COMP 211
Introduction to Latina/o Literatures Fall 2015
Division I Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed AMST 207 / LATS 208 / ENGL 251
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

This discussion course serves as an introduction; the reading list is not meant to be exhaustive or comprehensive, but will rather provide a sampling or range of texts for students to engage. We will explore a number of readings across different genres (the novel, play, poem, short story, graphic novel). Students will endeavor to understand how each author defines Latinidad. What characterizes Latina/os for each of these writers and how do their works articulate the historical conditions out of which they emerge? How is Latina/o literature marked by notions of language, nationality, gender, sexuality, class, race, politics, form, and genre? The readings will provide both a survey of general ideas in the study of Latina/o literatures as well as specific case studies and historical examples from which we will extrapolate about the larger field. Readings include works by Tómas Rivera, Cristina García, Cristy C. Road, Oscar Zeta Acosta, Junot Díaz, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, and more. This course fulfills the Exploring Diversity Initiative requirements as it offers students a comparative study of cultures and societies by examining the U.S. racial project of constructing a Latina/o people out of various peoples. Additional attention is given, under the rubric of power and privilege, to the specific economic and political institutions that structure Latina/o cultural production.
The Class: Format: lecture
Limit: 30
Expected: 20
Class#: 1689
Grading: yes pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: students will be evaluated based on weekly online discussion forum posts, two short papers, a midterm exam, a final comprehensive project, as well as classroom participation
Prerequisites: none
Enrollment Preferences: Latina/o Studies concentrators, American Studies and Comparative Literature majors
Distributions: Division I Exploring Diversity Initiative
Notes: meets Division 1 requirement if registration is under COMP or ENGL; meets Division 2 requirement if registration is under AMST or LATS
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
AMST 207 Division II COMP 211 Division I LATS 208 Division II ENGL 251 Division I
Attributes: AMST Arts in Context Electives
AMST Comp Studies in Race, Ethnicity, Diaspora
LATS Core Electives

Class Grid

Course Catalog Archive Search

TERM/YEAR
TEACHING MODE
SUBJECT
DIVISION



DISTRIBUTION



ENROLLMENT LIMIT
COURSE TYPE
Start Time
End Time
Day(s)