US Latina/O Literatures and the Americas

US Latina/O Literatures and the Americas

US Latina/o Literatures and the Americas

English 153/Women’s Studies 153/Ethnic Studies 153

Policy Statement

Instructor: Dr. Molly Metherd

Office: Dante 309

E-mail:

Office Phone: 631-4166

Office Hours: Mondays 2:30-4:00, Wed. 11:30-1:00 and Tuesdays by appointment

Course Description:

Welcome! This course is an introduction to the literature of Latinas and Latinos writing in English in the United States. We will read prose and poetry by multiple Latina/o groups including Chicana/os, Cuban Americans, Dominican Americans, and Puerto Ricans and examine the diverse artistic explorations of memory, exile, language, history, desire and displacement. We will read their texts as personal and political expressions of Latina/o experiences in the United States.

This course fulfills requirements for the English Department, Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the Ethnic Studies Program. I’m hoping that because we come to the class with a wide range of interests and knowledge (including linguistic) that we will have interesting and lively discussions. We should all have something to teach. I also expect that we will always be respectful of one another and willing to listen to opposing views. This course meets a diversity requirement.

Learning Outcomes. In this course students will:

  • Read and understand Latina/o writing in the United States from the corridos through the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960’s through the development of Women of Color discourse in the 1980’s through the emergence of a Latina/o middle class literature in the 1990’s.
  • Become familiar with the central themes of US Latina/o writing: immigration, migration, historical change, identity, language, loss and/or reclamation of homeland and exile.
  • Explain how social categories and structures of power affect individuals.
  • Critically analyze issues of gender and their intersections with race and class in US Latina/o literary production and understand how they affect society in the United States.
  • Understand of the relationship between US Latina/o literature and the broader “American” literary tradition.

Materials and Textbooks:

  • Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek.
  • Garcia, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban.
  • Augenbraum and Fernández Olmos, The Latino Reader.
  • Rivera, Tomas. Y no se lo tragó la tierra/And the Earth Did Not Devour Him
  • Course Reader.
  • An English/Spanish-Spanish/English dictionary

Coursework: Your course grade will be determined as follows:

  • 2 Essays20% each
  • Class Blog25%

3 Blog Entries(15%)

Weekly responses(10%)

  • Final Exam20%
  • Creative Work10%
  • Attendance and Participation5%

Course Website: vwordpress.stmarys-ca.edu/latinolit2012. You can find all of the course materials that I distribute in class as well as some supplementary information and links at our course website. This will also be the forum for our class blog. More about this in another handout.

Attendance: Much of our class will be seminar style and your attendance and participation is vital to your learning. If you miss class twice, no problem. Miss three or more classes, and your grade could be lowered. Being all there matters too. If you are physically present but asleep or comatose, you are virtually absent and will be counted so. Please turn cell phones off and leave them in your bags for the duration of the class. Please also use the restroom before class.

Email: You may email me papers or homework assignments to receive a date stamp on your work. In order to receive comments/grades back from me you’ll need to bring in a hard copy to class the next day. Unless otherwise indicated, I only grade from hard copies.

If you cannot come to office hours or you have a quick question or concern, email is a great way to reach me. However, please expect that if you email me after 5:00 pm or over the weekend that I will not necessarily return your email until the next school day. Sometimes emails seem to get crossed and are not always received, so if you send an important question via email and you have not received a verbal or written reply from me within the week, it is a good idea to send it again or ask me about it in class.

Scholastic Honesty: Turning in work that is not your own or any other form of scholastic dishonesty is a violation of the SMC Academic Honor Code and will result in a report to the Academic Honor Council. If you have any questions about the use of sources for your assignments, see me before you turn in the project.

Students with Disabilities: Reasonable and appropriate accommodations for individuals with qualifying disabilities are extended through the office of Student Disability Services. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services Coordinator at (925) 631-4164 to set up a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation guidelines and available services. Additional information regarding the services may be found at: http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/academics/academic-advising-and-achievement/student-disability-services.html