Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that we are meeting on the Indigenous lands of Turtle Island, the ancestral name for what now is called North America. Further, we acknowledge we are meeting on the land of the Alabama-Coushatta, Caddo, Carrizo/Comecrudo, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, Tonkawa and Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, and the thousands of American Indian and Indigenous Peoples and communities who have been or have become a part of these lands and territories in Texas.
E343E Latinx Short Story
Cross-lists: MAS 314, 40240; WGS 340.90, 45645
Flags: Cultural Diversity in the U.S.
Prerequisites. Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing.
Description
Those who are called, or call themselves, Latinx comprise myriad communities with distinctive histories, languages, genealogies, political and social concerns, cultures, and lifeways. This course, then, is an exploration of Latinx short story as a significant site for conversations about Latinidad identity, memory, and plurality and for acknowledgement of underrepresented, excluded, and erased experiences within colonial Western paradigms. Short stories from Latinidad allow us to discuss cultural and personal hybridity in multiply-shaped borderlands, amongst subaltern(ed) communities, and allows us to address historical and ongoing coloniality. As we move through our selected stories, we will ask: Who are Latinx? What is Latinidad made of? What does it mean to self-name, to self-identify or disidentify? What does the identification “Latinx” do to or for experiences, histories, identities, and resistance? Methodologically, this course will engage intersectionalities of race, gender, class, and sexuality within Latinx communities to answer these questions while being attentive to Indigenous and Afro-Latino peoples who resist the category Latinx.
This course carries the flag for Cultural Diversity in the United States. The purpose of the Cultural Diversity in the United States Flag is for students to explore in depth the shared practices and beliefs of one or more underrepresented cultural groups subject to persistent marginalization. In addition to learning about these diverse groups in relation to their specific contexts, students should engage in an active process of critical reflection. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one underrepresented cultural group in the U.S.
Course Objectives (Determined by students)
To explore more texts from more Latinidad geographies, specifically Central and South America (Note: With this in mind, our course reading schedule might change.)
To practice literary criticism informed by literary scholarship while being attentive to assumptions/impositions of Western worlding and embracing Latinx plurality
To attend intersectionality and the complexity of Latinx identity/genealogy/ancestry/community, etc. in texts; to embrace self-identification
To explore Latinidad experiences and culture as reflected in literature, in class discussions, and in personal/community storytelling
To create an open-educational resource for students and teachers that teaches literary analysis and devices through Latinidad texts and authors
Required books
No One Writes to the Colonial and Other Stories by Gabriel García Mårquez (2005)
Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed by Saraciea J. Fennell (2021)
Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros (RH, 1992)
Tales from La Vida: A Latinx Comics Anthology by Frederick Luis Aldama (Ohio State University Press, 2018).
We will also read from:
The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories by Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria (1997)
Keywords for Latina/o Studies by Deborah R. Vargas, Nancy R. Mirabel, and Lawrence La Fountain-Stokes (New York University Press, 2017)
Los Cuentos de Eva Luna by Isabel Allende (Athenium 1991)
Mundo Cruel by Luis Negron (Seven Stories Press 2017)
Requirements and Grading
This course will make use of a labor contract grading system adapted to UT’s requirements. A Labor Contract sets out specific, baseline expectations for participation and criteria for coursework. Meeting the criteria for each assignment will guarantee students a “Complete” for that assignment. Students seeking a higher grade will be expected to “do more” than what is stipulated in the contract. This form of grading is designed to acknowledge and respect student labor, meaning your work and effort is rewarded even if your product is not “perfect.” Criteria will be explained in detail prior to each assignment.
Reading Discussion (15%) Students will complete five of these during the semester. Conversation will require critical analysis and reflection over key texts. They will have a choice whether to participate in discussion in person or asynchronously via Canvas.
Group OER Project (15%) As a class, we have opted to create an open-educational resource. Groups 1-5 will produce 10 posts in Spanish and English for the class. Group 6 will produce the Home, About, and Recommended Reading pages.
Thematic Short Essay #1 with peer review (25%) For this assignment, students will be asked to craft an extraordinarily polished 500-word essay in which they will perform textual analysis of a particular theme across two texts. Papers must be peer reviewed. Papers can be revised for an A.
Thematic Short Essay #2 with peer review (25%) For this assignment, students will be asked to craft an extraordinarily polished 500-word essay in which they will perform textual analysis of a particular theme across two texts. Papers must be peer reviewed. Papers can be revised for an A.
Project Latinidad Final (20%) For their final, students will be asked to produce a creative project (a short story, comic, film, or photo series) that explores or tells a story about a particular experience of Latinidad. ALTERNATIVELY, you can make additional or multimedia content for the OER.
Schedule
Please note this schedule is subject to change. I believe in responsive classrooms that adjust to student needs and interests. What follows is currently a tentative guide for the semester, but due dates and readings might shift as the course progresses. I promise you will receive timely notifications from me of changes as they occur.
WEEK 1
M 1/9: Syllabus Day
W 1/11: Christopher Columbus’ Letter of Discovery: A Short Story
F 1/13: Reading Response: Colonized/ing Selves with “Empire” by Lázaro Lima (pg 55-58 of Keywords from Latina/o Studies
WEEK 2
M 1/16: NO CLASS
W 1/18: Introduction to Short Story as Literary Genre
F 1/20: Reading Response: “The Short Story” by Isabel Allende; The Oxford Book of Latin American Short Stories Introduction
WEEK 3
M 1/23 No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel García Mårquez (Colombia, “The Contemporary Period”)
W 1/25 No One Writes to the Colonel by Gabriel García Mårquez (Colombia, “The Contemporary Period”)
F 1/27 Class OER Project
WEEK 4
M 1/30 García Marquez, “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (Argentina, “The Contemporary Period”)
W 2/01 Carpentier, “Journey Back to the Source (Guatemala, “The Contemporary Period”). Borges, “The Aleph”
F 2/03 Reading Response #3: Gabo and Carpentier
WEEK 5
M 2/06 Selections from Isabel Allende, The Stories of Eva Luna (Chile)
W 2/08 Selections from Isabel Allende, The Stories of Eva Luna (Chile)
F 2/10 Reading Response #4: Allende
WEEK 6
M 2/13 Writing workshop day
W 2/15 Peer review
F 2/17 Short Essay #1 due
WEEK 7
M 2/20 Selections from Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed (“#Julian4Spiderman,” “Cuban Imposter Syndrome,” “Haitian Sensation”)
W 2/22 Selections from Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed (“Invisible,” “Eres un Pocho,” “The Land, the Ghosts, and Me”)
F 2/24 Class OER Project
WEEK 8
M 2/27 Field Trip to Harry Ransom Center
W 3/1 Selections from Keywords from Latino/a Studies (“Afro Latinos” + “White”)
F 3/3 CLASS OER Project
WEEK 9
M 3/06 Selections from Mundo Cruel
W 3/08 Selections from Keywords from Latino/a Studies (“Sexuality + “Gender”)
F 3/10 NO HOMEWORK; ENJOY YOUR BREAK
SPRING BREAK
March 13-18
WEEK 10
M 3/27 Tales from La Vida
W 3/29 Tales from La Vida
F 3/31 Reading Post #5
WEEK 11
M 3/20 Writing workshop day
W 3/22 Peer review day
F 3/24 Short Essay #2 Due
WEEK 12
M 4/03 Juan Rolfo, Photographer Storyteller
W 4/05 Graciela Iturbide, Photographer Storyteller
F 4/07 Class OER Project
WEEK 13
M 4/10 “La fiesta del chivo” (English subtitles). Based on a novel by the same title by Mario Vargas Llosa
W 4/12 “El muerto” (English subtitles). Based on a short story by the same title by Borges.
F 4/14 Class OER Project
WEEK 14
M 4/17 Project work week
W 4/19 Project work week
F 4/21 Project work week
WEEK 15
M 4/24 Last day of class
Any and all revisions due
FINAL PROJECT DUE
Friday, April 28