Department of English

This course examines twentieth-century works of prose, poetry, drama, and film by artists of Mexican descent living in the United States.  Our study of these texts will be guided by some of the key historical and cultural coordinates that have informed the experiences of Mexican Americans.  These include oral traditions, the Mexican Revolution, the Chicano Movement and social protest, representations of the U.S.-Mexico border, and articulations of gender, class, sexual and racial identities.  Finally, we will consider not only the historical experiences that inform these works but the potential futures they imagine.  Possible texts include short stories by Maria Cristina Mena, Americo Paredes’s With His Pistol in His Hand, Jose Antonio Villareal’s Pocho, Arturo Islas’s The Rain God, Sandra Cisneros’s Caramelo, Cherrie Moraga’s Heroes and Saints, Helena Maria Viramontes’s Under the Feet of Jesus, and poetry selections by Lorna Dee Cervantes, Gloria Anzaldua, and  Gary Soto.  Possible films include Salt of the Earth, Come and Take It Day, Zoot Suit, and The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez.