Department of Spanish and Portuguese, UT Austin SPC 320/ CL 323/LAS 328: Latino Caribbeans: Culture and Diaspora in the US Prof. César A. Salgado

Unique Number: 45900/34110/39765 Office Hours: BEN 3.140 TTh 11AM-12:30PM Times: TTh 12:30-2 Office Telephone: 232-4517 Room: MEZ 1.118 Email Address: [email protected]

DESCRIPTION:

Conducted in English, this course will introduce students to prominent Latinx poets, writers, performers and media artists connected to several diaspora communities from the Hispano-, Franco- and Anglophone Caribbean in the . We will situate these figures, their works, and their agendas in a geopolitical and socio-historical context by reviewing scholarship about economic, ethnic, racial, gender, and community dynamics of Cuban, Puerto Rican, Haitian, and Dominican migration to the US from the nineteenth century to the present. The creative symbiosis between Latino Caribbean intellectuals and artists and the cultural expression of other groups-- including the rich African American music and arts scene in cities such as , Miami and New Orleans--will be a prominent concern. The course will be divided according to four areas 1. writings by 19th century Cuban pro-independence exiles in the United States; 2. Puerto Rican migrants to the United States from 1898 forward and their ethnic, social, economic, and political struggles in urban communities of the East Coast and Orlando; 3. waves of Cuban exiles and their descendants in Miami, New York, and other Latino urban enclaves resulting from Castro's socialist revolution; 4. Dominican and Haitian migration to the U.S.A. driven by dictatorships or socioeconomic crisis at home. Three novels are available for purchase at the COOP. Other reading materials will be available on the course Canvas page for students to download at their convenience. As this is the first time I teach this course, I reserve the right to make changes in the syllabus within a two-week notice and to make available some reading materials in midcourse at least two weeks before such reading is due for discussion. Students will receive a weekly memo at the end of each week with instructions, questions, and suggestions regarding how to best prepare for classes the following next week. Regular homework postings on the Canvas discussion page and active involvement in class discussion will count for your participation grade.

COURSE MATERIALS:

BOOKS AT THE COOP: Jesús Colón, A Puerto Rican in New York Roberto Fernández, Raining Backwards Achy Obejas, Days of Awe Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accent Urayoán Noel, Buzzing Hemisphere Other readings will be available for downloading through the course's Canvas page. COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Two take-homes of 2 3-5 page essays each 60% Final 3-5 page take-home essay 15% Participation, attendance & homework 20% Presentation on a Latino poet and poem 5%

COURSE SCHEDULE

AUG Week 1 30Th Introduction to the course

SECTION I SEPT Week 2 4Th Latinidad Today and Before: Definitions and Locales. Cuban "Filibuster" Writers. María del Pilar Blanco: "Wither Latinidad? The Trajectories of Latin American, Caribbean, and Latina/o Literature" (Canvas pdf) Rodrigo Lazo,"Los Filibusteros: Cuban Writers in the United States and Deterritorialized Print Culture" (Canvas pdf) Kirsten Silva Gruesz, "Transamerican New Orleans: of the Gulf, from the Spanish Colonial Period to Post-Katrina" (Canvas pdf) José María Heredia, "Ode to Niagara" (link) Juan Clemente Zenea y Fornaris, "To a Swallow" (link)

6T José Martí as Latino chronicler of the U.S. in the "Gilded Age" Oscar Montero, "José Martí: Exile in New York"; from José Martí: An Introduction, "Coney Island: Alone in a Crowd" (Canvas pdf) Pedro Pablo Gutiérrez, "José Martí: Political Essays" (Canvas pdf) José Martí, "Impressions of America (by a very fresh Spaniard)" (1880), "Coney Island" (1881); "A Prizefight" (1882); "The Bridge" (1883); "Graduation Day" (1884); "New York Under Snow" (1888); "Inauguration Day" (1889); "A Great Confederate Celebration" (1886); "A Town Sets a Black Man on Fire" (1892) (Canvas pdf)

Week 3 11Th José Martí as Founder of the Cuban Revolutionary Party in NYC (1892-95) Laura Lomas, "José Martí [...] and the Emergence of Latina/o Modernity in Gilded Age New York" (Canvas pdf) Jose Martí, "Mexico, the United States, and Protectionism" (1884); "The Cutting Case" (1886); "The Monetary Conference of the American Republics" (1891); "Our America" (1891); "The Truth About the United States" (1894)

13Th Arthur A. Schomburg and Afro-Latinx Participation in the Renaissance César A. Salgado, "The Archive and Afro-Latina/o Field Formation: Arturo A. Schomburg at the Intersection of Puerto Rican and Afro-American Literatures and Studies" (Canvas pdf) Arthur A. Schomburg, "Is Haiti Decadent?;" "General Evaristo Estenoz;" "The Negro Digs Up His Past;" "In Quest of Juan de Pareja;" "General Antonio Maceo;" "My Trip to In Quest of Negro Books;" "José Campeche 1752-1809;" "Henri Christophe, King of Haiti" (Canvas pdf)

Week 4 18T First Boricua writers and community organizers in after 1898 Bernardo Vega, chapter from Bernardo Vega's Memoirs (pages t.b.a.) Jesus Colón, selections from A Puerto Rican in New York and Other Sketches: "Stowaway"; "Easy Job, Good Wages"; "I Heard a Man Crying"; "How to Rent an Apartment Without Money"; "Hiawatha in Spanish"; "Little Things Are Big"; "A Puerto Rican in New York" (CO-OP)

20Th Reconsidering William Carlos Williams as Latino/Boricua Poet Julio Marzán, "In Search of William Carlos William" (Canvas pdf) William Carlos Williams, selected poetry and excepts from Yes, Mrs. Williams and In the American Grain (Canvas pdf) Screening in class of documentary: Voices and Visions: William Carlos Williams

SECTION II Week 5 25T Puerto Rican Nationalist Poet-Activists in NYC after 1936: Clemente Soto Vélez Martín Espada, "Colonialism and the Poetry of Rebellion in " Clemente Soto Vélez, selected poems from The Blood That Keeps Singing (Canvas)

27Th : Boricua Nationalist/Feminist Poet in 1950s New York City Vanessa Pérez, "Julia de Burgos' Writing for Pueblos Hispanos" (Canvas pdf) Julia de Burgos, selected poems from Song of the Simple Truth (Canvas pdf) TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR FIRST TAKE-HOME DISTRIBUTED

OCT Week 6 3T The Poets' Movement and Manifesto Miguel Algarín & Miguel Piñero, from Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology (Canvas pdf) Poems/videos by , Miguel Piñero, , Sandra María Esteves (links and texts on Canvas) Special film screenings TBD: Piñero (León Ichaso, 2001); Our Latin Thing

5Th Post-Nuyorican Poets: Poetry of Advocacy and Bugaloo Critical introductory essays by César A. Salgado (Canvas pdf) Poems and videos by Jack Agüeros, Martín Espada & Victor Hernández Cruz (links and texts on Canvas)

Week 7 9T Afro-Rican Performative Poetry Critical introductory essays by William Luis and Maritza Stanchish Poems/videos by Tato Laviera and Willie Perdomo (links and texts on Canvas) FIRST TAKE HOME DUE

11Th Memoirs and autobiographies by Wise Boricua Latinas Esmeralda Santiago, chapters from When I was Puerto Rican Sonia Sotomayor, chapter from My Beloved World

SECTION III Week 8 16T First and One-and-a-Half generational exiles from the Cuban Revolution Selection of poetry & prose by Lourdes Casal and Gustavo Pérez-Firmat (Canvas)

18Th First and One-and-a-Half generational exiles from the Cuban Revolution Selection of poems by Virgil Suárez, Richard Blanco, Rafael Campo (Canvas)

Week 9 23T Satire and Wordplay in English-Only Florida Reading: Roberto Fernández, Raining Backwards (COOP, first half)

25Th Satire and Spanglish Wordplay in English-Only Florida Roberto Fernández, Raining Backwards (finish)

Week 10 30T Fictions of exile by second generation Cuban-American Latinas Ana Menendez, selections from In Cuba I was a German Shepard (Canvas pdf) Achy Obejas, Days of Awe (COOP, first half )

NOV Nov 1 Achy Obejas, Days of Awe (fnish) TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR SECOND TAKE-HOME DISTRIBUTED

SECTION IV Week 11 6T Stories of post-Trujillo Dominican-American US exile and adaption Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accent (Coop, Part 1);

8T Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accent (Part 2)

Week 12 13Th Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accent (Part 3); selection of poems (CANVAS)

15T Junot Diaz and the Travails of Dominican Masculinity Junot Diaz, selection of stories from Drown (Canvas)

Week 13 20Th Junot Diaz and the #MeToo Controversy, selection of from This is How You Lose Her (Canvas pdf) SECOND TAKE HOME DUE

Week 14 27T Josefina Baez, Dominicanish (text and video in Canvas)

29Th Josefina Baez, Levente no. Yolayorkdominicayor (text and video in Canvas) Lin Manuel Miranda, Selections from In the Heights

DEC Week 15 4T Lin Manuel Miranda, Selections from Hamilton Urayoán Noel, selections from Hemispheric Rumors

6th Urayoán Noel, selections from Hemispheric Rumors TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR THIRD TAKE-HOME DISTRIBUTED

FINAL TAKE-HOME DUE BY EMAIL ON FRIDAY 14 AT 4PM

Make-up policy: If you fail to turn in homework and essays on the dates due, you lose the full points. Only serious illness or accident or a real family emergency will count as a valid excuse.

Students with Disabilities: The instructors will make themselves available to discuss appropriate academic accommodations for students with a disability. These students may be required to provide documentation from the Office of the Dean of Students-Services for Students with Disabilities.

By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.