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Introduction to Latina/o Cultural Studies

ENGL 270.401
instructor(s):
TR 9-10:30

This course will be a humanities-based interdisciplinary study of the emerging field of Latina/o Studies. "Latino" refers to people of Latin American descent born and / or raised in the US. Our focus will be on the study of cultural productions by Latina/o artists working in a range of media, including film and other forms of visual culture, music, performance art, and literature. Our study of these cultural productions will attend to the distinct political, historical, and cultural narratives that inform the work of the different ethnic groups normally subsumed under the term "Latino" (including Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Dominicans), at the same time that we attempt to understand whether there is a coherent concept of "Latinidad" that we can mobilize as a critical concept. Our texts will include the performance art of Guillermo G�mez-Peña, Coco Fusco, and Luis Alfaro, films such as Zoot Suit, Freak, and Carmelita Tropicana, Your Kunst is Your Waffen, and literature by Piri Thomas, Sandra Cisneros, and Julia Alvarez.

fulfills requirements