Goucher College 2017-2018 Undergraduate Catalogue 
    
    Nov 27, 2024  
Goucher College 2017-2018 Undergraduate Catalogue PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived catalog. Programs are subject to change each academic year.

LAM 308 - Seminar in Latino/a History (4 Cr.)

(HIS 308)
What does it mean to explore the history of Latino/as from a transnational perspective? This seminar course investigates the history of Latino/as in three ways: 1. The course provides a background in the history of Latino/as in the United States. 2. It explores overlapping and intersecting histories of Latin American migration to the United States. 3. It also explores the use of life histories, memories, interviews, biographies and autobiographies as sources used by historians and other scholars to write about the history of Latin American migrations and the formation of Latino/a communities. Students in the course will explore the political, economic, social and cultural history of Latino/a communities and Latino/as through an investigation of the experiences of a variety of migrant groups including Mexican American or Chicano/as, Puerto Ricans, El Salvadorans, Cubans, and Dominicans among others. Particular attention will be given to ways that race, gender and sexuality have also shaped the formation of Latino/a communities by specifically addressing the experiences of Latino/as of indigenous and African descent as well as histories of women and LGBTQ Latino/as. Through a close reading of texts that draw on oral histories, memoirs, and interviews students will examine migration from a transnational perspective by considering the migration experiences of many Latino/a communities and the ways in which transnational networks have conditioned their experiences in the United States. We will examine the reasons migrants left behind their homes, the ways they migrated, and their experiences in the United States. Together we will explore how these stories document imperial expansion, the redrawing of national borders, as well as labor recruitment, wars of occupation, and responses to economic and political instability that resulted in the growth of a “Latino/a” population in the United States. Moreover, we will explore the politics of defining a “Latino/a” identity and the other forms of ethnic, racial and local identities that have been used to define or redefine Latin American peoples.  Prerequisite: one 200-level History class or sophomore standing or permission of the instructor. First offered Spring 2016.