Studies in American Culture (310-0-40)
Topic
Latina and Latino History
Instructors
Geraldo L Cadava
847/491-3152
Harris Hall - Room 210
Meeting Info
University Hall 121: Mon, Wed, Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM
Overview of class
The growth of the Latino population has transformed the U.S. and has led to heightened debates about their political power, cultural influence, citizenship, civil rights, and ethnic and racial categorization. Yet as the 2020 election demonstrated, many Americans still don't understand who Latinos are or who Latinos have been and will become. Latino communities have played a pivotal role in U.S. history for centuries. In this course, students will explore the 500 year history of Latinos in the U.S. and across the Americas. In its broadest sense, Latino History offers a reinterpretation of the U.S. history that focuses on race, migration labor, and empire. It is also the history of a community that represents a growing percentage of the U.S. population as a whole and one that will increasingly influence the politics, social life, culture and economy of the U.S. The course will also examine the movement of Latino peoples within and between the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean using a variety of media including literature, film, and music as well as more traditional historical interpretations. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the issues and histories that bring Latinos together, those that continue to divide them, their multiple and shifting racial classification, and the long struggles for equality and belonging that have animated their histories.
Learning Objectives
To develop a working understanding of Latino History and its broad themes, in order to understand how Latinos have shaped, are shaping, and will continue to shape the past, present and future of the U.S. To develop historical skills (including critical engagement, facility at formal writing, expressing ideas verbally, defending or deconstructing an argument bu using evidence from the past) that will benefit students in any later career. To understand how Latino History fits within the broader field of Latino Studies, and how historian of Latino populations in the U.S. may or may not approach their subjects in ways that are similar or different compared with other Latino Studies scholars. To learn creative and interdisciplinary approaches to historical thinking. To value and participate in a learning community, and to demonstrate immersion in a culture of scholarship.