ENGL 218 Introduction to U.S. Latina and Latino Writing (Same as American Studies 218) (Not offered 1999-2000; to be offered 2000-2001)*

This course will introduce the student to a diverse body of work by Latino and Latina writers in the United States. Latino and Latina literatures share a history of conflict, resistance, and cultural mestizaje, or mixture, and this course will examine the ways in which a select group of authors acknowledge that history and attempt to shape it to their own personal, literary and political ends. For some understanding of context, we will turn to the facts and pressures of immigration, exile, assimilation, bilingualism, and political and economic oppression, as those factors variously affect the means and modes of the particular literary productions we're concerned with. At the same time, the course will emphasize the invented nature of Latino/a literary and cultural "traditions," and it will investigate the place of those inventions in the larger framework of Latino and Latina political projects such as anti-colonialism, civil rights, and feminism. The reading list will include such authors as Piri Thomas, Julia Alvarez, Cristina Garcia, Americo Paredes, Luis Valdez, Cherrie Moraga, Sandra Cisneros, Ana Castillo, Junot Diaz, and Oscar Hijuelos. Requirements: participation in class discussion, two essays, and a midterm and final exam. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150 (formerly 103).