Studies in Contemporary Literatures & Cultures (425-0-1)
Topic
Caribbean Errantry: Exile, Migration, and Diaspora
Instructors
Emily A Maguire
847/491-2340
3-125 Crowe
Meeting Info
Kresge 3535 Span & Port Sem Rm: Wed 2:00PM - 4:50PM
Overview of class
Caribbean Errantry: Exile, Migration, and Diaspora in Caribbean Cultural Production
This course will explore how the experiences of exile, migration, and diaspora (both political and economic) have helped shape Caribbean cultural production. We will examine a diverse array of texts - poetry, novels, short stories, films, videos, memoir, and critical essays - produced in both Spanish and English both in the Caribbean and in the United States by writers of Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban origin. As we read, we will use exile, migration, and diaspora as lenses through which to interrogate other aspects of Latinx Caribbean cultural production. How are these experiences portrayed, and what role have they played in the construction of identities, both personal and collective? How have these situations shaped the development of Caribbean communities (both physical and literary) within the continental U.S.? Should these movements be seen as patterns connected to globalization, thus serving to complicate our idea of what is Caribbean, or can they in fact be understood as fundamental to the construction of Caribbean-ness? We will look at how exile, migration, and diaspora relate to - and help shape -- the treatment of race and gender in these works, and we will analyze the role of nostalgia and humor in the navigation of different cultural and geographic spaces.
Learning Objectives
Students will be introduced to theoretical writing about the formation and nature of "The Caribbean" as a region both real and imagined. They will gain a knowledge of some of the issues explored in Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican writing of the 20th and 21st centuries, and they will be introduced to a variety of written and cinematic Caribbean texts from this period. Three writing assignments (2 short position papers and a longer conference-length essay) will allow them to practice their academic writing.
Class Materials (Required)
• Yoss. Se alquila un planeta. Restless Books, 2015. B00UKJS1SO [Note: This book is only available in e-book format.]
• Indiana, Rita. Papi. Editorial Periférica, 2020. ISBN: 978-8492865406
• Arias, Aurora. Vida verdadera en el Caribe. Caligrama, 2023. ISBN: 978-8419653284
• Rodríguez Iglesias, Legna. Miami Century Fox. Akashic Books, 2017. ISBN: 978-1617755897
• Santos Febres, Mayra. La otra Julia. Vintage Español, 2024. ISBN: 979-8890981165
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Please contact the department of Spanish & Portuguese to request a permission number, spanish-portuguese@northwestern.edu.