MAS314:
Introduction to Mexican American Literature and Culture:
Cultural Readership Across Media and Genre
Spring 2011
Instructor: Lydia A. French
Email: lawilmeth.french@gmail.com
Office: WMB 5.118
Office Hours: W 3:30-5pm, F 11-12:30; and by appointment
Course Description:
This course is designed to introduce students to Mexican American/Chican@ cultural
productions and to develop the interpretive skills appropriate to the cultural and aesthetic
qualities of literary, audio, and visual media. In this course “cultural readership” is defined as a
practice of critical analysis and understanding of a work in its context. As such, over the course
of the semester, students will examine moments in Mexican and U.S. history significant to
Mexican American life and culture; operative mythological, aesthetic, and discursive forms; and
a variety of generic and multimedia forms. Over the course of the semester, for instance, students
will read/view/listen to and analyze songs alongside poetry, newspapers alongside short fiction,
and film alongside drama to pose questions about the relationships between form, meaning, and
cultural, social, and political effect.
In order to unite these varieties of media and our approaches to them, we will use the trope of the
codex, a pictographic rendering of historical, aesthetic, and ritual events.
Prerequisites: E603A, RHE306K, RHE306Q, Tutorial Course 603A, or equivalent.
Required Texts:
Tomás Rivera, ...y no se lo tragó la tierra / ...and the earth did not devour him
Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Enrique Chagoya, and Felicia Rice, Codex Espangliensis: From
Columbus to the Border Patrol
Nina Marie Martínez, ¡Caramba!: A Tale Told in Turns of the Card
Supplementary Texts available on eReserves:
http://reserves.lib.utexas.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=5308
Or go to http://reserves.lib.utexas.edu/eres/, click the top option, “Student Access to Electronic
Reserves Course Pages,” and Search “Instructor”: French. Select MAS314, Spring 2011.
Assignments and Grade Distribution:
Cultural Readership Journals...........................................25%
(2) 4-5 page papers..........................................................25%
Oral Midterm Exam.........................................................25%
Group Amoxtli.................................................................25%
See “Student Portfolio” attachment
Attendance Policy
Participation in class discussion is fundamental to the successful progression of the class as well
as to your personal success. For this reason, five (5) or more excused or unexcused absences
will result in automatic failure of the course. If you do need to miss a class, you should contact
me as soon as possible, and I recommend meeting with me in my office hours and/or getting
notes from a classmate.
You will not be penalized for missing class on religious holy days. A student who misses classes
or other required activities, including examinations, for the observance of a religious holy day
should inform the instructor, in writing, well in advance of the absence, so that alternative
arrangements can be made to complete work. Please note that the University specifies very few
other excused absences, including military service and jury duty.
Scholastic Honesty
The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom,
leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected
to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and
community.
Turning in work that is not your own, or any other form of scholastic dishonesty, will result in a
major course penalty, possibly even failure. This standard policy applies to all drafts and
assignments. Any incident will be subject to a report submitted to the Office of the Dean of
Students, which is filed in your permanent UT record. Under certain circumstances the Dean of
Students can initiate proceedings to expel you from the University.
The University provides information on Scholastic Integrity, including definitions of plagiarism
and unauthorized collaboration through the Office of the Dean of Students Judicial Services.
Please familiarize yourself with the University's stance Scholastic Dishonesty, as I expect you to
abide by those terms for everything you turn in for this class.
If you have any doubts about your use of sources, ask your instructor for help before handing in
the assignment.
Students with Disabilities
The University of Texas at Austin provides appropriate academic services for qualified students
with disabilities. Please let me know if you require additional materials, aid, or services, and I
will work to make them accessible to you. For more information, contact the Services for
Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 232-2937 (video phone).
Computer Use
Throughout the semester, students will be introduced to software for audio, video, and weblog
composition, all of which will be available on the library computers and the lab facilities in
Flawn Academic Center (FAC 212).
Email
Email is an official means of communication at the University of Texas at Austin, and I will use
this medium to communicate class information. You are therefore required to provide me with a
working email address that you check frequently. In addition, you have access to my email
address (lawilmeth.french@gmail.com) on the syllabus. I check my email frequently, but unless
we are planning a last-minute meeting or have been in urgent dialogue, do not expect me to
respond to last-minute questions (e.g., emails sent within two hours before class on the day an
assignment is due) or to emails sent between 10pm and 8am.
Daily Schedule:
Disclaimer: This course operates according to an “open contract” syllabus. The direction the
course takes will be informed by the students’ feedback and textual preferences, by the course of
discussion, and by unforeseen scheduling restrictions. As such the following schedule may be
subject to changes throughout the semester. The instructor reserves the right to change the
syllabus at her discretion.
Week One
18 January
Introductions and a Brief History
20 January
Defining Terms and Identifications: “Hispanic,” “Chicano/a,” “Latino/a,”;
OED Exercise: “culture”
Week Two
25 January
Listening and Audible Poetics
Américo Paredes, “The Mexico-Texan,” (eRes)
Abrams, “Meter,” “Rhyme” (eRes))
27 January
Cultural Readership Journal I Due: Listening Narrative I
“Rio Grande/Río Bravo” (eRes)
Abrams, “Figurative Language,” esp. simile and metaphor (eRes)
Week Three
1 February
Visual Poetics and El Movimiento Chicano
Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, “I Am Joaquin” (eRes)
Movimiento Visual Art
3 February
Lorna Dee Cervantes, “Under the Freeway” (eRes)
Movimiento Visual Art
Group Sign-Up
Week Four
8 February
Cultural Readership Journal II Due: Viewing Narrative I
Gloria Anzaldúa, selections from Borderlands (eRes)
OED Exercise: “mestizo”
10 February
Cultural Readership Journal III Due: Listening Narrative II
Michele Serros, selections from Chicana Falsa (eRes)
Week Five
15 February
Peer Review, Essay I
17 February
Essay I Due
Américo Paredes, “The Hammon and the Beans” (eRes)
“Comment” from 1963 Texas Observer (eRes)
Meet at Benson
Week Six
22 February
Cultural Readership Journal IV Due: Reading Response
Research methods: Finding newspaper accounts
24 February
Luis Valdez, Zoot Suit (eRes)
OED exercise: “zoot suit”
Week Seven
1 March
Zoot Suit, cont’d.
Sign up for Oral Mid-Term Exam Times
3 March
Peer Review, Essay II
Project Day: Topics and Media Workshop
Week Eight
8 March
Essay II Due
Oral Midterm Exams Throughout Week
Zoot Suit, Film
10 March
Zoot Suit, Film, Cont’d. and Discussion
“Film Terms and Topics for Writing About Film” (eRes)
Week Nine
SPRING BREAK
Week Ten
22 March
Cherríe Moraga, The Hungry Woman: A Mexican Medea, Act I (eRes)
24 March
Hungry Woman, Act II (eRes)
Week Eleven
29 March
Tomás Rivera, y no se lo tragó la tierra / and the earth did not devour him
31 March
y no se lo tragó, cont’d.
Work on projects
Week Twelve
5 April
Sandra Cisneros, selections from Woman Hollering Creek (eRes)
7 April
Project Day
Week Thirteen
12 April
Peña, Chagoya, and Rice, Codex Espangliensis
14 April
Cultural Readership Journal V Due: Viewing Narrative II
Codex Espangliensis, cont’d.
Week Fourteen
19 April
Nina Marie Martínez, ¡Caramba!: A Tale Told in Turns of the Card
Tabla 1, pp. 3-66
21 April
Caramba, cont’d. Tablas 2-3, pp. 67-182
Week Fifteen, April 26th & 28th
26 April
Caramba, cont’d. Tablas 4-5, pp. 183-307
28 April
Finish Caramba
Work on projects
Week Sixteen, May 3rd & 5th
Pláticamoxtli