History 393-03: Latinos in U.S. History and Culture
Professor Flannery Burke
Department of History
Cross-listed with Latin American Studies and American Studies
MWF: 11:00-11:50
Location: Beracha Hall 118
Alma Lopez, California Fashions Slaves (1999)
This course is an introduction to Latina and Latino history and culture.
Lectures and readings will focus on Mexican and Mexican American experiences,
but we will also discuss the experiences of Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and
Central American populations. The course shows the advantages of a more
international approach to U.S. history and argues for more attention to the
multicultural character of the U.S.
Some of the themes that we will cover include the Spanish and Mexican eras
of the North American Southwest, immigration, race and racism, gender and
sexuality politics, the development of rural and urban ethnic enclaves, the role of
labor and work in shaping Latino and Latina identities and experiences, the rise of
ethnic nationalisms, U.S. diplomatic relationships with nations in Latin America,
and transnational ties between U.S. Latina and Latino communities and groups in
Latin America. Readings include academic analyses and fictional literature as well
as viewings of film and art.
Contact Information:
Flannery Burke
Department of History
Office # 257 Humanities/Adorjan
Office Hours: Monday 1-3 and by appointment
Email: fburke@slu.edu
Phone: (314) 977-2914
Readings:
David Weber, ed., Foreigners in Their Native Land
Ernesto Galarza, Barrio Boy
Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
George Sánchez, Becoming Mexican American
Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street
Luis Alberto Urrea, The Devil’s Highway: A True Story
Additional articles available via SLU databases, ereserve and as email attachments. If
you’re not familiar with how to use the library databases, we’ll review it in class. This
will be good practice for future research projects at SLU.
Assignments:
Midterm: March 3rd From a selection of terms and names that we will have
compiled based on our reading throughout the first half of the semester, you will
choose 5 and write 1-2 paragraphs defining or describing each term and explaining
why you believe that of total list, the 5 you have chosen most merit inclusion in an
Encyclopedia of Latino/a history.
Paper #1: Due beginning of class March 26 Find three newspaper articles from
the mid-twentieth century describing the events detailed in the footnotes of The
Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Using the articles, write a 4-6 page essay
explaining why you believe author Junot Díaz interwove fiction and fact to tell the
story of the relationship between the United States and the Domincan Republic.
Paper #2: Due beginning of class April 30 In 6-8 pages, describe a webpage of
your own design that illustrates and explains Latino/a history. You do not need to
create an actual webpage, but if you’re motivated to do so, fantastic! You do need
to include 6-8 people, places, ideas, books, films, songs, poems, maps, paintings,
drawings, or murals that we have covered in this class and at least three items that
you have found through your own research. Your paper must explain the
relationship between all the items you have chosen to include and offer a definition
of what you consider to be Latino history and culture.
Final: May 10 8:00 AM in our regularly scheduled classroom. From a
selection of events that we will have compiled based on our reading throughout the
semester, you will choose 8-10, arrange them in chronological order and write an
essay explaining why, together, they comprise a useful chronological entry into the
field of Latino history.
Grade Breakdown:
Midterm:
Paper #1:
Paper #2:
Final:
Participation :
20%
20%
20 %
20%
20%
Course Schedule:
Week 1
Before the United States, Before Latinos
January 11
Bienvenidos
January 13
A Question of Terminology
Reading:
Vicki Ruíz, “Morena/o, blanca/o y café con leche: Racial Constructions in
Chicana/o Historiography,” Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, Vol. 20,
No. 2 (Summer, 2004), pp. 343-359 via JSTOR
January 15
Can We Even Do Latino History?
Reading:
Vicki Ruíz, “Nuestra America: Latino History as United States History,”
Journal of American History 2006 93(3): 655-672 via JSTOR
Week 2
Becoming an Internal Colony: The Mexican-American War
January 18
University Holiday
January 20
New Spain
Reading:
Foreigners in their Native Land Part 1
January 22
Trade & War
Reading:
Foreigners in their Native Land Parts 2 & 3
Week 3
A Varied Empire & A Hardened Border
January 25
Caribbean
Reading:
Juan Flores, “Islands and Enclaves: Caribbean Latinos in Historical
Perspective,” Latinos: Remaking America edited by Marcelo M. SuárezOroaco and Mariela M. Páez (Berkeley: University of California Press,
2002) ereserve
January 27
The Other America/Our America
Reading:
1) Theodore Roosevelt, “Spread of English Speaking People,” in The Man
in the Arena available on Google Books
2) José Martí, “The United States View of Mexico,” “The Argentine
Republic As viewed from the United States,” “The Washington PanAmerican Congress,” from Inside the Monster – ereserve
3) John Nieto-Phillips, “Citizenship in the American Empire,” from
Language of Blood – ereserve
4) "Citizenship and Empire: Race, Language, and Self-Government in
New Mexico and Puerto Rico, 1898-1917." Journal of the Center for
Puerto Rican Studies (Fall, 1999): 51-74. – pdf via email
January 29
California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas
Reading:
1) Foreigners in their Native Land Parts 4 & 5
2) Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzalez “I am Joaquín: an Epic Poem” (1967) with
chronology from Latino/a Thought: Culture, Politics, and Society edited
by Francisco H. Vázquez – ereserve
Week 4
Becoming Mexican American
February 1
Border Crossings
Reading:
George Sánchez, Becoming Mexican American Parts 1 & 2
February 3
Making a Living
Reading:
Sánchez, Becoming Mexican American Part 3
February 5
Learn, Earn, Return
Reading:
Sánchez, Becoming Mexican American Part 4
Week 5
Becoming Hybrid
February 8
Push
Reading:
Ernesto Galarza, Barrio Boy Parts 1 & 2
February 10
On the Road
Reading:
Ernesto Galarza, Barrio Boy Parts 3 & 4
February 12
New Homes
Reading:
Ernesto Galarza, Barrio Boy Part 5
Vicki Ruiz, “The Flapper and the Chaperone,” from Out of the Shadows -ereserve
Week 6
The Rights of Workers
February 15
Women and Men on the Factory Line
In-class viewing: Salt of the Earth
February 17
Women and Men on the Picket Line
In-class viewing Salt of the Earth
February 19
What Does It Mean to Be An American Worker?
Discuss film and reading
Reading:
Edwin Maldonado, “Contract Labor and the Origins of Puerto Rican
Communities in the United States,” in International Migration Review, pp.
103-21. -- ereserve
Week 7
The Rights of Citizens
February 22
Nation in Crisis
In-class viewing: Los Repatriados or A Class Apart
Reading:
Cynthia Orozco, “Alice Dicerson Montemayor: Feminism and Mexican
American Politics in the 1930s,” from Writing the Range -- ereserve
February 24
Transformations of War
Reading:
1) Oral Histories of Latinos and Latinas during World War II
(http://www.lib.utexas.edu/ww2latinos/index.html)
2) Oral Histories of Bracero Workers (http://braceroarchive.org/
February 26
Zoot!
Reading:
1) Explore the site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/zoot/
2) Explore the site: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chavezravine/
3) Carey McWilliams, “Blood on the Pavements,” from North from
Mexico -- ereserve
Week 8 Midterm Week
March 1
March 3
March 5
Review Session
Midterm
No class
Week 9 Spring Break
March 8-12
Week 10
Cold Wars in Hot Places
March 15
Cold War Imperialism
Reading:
Junot Díaz, Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Part 1
March 17
Identity Fall-Out
Reading:
Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao Part 2 to End
March 19
Research: Digging Beneath the Cover-Ups
Reading:
Achy Obejas, “We Came All the Way from Cuba So You `
Could
Dress Like This?” from short story collection of the same name -- ereserve
Week 11
Street Meeting
March 22
On the Wall
Reading:
1) scroll down to segment on artist David Alfaro Siquieros at:
http://kcet.org/local/shows/life_times/
2) review story, video, and images of Diego Rivera’s Detroit murals at:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103337403
March 24
In the Neighborhood
Reading:
1) Allison Varzally, “Young Travelers,” in Making a Non-White America - ereserve
2) Mark Wild, “‘So Many Children at Once and so Many Kinds’: The
World of Central City Children,” from Street Meeting: Multiethnic
Neighborhoods in Early Twentieth-Century Los Angeles -- ereserve
March 26
From the Classroom
In-class viewing of segment of Walkout!
Week 12
Garage Bands & Homelands
March 29
iSoy Capitan!
Reading:
1) view Latin Music U.S.A. selections or Chicano Rock on reserve
2) Juan Flores, “Tales of Learning and Turning” from The Diaspora
Strikes Back, pp. 81-100; 120-139 -- ereserve
March 31
Under the Land of Enchantment
Reading:
1) Rudolfo Anaya, Bless Me Ultíma selections – ereserve
2) Jake Kosek, “Smokey Bear Was a White, Racist Pig,” Understories -ereserve
April 2
University Holiday
Week 13
La Raza Rising and Young Lords Ruling
April 5
University Holiday
April 7
Field Hands and Brown Berets
Reading:
1) César E. Chávez, “The Organizer’s Tale” (July 1966) available in
César Chávez: A Brief Biography with Documents on Google Books
2) “El Plan de Aztlán” (1967) at:
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/MEChA/plan-aztlan.html
April 9
Street Gang to Community Organizers
Reading:
view iPalante, Siempre, Palante! On reserve
Week 14
Refuge
April 12
South of Mexico
Reading:
view El Norte on reserve
April 14
Latino from North to South
Reading:
“Testimony of a Salvadoran Refugee” and “Reflections on South
American Catholics in the United States,” in Presente!: pp. 132-137. -ereserve
April 16
Another One Rides the Bus
Reading:
1) Mary Pardo, “Mexican American Women Grassroots Community
Activists: ‘Mothers of East Los Angeles,’” from Writing the Range on
ereserve
2) Elana Zilberg. “Fools Banished from the Kingdom: Remapping
Geographies of Gang Violence between the Americas (Los Angeles and
San Salvador),” American Quarterly 56 (3):759-779 (September 2004) via
America: History and Life or ProjectMuse
Week 15
American Cities/Global Cities
April 19
Chicago
Reading:
Sandra Cisneros, House on Mango Street
April 21
Los Angeles
In-class viewing: Made in LA or Bread and Roses
Reading:
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/Angeles/siempre/Mexico/elpepuculbab/20091121elpbab
por_17/Tes
April 23
Miami
Conclude film
Reading:
1) “¡Azucar! The Life and Music of Celia Cruz”
(http://americanhistory.si.edu/celiacruz/)
2) Official Cuban website about Elian González (http://www.elian.cu/)
3) Time Magazine Photo Essays about Elian Gonzalez
(http://www.time.com/time/daily/special/photo/elian/ &
http://www.time.com/time/daily/special/photo/elian2/)
Week 16
Contemporary Border Crossings and Borderlands
April 26
New Crossings
Reading:
Luis Alberto Urrea, Devil’s Highway Parts 1 & 2
April 28
New Suffering
Reading:
Urrea, Devil’s Highway Parts 3 & 4
April 30
New Challenges
Reading:
George J. Sánchez, “Y tú, qué? (Y2K): Latino History in the New
Millennium,” in Latinos: Remaking America, edited by Marcelo SuárezOrozco and Mariela Páez: pp. 45-58 on ereserve
Week 17
May 3 Review Session