LATS 330
Connective Approaches to Race, Ethnicity, and Diaspora
Last Offered Fall 2013
Division II
This course is not offered in the current catalog

This course explores the overlapping, intersecting, and intertwined experiences of distinct enthoracial communities in the United States. Students will investigate these experiences from a relational and connective point of view to tease out the contested meanings of nation, citizenship, community, rights, and struggle. For example, we will examine the 1947 school desegregation case involving Mexican Americans in California, Mendez v. Westminster, and its relationship to African American civil rights, Puerto Rican migration, and Japanese internment. Mendez v. Westminster, when approached from a connective perspective, reveals a multiracial and diasporic landscape that is more complex than previously considered. A connective approach to Race, Ethnicity, and Diaspora allows us to uncover important episodes of collaboration and tension that have been rendered invisible when studied independently. Working with ethnography, history, literature, critical essays, visual culture, and popular culture, this course focuses on the complicated bonds among multiracial constituencies and potential future forms of collaboration.