Text Box: From poetry and plays to novels and films, this course will explore the variety of cultural works produced by U.S. Latina and Latino writers and artists. To establish a historical framework, we will begin at the turn of the century with the journalistic writings of early Puerto Rican immigrants, such as Bernardo Vega and Jesús Colón, and the oral traditions of the Mexican corrido (ballad). We will then turn to the 1950s, a period that many critics date as the origin of Chicano literature, and compare the zoot suit poetry of Raúl Salinas with Piri Thomas’s coming-of-age novel Down These Mean Streets. The next crucial period is the Nuyorican and Chicano Renaissance of the late sixties and early seventies. We’ll read widely in this period, including tracts from manifestoes and speeches, and examine the nationalist ideologies of Aztlán and Boricua together with the early critiques of Latina feminism. We’ll then trace the changes of U.S. Latino/a literature during the decades of the eighties and nineties, arguably a time when the very category, “U.S. Latino,” has become increasingly complex and heterogeneous. There will be a slide show of contemporary mural art, a screening of various performance pieces by Carmenita Tropicana, Guillermo Gomez-Peña and Coco Fusco as well as of the movie Zoot Suit. Assignments will include two essays, ten one-page reading responses, and a final exam. Knowledge of Spanish is not necessary. Reading List (tentative) The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo, Oscar Zeta Acosta Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, Richard Rodriguez Borderlands/La Frontera, Gloria Anzaldúa Loving in the War Years, Cherrie Moraga Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia My House in the Last World, Oscar Hijuelos Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros Down These Mean Streets, Piri Thomas Text Box: Introduction to U.S. Latino Literature Professor Carrie Tirado Bramen TTh 9:30 - 10:50 Reg. No. 098788 Text Box: 277