ENGL 367 Latina Feminisms in the United States (Not offered 1997-98; to be offered 1998-99)*

This course will explore twentieth-century inscriptions of feminist consciousness by U.S. Latina writers, theorists and activists. Although our main concern will be feminist literary theory and criticism, the course is structured to acknowledge the interactions between the literary manifestations of Latina feminism and feminist practice in the political and social realms. Among the issues we will address: the nature of Latina participation in feminist coalition-building across linguistic, racial, ethnic, class, and national borders; the Latina critique of late twentieth-century Anglo feminist politics; Latina writers' negotiations of poststructuralist theory; and the relationship of Latina women's movements to other political movements in the United States and across Latin America, including the Mexican Revolution, the Puerto Rican Independence movement, the Black and Chicano Civil Rights movements, and Central American insurgencies. We will examine how the critical and artistic productions of these Latinas participate in, contest, and otherwise negotiate dominant "mainstream" and "Latino" paradigms of ethnic and gendered identity. The course is not an attempt to generalize about a "Latina feminism"; instead, it will approach Latina feminism as a highly contested site of cultural production-and one that is still in the process of being articulated. Among the writers and critics studied will be Norma Alarcon, Gloria Anzaldua, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Judith Ortiz Cofer, Sandra Maria Esteves, Terri de la Pena, Cleofilas Jaramillo, Nicholasa Mohr, Cherrie Moraga, Rosario Morales and Aurora Levins-Morales, Tey Diana Rebolledo, Maria Lugones, Rigoberta Menchu, Achy Obejas, Nina Otero-Warren, and Bernice Zamora. Requirements: weekly writing assignments, one oral presentation, and a 15- to 20-page research paper. Prerequisite: English 101. Enrollment limited to 25. (Criticism)