Professor Nancy Raquel Mirabal

Telephone: Office-338-6804

The aim of this course is to provide you with an introduction to the history of Latina/os in the United States and in the process, look at what role silences, documentation, voice, and telling have had on the writing, researching, and in many i nstances, the omission of our history in the United States. We will examine the impact of labor, immigration, identity construction, geographic location, popular culture, transnational economic, and political policies on the history and subsequent evolution of multiple Latina/o communities in the United States.

The requirements for this course are designed to help you think critically about the past, current, and future directions of Latina/o studies. The assignments for this course include a 5pg. oral history/immigration interview, a 5-7pg. testimonio, one 7-10pg. critical review of one or more of the articles read and discussed in class, and a Final Exam. Also as part of your discussion grade you will be expected to submit a weekly 2 pg. review of the readings. Because this course is dependent on you r participation and on discussions, it is critical that you attend class. Failure to attend class on a steady and consistent basis (i.e. no more than three absences) will impact your grade severely. Other than that, Welcome!!

REQUIRED TEXTS--All texts are on reserve.

Coursepack: Available at Copy Edge, 1508 Ocean Ave. Tel: 587-5345

Hector Pérez-Brignoli, A Brief History of Central America. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).

María Cristina García, Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959-1994. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).

Virginia E. Sánchez Korrol, From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983).

George J. Sánchez, Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993).

COURSE REQUIREMENTS: GRADE

5pg. Oral History/Immigration Interview 10%

5-7pg. Testimonio 15%

7-10pg. Article(s) Review 15%

Final Exam 30%

Discussion, Attendance, Weekly Assign. 30%

"we read books like other

kids eat candy. you know"

FIRST DAY

FIRST WEEK

Readings:

Edna Acosta-Belen and Carlos E. Santiago, "Merging Borders: The Remapping of America. Latino Review of Books, Vol. 1 No.1 Spring 1995.

Suzanne Oboler, "The Politics of Labeling: Latino/a Cultural Identities of Self and Others," Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 19, No.4.

SECOND WEEK

Readings: (Choose Two Selections)

Gloria Anzaldúa, "The Homeland Aztlán" Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. (Spinster/Aunt Lute. 1987).

Judith Ortiz Cofer, "Silent Dancing", Visions of America: Personal Narratives From the Promised Land: A Multicultural Anthology of Autobiography and Essay. (eds.) Wesley Brown and Amy Ling. (New York: Persea Books, 1993).

Eulalia Pérez, "An Old Woman Remembers," The Latino Reader: From 1542 to the Present. (eds.) Harold Augenbraum and Margarite Fernández Olmos. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997).

Cristina Garcia, "Dreaming in Cuban." The Latino Reader.

Geographies and Territories

THIRD WEEK

Antonia Castañeda, "Sexual Violence in the Politics and Policies of Conquest: Amerindian Women and the Spanish Conquest of Alta California." Building With Our Hands: New Directions in Chicana Studies.

Francisco Palóu, "from The Historic Account of the Life and Apostolic Work of the Venerable Fray Junípero Serra."

Background Reading: "The Spaniards in the Valley of Mexico."

FOURTH WEEK

María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, "The Squatter and the Don."

George Sánchez, "Chapter One: Farewell Homeland." Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945.

Unknown Author, "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez"

Background Readings: "Anglo Encroachment into the Mexican North" and "Mexicans Under U.S. Rule."

FIFTH WEEK

Readings:

Gerald E. Poyo, "The Cuban Experience in the United States, 1865-1940: Migration, Community, and Identity." Cuban Studies/Estudios Cubanos, Vol. 21, (1991).

Virginia Sánchez Korrol, "Background of the Puerto Rican Migration to New York City." From Colonia to Community: The History of Puerto Ricans in New York City.

José Martí, "A Vindication of Cuba."

Pachín Marín, "New York From Within."

Background Reading: "Independence of Cuba and Puerto Rico."

Migration, Labor, Law, and the Reconfiguration of ‘Nation’

SIXTH WEEK

Virginia Sánchez Korrol, "Settlement Patterns and Community Development" and "Organizational Activities Among Puerto Ricans in New York Settlements." From Colonia to Community.

From the Memoirs of Bernardo Vega, " The Customs and Traditions of the Tabaqueros and What it Was Like to Work in a Cigar Factory."

Background Readings: "Migration to the United States from Puerto Rico", "Early Settlements of Puerto Ricans in the United States." and "Early Cuban Immigration to the United States

SEVENTH WEEK (Testimonio Due)

Readings:

Rodolfo Acuña, "The Building of the Southwest: Mexican Labor, 1900-1930."

Occupied America: The Chicano’s Struggle Towards Liberation.

George Sánchez, "Chapter 2: Across the Dividing Line and Chapter 3: Newcomers in the City of Angels." Becoming Mexican American.

Background Readings: "Early Mexican Immigration to the United States." and "The Mexican Revolution and Immigration to the United States."

Video: Salt of the Earth

EIGHTH WEEK

Vicki Ruiz, "And Miles to go Mexican Women and Work, 1930-1950. Western Women: Their Land, Their Lives.

George Sánchez, "Part Two. Divided Loyalties." Becoming Mexican American.

_____________, "‘Go After the Women’: Americanization and the Mexican Immigrant Woman, 1915-1929." Unequal Sisters

Background Readings: The "Mexico Lindo" Generation." and "Depression, Repatriation and Acculturation."

NINTH WEEK

María Cristina García, Part 1: "The Emigration." Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959-1994.

Virginia Sánchez-Korrol, "From the Great Migration to the Present." From Colonia to Community.

Blanca G. Silvestrini, "Contemporary Puerto Rico: A Society of Contrasts." The Modern Caribbean, (eds.) Franklin Knight and Colin A. Palmer. (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1992).

Video: ‘La Operacíon.’

TENTH WEEK (10pg. Critical Review Due)

Hector Pérez-Brignoli, "Impoverishing Growth" (1900-1945) and "Growing Inequalities" (1945-1980). A Brief History of Central America. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).

ELEVENTH WEEK

Readings:

Alma García, "The Development of Chicana Feminist Discourse, 1970-1980." Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women’s History.

Lorna Dee Cervantes, "Poem for the Young White Man Who Asked Me How I, an Intelligent, Well-Read Person, Could Believe in the War between the Races."

Rodolfo Corky Gonzalez, "I am Joaquín."

James Diego Vigil, "‘Que Viva la Raza’: The Many Faces of the Chicano Movement, 1963-1971." OR

Edward Escobar, "The Dialectics of Repression: The Los Angeles Police Department and the Chicano Movement, 1968-1971," The Journal of American History, Vol. 79, No. 4 (March, 1993).

TWELFTH WEEK

María Cristina García, Part 3: "Defining an Identity in the United States" & Part 4: "The Evolution of Exile Politics." Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959-1 994.

Pedro Pietri, "Puerto Rican Obituary" and "Roots", Pa’lante: Young Lords Party. Text by the Young Lords Party and Michael Abramson. (McGraw-Hill Books Co., 1971).

Luis Guarnizo, "Los Dominicanyorks: The Making of a Binational Society" Challenging Fronteras.

Background Reading: "The Revolution of Fidel Castro and Cuban Immigration."

THIRTEENTH WEEK

Hector Pérez-Brignoli, "The Present Crisis, 1980-1987." A Brief History of Central America. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989).

Nora Hamilton and Norma Stoltz Chinchilla, "Central American Migration: A Framework for Analysis." Challenging Fronteras.`

FOURTEENTH WEEK

Raza in the 21st Century: Issues and Discussions. (Choose one selection).

María Cristina García "The Mariel Boatlift: Origins and Consequences." Havana U.S.A

Juan Flores, "Que Assimilated, Brother, Soy Asimilao: The Structuring of Puerto Rican Identity in the U.S." Challenging Fronteras.

Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, "The History of Mexican Undocumented Settlement in the United States." Challenging Fronteras.

Joan Kruckewitt, "Modern Times: Nicaragua Now and Then." San Francisco Examiner Magazine, (February 23, 1997).

FINAL EXAMINATIONS

Grade

Interview someone and place that interview within an historical context. As part of your oral history you may interview someone who has immigrated or migrated from another country, state, or city. In addition, make sure to include a discussion on w hy you chose this person, your expectations of the interview, and your thoughts on the resulting interview. Your paper should not exceed more than 5pgs.

This time you will be asked to write a history using yourself as the central character and "translator of experience." What do your experiences tell us about history? As you write your testimonio make sure to include dates, events, and historical experiences that have affected and shaped your life.

For the article(s) review choose one article assigned in class and write a 10pg. essay. Although you only need to write on one article, feel free to include other articles in your review. More direction will be given in class.

All papers and assignments are due by the deadline. If they are not received by the date indicated they are LATE. There are no grace periods. Late papers will be marked down a grade for every class meeting that they are late. If there is an eme rgency contact me BEFORE the paper is due.

Papers will not be graded on a curve and improvement in the course will only help your grade.

Discussion and Preparation is critical to your success in this class. Be ready to discuss, review, and argue. However, one thing that will be made evident is that we all hold different points of views and opinions. You will be expected to be respe ctful to others in class.

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