Department of Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies
Latino Youth Cultures
Course Description
The course explores the historical and contemporary processes through which the social
identities of young people are created, transformed, monitored, and reproduced. By treating
youth cultures as specific social-historical formations, the course emphasizes the specificity of
culture and political economy on conceptions of “youth.” This approach locates young people
and the representations of their lives in a complex and changing social network of neoliberal
institutions, economic structures, state policies, surveillance techniques, media interests, and
consumption practices. The course likewise examines the ways in which “youth cultures” are
practiced, negotiated, challenged, spatially inscribed, and embodied by young people themselves
in relation to other identities --including, social conceptions of race, gender, sexuality, class, as
well as notions of “being urban,” “attractive,” “stylish,” etc. Although the course is comparative
in scope, and addresses “youth” as the main category of social analysis, it pays particular
attention to the experiences of U.S.-born Latino youth. The course will be conducted as a
workshop and students will be required to produce an original research project at the end of the
semester.
Course Learning Goals
1. Examine the role of young people and youth cultures, sub-cultures, and countercultures
in Latino communities in the U.S.
2. Situate the term “youth” in historical, social, economic, and cultural context, and to
examine it as a category for the analysis of other concepts, including race, ethnicity,
class, gender, and sexuality
3. Examine the intersection of age-cohort/generational studies and the political economy
of neighborhoods, cities, countries, and transnational connections
4. Analyze the contributions of “youth cultures” to interdisciplinary fields, particularly
Latino Studies.
Readings
The course will mostly consist of journal articles, essays, text selections, and book chapters that
are available in PDF format by clicking “resources” upon logging in with your “NetID” into the
Sakai Course Management System website at: sakai.rutgers.edu. If you have any problem
uploading the assigned readings, please let me know ahead of time via email.
Course Requirements and Grading
Attendance and Class Participation (15 percent of grade): Students are expected not only to
attend every class on time, but also to be prepared to discuss the readings and participate
actively each time. Students have to sign the attendance sheet at the beginning of each
class. Students who are late will put an “L” next to their names. There may be
unannounced quizzes on the readings throughout the semester.
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Autobiographical Essay (10 percent of grade): The first paper for the class will be a
3-5-page, double-spaced autobiographical essay. This essay should consist of the
examination of an event, feeling, people, experience, or situation (or a combination of
these) that has most significantly marked you “adolescence” or “teenage” years.
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Weekly Critical Essays (30 percent of grade): Every Wednesday each student will be
required to hand in a two-page, double-spaced critical essay on the assigned readings for
that week. Each critical essay should demonstrate the student’s reflection and analysis of
key themes on the reading, as well as the student’s personal insights. If there are multiple
readings on any given week, the critical essay must integrate all of the readings and
identify relevant themes and arguments. Combined, these critical essays -which will total
ten over the course of the semester—will constitute your course portfolio and will be
graded as a unit (equivalent to a Midterm or Final Exam) at the end of the semester.

Individual Presentations (10 percent of grade): Each student will be assigned to a
specific group at the beginning of the semester. Each group will meet in class once a
week, usually on Thursdays, to engage in specific projects related to the readings. The
Thursday projects will be given by the professor at the beginning of each Thursday
class. They will usually require answering questions related to the readings, but could
also involve enacting (that is, acting out a scene) or representing particular parts of an
assigned text. Each group will also have to deliver a final oral presentation on a topic of
their choice (in consultation with the professor) at the end of the semester. Like with
any collaborative assignments, it is important that each individual in the group
participates equally; if this is not the case, I would urge the group to let me know that
someone is slacking. This should be an opportunity to process the concepts and reading
in an interactive, collaborative manner, not to be passive and hands-off and expecting
the rest of the group to do the work for you.

Final Paper (35 percent of grade): There will be a 25-30 pp. final research paper for
this class. The topic of the paper will be determined by each student in consultation
with the professor.
Critical Information
 Lateness: Being late (or altogether absent) is not acceptable, unless there is a
compelling reason (not many of those.) This means that students are expected to be in
the classroom on time. It also means that late assignments will NOT be accepted.

Writing and proofreading: Writing is one of the most important skills you will learn
in college. Before handing written assignments, you must spell check, proof-read, and,
if necessary, seek help from a writing instructor on how to edit the paper to make it
better. A college-level writing assignment should show that you can construct a
coherent argument and understand the various grammar and stylistic techniques.
Rutgers Learning Centers can provide valuable assistance. The Centers are located on
all New Brunswick/Piscataway campuses (Busch Campus: Allison Road Classroom
Building, Room 332, 732/445-4183; College Avenue Campus: Kreeger Learning Center,
732/932-1443; Cook/. Douglass Campus: Loree Building, Room 124, 732/932-1660;
and Livingston Campus: Tillett Hall, Room 111, 732/445-0986). Students should
contact a learning center at least 24 hours in advanced to schedule an appointment. The
Centers’ fall 2007 office hours and online help services can be found on its website:
http://lrc.rutgers.edu/. The Centers offer online, individual, and small group tutoring;
writing and reading groups; workshops on common writing issues, and services
including self-management skills, exam preparation strategies, and memory techniques.
In past semesters, the Centers have proven helpful to many students at all levels of their
academic careers. All assignments will be graded based both on content and writing.
In addition, the Department of Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies has hired a part-
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time writing tutor to work with students who are taking 595-curriculum classes. You
should consult the Department about tutoring hours and appointments (732-445-3820)
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Plagiarism and Academic Integrity: Academic misconduct will not be tolerated, and
our enrollment in this class is an agreement to abide by the rules of appropriate citation
and scholarly behavior. Rutgers University has created a set of standards of academic
honesty and procedures governing violations of these principles Your coursework
efforts are collaborations between you and your sources. You must acknowledge your
debt to the authors of these sources. If you do not you are guilty of plagiarism, a serious
academic offense. Plagiarism is a difficult concept to define and a student who
plagiarizes may do so inadvertently or with purposeful deliberation. Whether
intentional or unintentional, plagiarism can bring about serious consequences, both
academic, in the form of failure or expulsion, and legal, in the form of lawsuits. Lack of
dishonest intent does not necessarily absolve a student of responsibility for plagiarism.
It is the student’s responsibility to recognize the difference between statements that are
common knowledge (which do not require documentation) and restatements of others’
ides. The official definition of plagiarism is the representation of the words or ideas of
another as one’s own in any academic exercise. This includes copying sentences or
paragraphs from the internet, books, articles, or other sources and using them without
proper citation. For a more in-depth description of official Rutgers University policy on
academic integrity, please visit: http://teacx.rutgers.edu/integrity/policy.html. The
Rutgers University Writing Program, moreover, maintains a website that defines and
discusses plagiarism at: http://wp.rutgers.edu/courses/201/plagiarism_policy/.
Plagiarism is only one type of academic dishonesty. Cheating, in its various forms, also
breach the university’s code of ethics. Cheating is the willful giving or receiving of
information in an unauthorized manner during an examination; illicitly obtaining
examination questions in advance; using someone else’s work for assignments as if it
were one’s own; providing a paper or project to another student; providing an
inappropriate level of assistance, among others.
Course Overview
Week #1— Introduction to “Youth Cultures”
General Introduction to “Youth Culture” as a historical specific category of
social analysis and general background on “Youth Culture” in the social
sciences and humanities, particularly in the interdisciplinary field of Latino
Studies
January 21: Introduction to the Course
Week #2—Generations of Youth in U.S. Latino History: Social Movements, Political
Institutions and Young People since the 1960s
This section provides a preliminary overview of how “Youth Culture,” as a
popular concept, and young people have come to enter the public sphere of U.S.
Latino politics and social movements; in particular, we’ll examine the role of
young people in the Civil Rights era.
January 26:
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Bailey, Beth. 1998. From Panty Raids to Revolution: Youth and Authority, 19501970. In Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures and History in Twentieth-Century America,
edited by Joe Austin and Michael Nevin Willard. New York: NYU Press, pp. 187204.
Chavez, Ernesto. 1998. “Birth of a Symbol”: The Brown Berets’ Gendered Chicano
National Imaginary. In Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures and History in TwentiethCentury America, edited by Joe Austin and Michael Nevin Willard. New York: NYU
Press, pp. 205-222.
January 28:
Austin, Jon. 1998. Knowing Their Place: Local Knowledge, Social Prestige, and the
Writing Formation in New York City. In Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures and
History in Twentieth-Century America, edited by Joe Austin and Michael Nevin Willard.
New York: NYU Press, pp. 240-252.
Critical Essay #1 DUE
Week #3—Education: Bilingualism, Schools, Cultural Capital
This section examines the U.S. Educational System and the Roles that Public
Schools have come to play in the “Americanization” process of immigrants from
Spanish Caribbean and Latin American countries and the production of the young
person as a “U.S. citizen.” Issues of language and Bourdieu’s perspectives on
“capital” will be central to this section.
February 2:
Ramos-Zayas, Ana. 2003. National Performances: The Politics of Class, Race, and Space in
Puerto Rican Chicago. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, Chapters 3 and 4.
February 4:
Abu El-Haj, Thea. 2005. Global Politics, Dissent, and Palestinian American Identities. In
Beyond Silenced Voices: Class, Race, and Gender in United States Schools, edited by Lois Weis
and Michelle Fine. New York: SUNY Press, pp. 199-215.
Critical Essay #2 DUE
Week #4—Young People and “Productivity”: Labor Markets and the Military
Through an examination of young Latinos’ historical and contemporary
relationship to “work,” this section focuses on how youth have come to be
position in unique ways in relation to post-Fordist perspectives on “productivity.”
We will examine young people as workers in a variety of markets, including social
service and the military, across social class.
February 9:
Savage, Jon. 2007. Chapter 7: High School Freshmen and Factory Fodder: American
Adolescence and Industry. In Jon Savage’s Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture, pp.91100.
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Savage, Jon. 2007. Chapter 9: Nickelodeons and Animal Dances: The American Dream
Economy. In Jon Savage’s Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture, pp. 113-127.
February 11:
Moore, Ryan. 1998. “…And Tomorrow is Just another Crazy Scam”: Postmodernity,
Youth, and the Downward Mobility of the Middle Class. In Generations of Youth: Youth
Cultures and History in Twentieth-Century America, edited by Joe Austin and Michael
Nevin Willard. New York: NYU Press, pp. 253-271.
Willis, Susan. 1998. Teens at Work: Negotiating the Jobless Future. In Generations of
Youth: Youth Cultures and History in Twentieth-Century America, edited by Joe Austin
and Michael Nevin Willard. New York: NYU Press, pp. 347-357.
Critical Essay #3 DUE
Week #5— “Keeping Kids Off the Streets”: Surveilling Latinos and the Culture of Cities
This section examines the overlaps and disjunctions between “urban culture” and
“youth culture.” In particular, it examines how cities, streets, and media-enforced
perceptions of “crime” have come to shape the lives of young working-class and
poor Latinos, as well as the mechanisms put in place (e.g. surveillance, school
patrolling, metal detectors) to control and regulate the bodies of young people.
February 16:
Savage, Jon. 2007. Chapter 24: Sub-Debs and GIs: American Adolescents in School and
in Uniform. In Jon Savage’s Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture, pp. 360-374. New
York: Viking
February 18:
Savage, Jon. 2007. Chapter 6: Peter Pan and the Boy Scouts: Imperial British Youth.
In Jon Savage’s Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture, pp. 77-90. New York: Viking.
Savage, Jon. 2007. Chapter 3: Hooligans and Apaches: Juvenile Delinquency and the
Mass Media. In Jon Savage’s Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture, pp. 33-48. New
York: Viking.
Critical Essay #4 DUE
Week #6— “Being Real” and “Having Attitude”: Blackness, Passing, Acting White
Drawing from social scientific understandings of racialization, this section
considers how Latino youth navigate peer-based expectations around being
racially “authentic.” The concept of “being real” is examined from a variety of
perspectives.
February 23:
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Simmons, Rachel. 2002. Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls.
Introduction and Chapters 1-4. Harcourt Books.
February 25:
Simmons, Rachel. 2002. Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls.
Introduction and Chapters 5-9 and Conclusion. Harcourt Books.
Critical Essay #5 DUE
Weeks #7 and 8—“Looking Tough and Pretty”: Gender and the Politics of Masculinity
and Femininity
This section focuses on how “masculinity” and “femininity” come to be
understood in behavior-specific ways by young people and how such
characteristics are practiced and challenged in the context of broader views of
“Latinidad”
March 2:
Savage, Jon. 2007. Chapter 29: The Arrival of the Teenager: The Launch of Seventeen. In
Jon Savage’s Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture, pp. 441-453. New York: Viking.
Savage, Jon. 2007. Chapter 15: Sheiks and Shebas: The American Youth Market. In Jon
Savage’s Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture, pp. 197-216. New York: Viking.
March 4:
Wilkins, Amy. 2004. Puerto Rican Wannabees: Sexual Spectacle and the Marking of
Race, Class, and Gender Boundaries. Gender & Society 18.1 (February): 103-21.
March 9:
Ramos-Zayas, Ana. 2007. Becoming American, Performing Blackness?: Urban
Competency, Racialized Spaces, and the Politics of Citizenship among Brazilian and
Puerto Rican Youth in Newark. Identities. Volume 14, Number 1, pp.
Critical Essay #6 DUE
Week #9—Spring Break
March 11: No Class due to prior travel commitment.
March 16 and 18: Spring Break; No Classes
Weeks #10—Of Fags, Sluts, and Misfits: Sexuality, Marginality, and Confidences in
High School
Focusing on the “high school” as a premier site in the production of marginality
and belonging, this section considers how sexuality becomes a leading category of
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social difference among young people. Culturally-saturated images of “the fag”
and “the slut” are deconstructed.
March 23:
In-Class Exercise: Clips from film “The Aggressives” and come prepared to discuss an
instance in which sexuality or being a “misfit” has most explicitly contributed to social
marginality.
March 25:
Addison, Joanne, and Michelle Comstock. 1998. Virtually Out: The Emergence of a
Lesbian, Bisexual, and Gay Youth Cyberculture. In Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures
and History in Twentieth-Century America, edited by Joe Austin and Michael Nevin
Willard. New York: NYU Press, pp. 367-378
Wilkins, Amy. 2004. “So Full of Myself as a Chick”: Goth Women, Sexual
Independence, and Gender Egalitarianism. Gender & Society 18.3 (June): 328-49.
Critical Essay #7 DUE
Week #11 --Desired Youth: Body Image, Eating Issues, and Health Concerns
This section focuses on how body image acquires centrality among young people
and examines the connection between eating issues, the body, and community
health, while also taking into account social specific variations in perspectives of
desire and attractiveness.
March 30:
Gimlin, Debra. 2002. Body Work: Beauty and Self-Image in American Culture. Introduction
and Chapters 1 and 2. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
April 1:
Gimlin, Debra. 2002. Body Work: Beauty and Self-Image in American Culture. Chapters 3
and 4 and Conclusion. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Critical Essay #8 DUE
Week #12—“Falling in Love”: Emotions, Romance, and the Language of “Safe Sex”
This section considers how “Falling in Love” provide a template for two parallel
sets of heteronormative discussions concerning youth sexuality in Latino
communities: Discussions of feelings and romance, on the one hand, and
Cautionary Tales around “Safe Sex,” on the other.
April 6:
Odem, Mary. 1998. Teenage Girls, Sexuality, and Working-Class Parents in Early
Twenty-Century California. In Generations of Youth: Youth Cultures and History in
Twentieth-Century America, edited by Joe Austin and Michael Nevin Willard. New
York: NYU Press, pp. 50-64.
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April 8:
Clips from “Raising Victor Vargas” and Discussion
Critical Essay #9 DUE (This essay will be on a personal experience on “falling in
love” and “dating,” in light of particular social constraints related to class, race,
sexuality, geographical or spatial factors, etc.).
Week #13--“Youth” and Cultural Production: Hip Hop, Reggaeton, and
“Ghettofabulous”
This section examines the central role that youth have played in post-modern
Latino cultural production. We examine youth as part of a “grassroots”
production process of cultural expression, by examining the emergence and
popularization of specific musical genres (e.g. hip hop, Reggaeton) and alternative
fashion styles.
April 13:
Lipsitz, George. 1998. The Hip Hop Hearings: Censorship, Social Memory, and
Intergenerational Tensions among African Americans. In Generations of Youth: Youth
Cultures and History in Twentieth-Century America, edited by Joe Austin and Michael
Nevin Willard. New York: NYU Press, pp. 395-411.
April 15:
In-Class Exercise of “Show and Tell”: Bring to class any form of popular culture or
cultural production (e.g. magazines, poem, music, art, MySpace or other Internet clips,
etc) that is, to you, most emblematic of your adolescent experience and be prepared to
explain your choice in light of the topics discussed in class.
Critical Essay #10 DUE
Week #14—Student Presentations and Final Paper
April 20: Presentations-- All the Weekly Essays will be returned (with a
cumulative grade assigned) today.
April 22: Presentations
April 27: Presentations
April 29” Presentations
May 7: Final Paper DUE at 10 AM
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