HIST 2002: Introduction to Latinx Studies

Course Description

This course introduces the experiences and conditions of U.S. Latinx of Caribbean, Latin American, and, especially, Mexican descent. Students will examine how people from Hispanic- and Indo-America are both incorporated into American culture, history, and occupational life and often marginalized as either outsiders or foreigners. The course studies how historical forces push and pull people from Latin America to the United States, where they create new U.S. ethnic, racial and local identities. Using films, novels/memoirs, music, and art as windows, students will identify patterns of identity formation, ethnic culture, community politics, labor struggles, and social mobility, and will map the heterogeneous mosaic of Latin American and Caribbean migrations and communities. This course counts toward the Global Perspectives graduation requirement.