ENGL 228 - Survey of Latina/o/x Literature in the US

Through key drama, fiction, and poetry, this course offers a survey of Latina/o/x literature from its origins in the Spanish colonization of North America to the present, with an emphasis on the major themes and trends of creative writing sparked by the migration of Cubans, Dominicans, and Central Americans necessitated by political turmoil in the twentieth century and the Chicano and Nuyorican Movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Students read, analyze, and respond critically to texts by Puerto Rican, Cuban-, Dominican-, Mexican-, and Salvadoran-Americans in class discussions, examinations, and essays. Readings showcase the unique and diverse voices of Latina/o/x writers exploring the construction and complexity of identity; bilingualism and code-switching; the experiences of the colonial subject, the immigrant, the refugee, and the exile; borders literal and figurative; and the relationship between the writer’s ancestral homeland and the United States. PREREQUISITE(S): A grade of C or better in ENGL 101/ENGL 011 or ENGL 101 or consent of the department. Three hours each week.

3 semester hours

Course Outcomes:
Upon completion of this course, a student will be able to:

Identify the characteristics of Cuban-, Dominican-, Mexican-, Salvadoran-American and Puerto Rican literary traditions, authors, genres, and themes.
Apply various literary terms to discuss, interpret, and analyze representative texts.
Respond to, explicate, analyze, and evaluate literary texts.
Express well-supported opinions of texts and use a style appropriate for academic discourse using formal writing of three pages of more.
Understand and apply the political, socio-cultural, or historical contexts of Cuban-, Dominican-, Mexican-, Salvadoran-American and Puerto Rican literature.
Synthesize connections between individual texts and a variety of literary interpretations, including secondary critical texts.
Cite sources in essays using standard documentation procedures.
Utilize technology in assignments.

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