Course info

Image: Las Brown Berets by Melanie Cervantes

Goals and Outcomes

Many literary scholars have labeled the genre of Chicano/a/x narrative as literature of recuperation and resistance. Literary critic, Ramón Saldívar has argued that “in Chicano narrative the history of [Chicano/a/xs] is the subtext that must be recovered from the oblivion to which American social and literary history have consigned it.”  If this is true, then we can see Chicano/a/x literary productions as “ideological rewriting[s] of banished history” (Chicano Narrative Ramón Saldívar). It is because of this that this course will not only introduce students to Chicano/a/x literature, but also to this literature’s historical and political contexts. Aside from focus on the genesis of the Chicano/a/x literary canon, in this course we will also spend time looking at the evolution of the term Chicano/a/x.

Essential Questions

• What is a canon?
• What are some of the historical and social circumstances that give rise to the creation of the Chicano/a/x canon?
• What are some of the ideological assumptions underlying the Chicano/a/x canon?
• Are these ideological assumptions still relevant today?
• What role have women and/or queer individuals played in the construction of the Chicano/a/x canon and Chicano/a/x identity?

 Course Objectives

• Students will be able to define the term canon.
• Students will gain an understanding of the social and historical contexts that give rise to Chicano/a/x canon.
• Students will gain an understanding of the ideological underpinnings of the Chicano/a/x canon.
• Students will gain an understanding of the evolution of Chicano/a/x identity.
• Students will be able to perform close readings of literary texts verbally and in written form.
• Students will be able to argue a point in a concise written form with attention to MLA citation style.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to effectively use the grammatical and stylistic conventions of Dominant Academic/professional Discourse (DAD) in writing. 
• Students will be able to produce a 6-7 page critical research essay on one of the literary texts in the course with a minimum of three peer-reviewed sources.

Required Texts:

• Pocho, José Antonio Villareal. Published: 1959.
• Y No Se Lo Trago La Tierra, Tomás Rivera.  Published: 1971.
• So Far From God, Ana Castillo. Published: 1993.
• Imaginary Parents, Sheila Ortiz Taylor. Published: 1996.
• Other required texts for the course may be found on Moodle and are designated by (M) in the syllabus.