labor, to janitorial and paid domestic labor.We will also consider women within the creative arts as well as the intellectual work of Latina academics.My definition of “politics” is equally fungible and will encompass not only a variety of positions taken by Latinas, but also the many arenas in which they have articulated their ideas.Limited by time, we will focus primarily on women from the four largest Latina/o groups—Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican and Mexican—though material will often explore the related histories of more recent Latin American immigrants from Central and South America.Finally, we will venture on either side of the US/Mexican border and the sea, though the majority of our focus will be on the lives of U.S. Latinas.
You are required to have an introductory knowledge of Latina/o history (e.g. ES251/252) or the history of Women of Color (e.g. ES330 or WGS321).Students who have not taken such courses may petition to add the course during my office hours.
Required Reading:
Fregoso, Rosa Linda, ed. 2001.Lourdes Portillo: The Devil Never Sleeps and Other Films. Edited by D. Gonzalez, and Antonia Castaneda,Chicana Matters. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette. 2001.Domestica:Immigrant Workers Cleaning and Caring in the Shadows of Affluence. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ruiz, Vicki. 1998.From Out of the Shadows:Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America. New York: Oxford University Press.
Santiago, Esmeralda. 1993.When I Was Puerto Rican. New York: Vintage.
Packet @ The Copy Shop, 539 E. 13thAvenue
Films:
Las Madres:The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
La Ofrenda
The Devil Never Sleeps/El Diablo nunca duerme
Corpus: A Home Movie For Selena
Señorita Extraviada
by Lourdes Portillo
My American Girlsby Andrew Matthews
Our House in HavanabyStephen Olsson
La OperaciónbyAna María García
Brincando El Charcoby Frances Negron-Muntaner
Bread and Rosesby Ken Loach
Assignments:
Midterm Exam25%
Film Essay25%
Discussion20%
Final30%
You will complete a midterm exam worth 25% and a final exam worth 30% of your grade.Additionally, you will watch and write about films that explore some aspect of the themes of this class.Instructions will be handed out in class.Finally, your discussion grade, worth 20%, will be based on the quality (not necessarily quantity) of your in-class participation.
Weekly Assignments:
Reading assignments should be completed by the date that they appear below
Week One
10/1Gender and Sexuality in Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies
Gutiérrez, “Community, Patriarchy, and Individualism” (Packet)
!0/3Decolonial Imaginary
Pérez, “Sexing the Colonial Imaginary;” Anzaldúa, “La conciencia de la mestiza” (Packet)
Las Madres:The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo(1987),On Reserve
Week Two
10/7La Ofrenda(1989) andCorpus: A Home Movie For Selena(1998), 7pm, Media Services, Knight Library Basement, Studio D.
10/8Portillo’s Politics of Love
Fregoso, 1-73
10/10Rosa Linda Fregoso Visit
Fregoso, 81-159
The Devil Never Sleeps/El Diablo nunca duerme(1996),On Reserve
Week Three
10/15Border Journeys
Ruiz, 3-32
10/17My American Girl
Ruiz, 33-71
MIDTERM ASSIGNED
Week Four
10/22Cultural Coalescence
Santiago, 1-83
10/24U.S. Imperialism and Immigration
Santiago, 87-104
MIDTERM EXAM DUE (25%)
Week Five
10/29Gendered Revolutions
Santiago, 107-151
10/31Brincando El Charco
Santiago, 155-209
Week Six
11/5Mujeres Interrupted: Cuban Women & the Revolution
Santiago, 213-270
Our House in Havana
11/7Politics from Above and Below
Ruiz, 72-98; Chávez, 161-171; Moya, 77-97 (Packet)
FILM ESSAY ASSIGNED
Week Seven
11/12La Nueva Mujer—1960s and 1970s Movements
Ruiz, 99-126; Rivera, 192-209; Morales, 210-227(Packet)
11/14Sterilization and Reproductive Rights
Velez, “Se Me Acabó La Canción” (Packet)
La Operación
Bread and Roses, 7pm, Knight Library, Media Services, Studio D
Week Eight
11/19Gender, Family, and Globalization: Oregon Farmworkers—Guest: Lynn Stephen, UO Anthropology
Stephen, “Globalization, The State, and The Creation of Flexible Indigenous Workers:Mixtec Farmworkers In Oregon (Packet)
11/21Senorita Extraviada
Hondagneu-Sotelo, ix-60; Maria Elena Durazo, “Voices from the front line: María Elena Durazo” (Packet)
Week Nine
11/26Latinas in a Global Economy
Hondagneu-Sotelo, 29-60
FILM ESSAYDUE (25%)
11/28THANKSGIVING
Week Ten
12/3Labor relations in the service economy
Hondagneu-Sotelo, 114-134, 171-209
12/5Cleaning Up
Ruiz, 127-151; Hondagneu-Sotelo, 210-243
FINAL:
12/91PM, 30 Pacific Hall