Recent Latina Writers

Marta Caminero-Santangelo will be offering a definitive course on literature by Latinas this spring in the English Department. Her description:

Course Description: This class will focus on readings in recent U.S. Latina literature, including literature by women of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican descent. We will examine issues such as the construction of “ethnic,” “pan-ethnic,” “national,” and “transnational” identities; the representation of history through narrative; linguistic “differences” in the text; the tensions of assimilation and cultural preservation (including changing practices in religion, language, and gender roles); intersections of ethnic identity with race, gender, and sexuality; revisions of myths and history; genre forms such as memoir, magical realism, and testimonio, as well as experimental or mixed genres; the textual representation of political issues; the development of political consciousness; and possible strategies of resistance to cultural and/or political oppressions. The course will be discussion-oriented rather than lecture-based; participation and attendance will be considered in determining the final grade. The primary goals in this course are to introduce students to a range of Latina writing over the last 25 years and to help develop an understanding of some of the critical issues involved in the study of U.S. Latina literature today. In the process, we will of course be working on further developing skills associated with the study of literature: close reading, analysis, the use of critical, theoretical, historical, and biographical secondary materials, and the development and support of oral and written arguments. Texts might include: Santiago, When I Was Puerto Rican; Anzaldúa, Borderlands / La Frontera; Viramontes, Under the Feet of Jesus; García, Dreaming in Cuban; Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies; Martínez, Mother Tongue; Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek; Moraga, Giving Up the Ghost; Castillo The Guardians.

Check the online course schedule for ENGL 573.