1.2 Latino History of the US 1
1.3 Latinos and Current Events in the United States
2.1 Mexican-Americans
2.2 The Puerto Rican Experience
2.3 Other Communities
3.1 Latinos and Labor Relations in the American South
3.2 Latino-Americans and Stereotypes
3.3 Spanish Language in the USA
4.1 Latino Literature
4.2 Latino-American Art and Latinos in film
4.3 Latino American Theater
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HUM1110- Latino Cultures in the United States
Overview
This is an entry-level course focused on the history, culture and language of Latinos in the United States. Its purpose is to provide students with basic skills to understand the diverse array of the Latino cultures, and their contribution to the American humanities throughout time. The course provides opportunities to interact with a key ethnic minority in the United States.
Block 1- A Hispanic History of the United States
In Block 1 we will learn and discuss a variety of sources describing a statistical portrait of Latinos in the United States today. We will also reflect on the intentionality of existing historical narratives, the unique perspectives of history the way it is taught in the United States, and we will also take an “insider” approach to the history of American Latinos. We will conclude the block by exploring currents event that impact both Latinos and non-Latinos in our country today.
The learning objectives in this block are:
- Latinos are an important percentage of the US population.
- Overall, Latinos are less educated, have less opportunities, and suffer repression and exclusion more than Anglo Americans. There are multiple reasons for this, and some of these reasons are historical.
- Latinos are far from a homogeneous census category: their internal diversity is their most remarkable characteristic.
- Modern histories are a selection of facts that fit a historical narrative. Historical narratives have political purposes.
- Latino presence in the United States predates English settlement, and its scope and impact are minimized in American historiography.
- Vast swaths of land colonized by Latinos were incorporated into the United State through conquest and purchases.
- As a result of American expansionism, three historical Latino American communities arose in our country: Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, and Puertorricans
- The civil right movements in the 1960’s brough a reform of our immigration system. The consequence was, together with other factors, the growth of Latino immigration and the decrease of European immigration into the United States.
- The increase in Latino immigration between 1970 and 2008 implied the reinforcement of existing Latino communities, and the creation of new ones, such as Salvadoran Americans, Honduran Americans, Guatemalan Americans, Dominican Americans, Colombian Americans, and Brazilian Americans.
- Anti-Latino sentiment was born during the Mexican American War of 1845, is connected with Anti-Native American and Anti-Catholic sentiment, and it has remained stable throughout the recent history of the United States.
- Anti-Latino historical narratives minimize Latino presence in our history and society, ignoring Latino achievements and emphasizing misdeeds.
Content
Block 1.1: Introduction & Statistical Portrait of Latinos in the United States
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 1.2: Latino History of the United States
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 1.3: Latinos and Current Events in the United States
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 2- Latino Diversity in the United States
In Block 2 we will learn about the cultural diversity of the most relevant Latino groups in the United States. We will focus on the two largest communities: Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans, but will also learn about more recent communities, such as Cubans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans. These groups have been selected because there is at least a million people in the United States claiming ancestry from each one of them. We will learn a bit about the origin of these communities, their main demographic characteristics, and aspects about their culture, including food, music, and geographical presence in the United States.
The learning objectives in this block are:
- Latino populations in the United States claim ancestry from a large number of countries, most of them in the Americas.
- Despite the fact Latino American nations share some characteristics, there are fundamental differences in their history and culture.
- Belonging to a certain ethnic group does not predetermine individual characteristics: there is significant individual variation in terms of ethnicity, religion, values, sexual orientation… within each Latino group. Latino cultures are internally as diverse as any other culture.
- Mexican Americans are the first Latino community in the United States, and also the largest and most influential.
- Cuban Americans and Puerto Ricans formed historical communities early in the 20th century in Florida and New York City. Their circumstances have many similarities, but also profound differences.
- Central American immigrants from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala are, together with Dominicans, the fastest growing Latino groups in the United States in the last 30 years.
- There is a direct link between historical and political events, and the current status of each Latino community in the United States.
Content
Block 2.1: Mexican-Americans
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 2.2: Puerto Ricans
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 2.3: Other Latino Groups in the United States
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 3- Latino Social Issues
In Block 3 we will learn about the immigrant experience, the Spanish language in the United States, stereotypes affecting Latinos, Latinos and labor relations, and growing up Latino in this country. We will learn what aspects of being Latino are common to all Latino groups, and what are unique to each one of them.
The learning objectives in this block are:
- Powerful economic and political forces in an immigrant’s home country and in ours play a fundamental part in the decision to migrate.
- Immigration is a difficult, jarring process, particularly tough for working class migrants.
- Labor conditions in unskilled workplaces in the United States are generally tough, but they are even tougher for undocumented migrants.
- Spanish language has a long history in our country.
- There are conflicting positive and negative views of Spanish in the United States. These often overlap and manifest themselves in complex, yet pervasive ways.
- Discrimination based on language, and linguistic variety, is prevalent and widespread in most human societies, including ours.
- The experience of first, second, and third generation Latinos in the United State is far from the same. Each group as a unique profile, advantages, and disadvantages.
- Latino Americans are internally as diverse as any multinational group can be: it is comprised of people of different nationalities, races, religion, sexual orientations, political affiliation…
- American media has a history of presenting minority groups in stereotypical ways. Latino American groups are no exception.
- American media depiction of Latino Americans has a marked social, and political impact on Latinos.
- Communication between cultures poses issues that go beyond the language spoken. These issues include non-verbal language, cultural misunderstandings, and diverging expectations, as well as differing linguistic pragmatics.
- There are ways to circumvent and minimize these problems. These strategies can make us better intercultural communicators.
- Intercultural communication is fundamental in the workplace, but also in the wider business and service community, as international investment becomes a larger percentage of all investment in our country, particularly in the Southeast.
Content
Block 3.1: Latinos and Labor
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 3.2: Latinos & Stereotypes
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 3.3: Latinos & Language
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 4- Latino Art and Culture
In Block 4 we will read, listen to, and discuss a variety of sources introducing Latino-American art, literature and film in the United States. Art, literature and film are relevant cultural artifacts that reflect the Latino American experience in our country. As such, they are a reflection of achievements and dreams, but also of discrimination and pain. We will learn how history, politics, and social issues are reflected in art, and how the latter influenced the former.
The learning objectives in this block are:
- Some of the most relevant filmmakers in America are of Latino descent.
- Latinos are underrepresented and stereotyped in American film and television.
- Urban murals are one of the most characteristics genres in Latino American art, and they reflect the ideology of Latino social movements in the 20th century
- Chicano literature is frequently ignored by both American and Mexican academia.
- Chicano literature developed closely tied to the Chicano civil rights movement.
- Knowledge of Chicano literature is fundamental to understand modern American literature.
- Cuban American identity is complex, and there are many factors that influence it.
- Cuban American poetry reflects the Latino experience in the US from a more individual, intimate perspective.
- Language, generational change, food, and identity are common topics in Cuban American poetry,
- Chicano theater developed in parallel to the Chicano civil rights movement.
- Theater offers an opportunity for alternative social movements to express themselves and reach a wider audience.
- Actos are a unique genre of American theater and, even though they were created by Mexican American playwrights, they are part of the common American artistic heritage today.
Content
Block 4.1: Latino Literature in the United States
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 4.2: Latino American Art & Latinos in Film
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation
Block 4.3: Latino theater
- Introductory Reading
- PowerPoint Presentation