University of Puerto Rico Río Piedras Campus College of Humanities - Department of English Undergraduate Program

Course Title : US Latino/a Literature Code : English 4256 Credit Hours : 45 hours/ 3 credits

Prerequisites : English 3103-04, 3011-12 OR College Board Advanced Placement Score of 3 or higher. The course is designed to fulfill part of the second year requirement for both English and non-English majors.

Course Description A study of the literature produced by Latino/a writers in the United States and its contribution to a multifaceted American literary tradition. The term Latino/ a is used as an indicator of social and cultural identity and as a larger rubric that unites authors from Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, and Dominican descent born and/or raised in the United States.

Objectives By the end of the course, students will be able to: 1. situate selected texts written by Latinos/as born and/or socialized and acculturated in the United States (and writing predominantly but not exclusively in English) within a transnational and historical perspective 2. identify and analyze the politics of representation by exploring issues of race, class, gender, and hybridity 3. comprehend how cultural difference is reconfigured in the texts from a Latino/a perspective 4. examine the effects of immigration/migration, bilingualism, and biculturalism on the authors’ works and how these issues relate to the process of ethnic literary representation 5. analyze the texts’ rhetorical and aesthetic qualities that include innovative literary techniques used by the writers (mixing of genres and languages in a single work, interlingual spaces, temporal/spatial fragmentation, free indirect discourse, etc.) 6. strengthen their writing skills by working on assignments and theoretical research that exhibit insightful contributions to the larger discussion of Latino/a literature and its contexts

Course Outline Weeks 1-3: Introduction – Historical and Cultural Context (9 hours) Introductory essay from Harold Augenbraum and Margarite Fernández Olmos’s The Latino Reader: An American Literary Tradition , Ed Morales’s Living in Spanglish , and Nicolas Kanellos’ s Hispanic American Literature. Discussion of thematic concerns found in the writing: immigration/migration; race and racism/discrimination; gender issues/roles; assimilation/acculturation; development of a cultural consciousness; hybridity/ mestizaje

Week 4-7: Mexican American Literature (12 hours) Tomás Rivera - …And the Earth Did Not Devour Him Sandra Cisneros – Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories Selected entries from anthology (Rudolfo Anaya, José A. Villareal, Gloria Anzladúa, Luis Valdez)

Weeks 8-10: Puerto Rican American Literature (9 hours) Piri Thomas – Down These Mean Streets Tato Laviera – AmeRícan Selections from anthology (Bernardo Vega, Jesus Colon, Nicholasa Mohr, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Pietri, Levins Morales, Esteves, Hernandez Cruz) 1

Weeks 11-13: Cuban American Literature (9 hours) Cristina Garcia – Dreaming in Cuban Virgil Suárez – Spared Angolas Selections from anthology (Oscar Hijuelos, Achy Obejas)

Weeks 14: Dominican American Writer (3 hours) Julia Alvarez – Something to Declare

Week 15: Discussion Summary of class materials and preparation for Final Exam (3 hours)

Teaching Strategies This course will include lectures (30%) and group discussion (70%). Occasional films and/or documentaries will also be included to complement class assignments.

Required Resources Access to all UPR library facilities, electronic search and on-line access, inter-library loan services, English Department Screening Room.

Evaluation Method The final grade includes four course requirements: Two Exams 40% Quizzes 20% Class Grade (participation, attendance) 15% Final Exam/Paper 25% *Differentiated Evaluation for students with special needs.

Grading System : A,B,C,D, or F Los estudiantes que reciben servicios de Rehabilitación Vocacional deben comunicarse con la profesora al inicio del semestre para planificar el acomodo razonable y equipo de apoyo necesario conforme a las recomendaciones de la Oficina de Asuntos Para las Personas con Impedimentos (OAPI) del Decanato de Estudiantes. También aquellos estudiantes con necesidades especiales que requieren de algún tipo de asistencia o acomodo deben comunicarse con la profesora. (Ley 51)

Selected Bibliography Primary Texts (available at Borders, Amazon.com, etc.) The Latino Reader – Augenbraum and Fernández Olmos, eds. (1997) or The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature - Ilan Stavans, ed. (2011) Everything You Need to Know About Latino History – Himilce Novas (2003) And the Earth Did Not Devour Him – Tomas Rivera (1987) AmeRícan – Tato Laviera (1985) Something to Declare – Julia Alvarez (1999)

Secondary References (Anthologies) Aparicio, Frances. Latino Voices . New York: Millbrook P, 1994.

Castillo-Speed, Lillian, Ed . Latina: Women’s Voices from the Borderlands. New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1995.

Cortina, Rodolfo, Ed. Hispanic American Literature: An Anthology. Lincolnwood: NTC 2 Publishing, 1997.

Fernandez, Roberta, Ed. In Other Words: Literature by Latinas of the United States . Houston: Arte Público P, 1994.

Gonzalez, Ray. Currents from the Dancing River: Contemporary Latino Fiction, Nonfiction, and Poetry. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1994.

Kanellos, Nicolás, ed. The Anthology of Hispanic Literature of the U.S. New York: Oxford UP, 2002.

Turner, Faythe, ed. Puerto Rican Writers at Home in the USA: An Anthology . Seattle: Open Head Publishing, 1991.

Electronic References : http://www.urbanlatino.com http://www.latinopromo.com http://english.unc.edu.latina-o http://www.mla.org/ade/bulletin/NO91/091030.htm http://www.latinos.com http://www.college.hmco.com

CRITICISM & SECONDARY SOURCES Augenbraum, Harold and Margarite Fernandez Olmos, eds. U.S. Latino Literature: A Critical Guide for Students and Teachers . New York: Greenwood, 2000.

Bruce-Novoa, Juan. RetroSpace: Collected Essays on Chicano Literature . Houston: Arte Público P, 1990.

Christie, John S. Latino Fiction and the Modernist Imagination: Literature of the Borderlands. New York: Garland Publishers, 1998.

Cordero-Guzmán, Hector R., et. als. Migrations, Transnationalization, and Race in Changing New York . Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2001.

Gonzalez, Juan. Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America. New York: Random House, 2000.

Gonzalez-Berry, Erlinda and Chuck Tatum. Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage , Vol. II. Houston: Arte Público P, 1996.

Gutiérrez, Ramón and Genaro Padilla, (Eds.) Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage . Vol. 1 Houston: Arte Público P, 1993.

Herrera-Sobek, Maria and Virginia Sanchez Korrol. Recovering the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage. Vol. III. Houston: Arte Público P, 1998.

Kanellos, Nicolas and Claudio Esteva Fabregat. Handbook of Hispanic Cultures of the United States. Houston: Arte Público P, 1994.

Lanza, Carmen Delia. “Hearing the Voices: Women and Home in Ana Castillo’s So Far From God .” MELUS 23.1 (1998) 65-79. 3

Lao-Montes, Agustín and Arlene Dávila, eds. Mambo Montage: The Latinization of New York. New York: Columbia UP, 2001.

Martínez, Elizabeth Sutherland. De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views for a Multi-Colored Century . Cambridge: South End P, 1998.

Matos, Félix V. and Pedro Juan Hernández, eds. Pioneros: Puerto Ricans in New York City, 1896-1948 (Images of America) . New York: Arcadia, 2001.

Ortiz-Marquez, Maribel. “From Third World Politics to First World Practice.” Interventions: Feminist Dialogues on Third World Women’s Literature and Film . Eds. Bishnupriya Ghosh and Brinda Bose. New York: Garland, 1997.

Sánchez González, Lisa. Boricua Literature: A Literary History of the Puerto Rican Diaspora . New York: New York UP, 2001.

Seddilo López, Antoinette, ed. Latina Issues: Fragments of Historia (Herstory) . New York: Garland, 1995.

Stefanko, Jacqueline. “New Ways of Telling: Latinas’ Narratives of Exile and Return.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women’s Studies 17.2 (1996): 50-69.

Suarez-Orozco, Marcelo M., et. als. Latinos: Remaking America . Berkeley: U of California P, 2002.

TuSmith, Bonnie, and Maureen T. Reddy, eds. Race in the College Classroom: Pedagogy and Politics . Piscataway: Rutgers UP, 2002.

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