This First Year Seminar is an introduction to the writings of Latino/as in the U.S. with emphasis on the distinctions and similarities that have shaped the experiences and the cultural imagination among different Latinx communities. We will focus particularly in works produced by the three major groups of U.S. Latinx (Mexican Americans or Chicanos, Puerto Ricans or Nuyoricans, and Cuban Americans) during the 20th and 21st centuries but will also include (mostly toward the end of the course) some pieces representative of other Latinx identities. By critically analyzing works from a range of genres and cultural expressions including poetry, fiction, memoirs, film, and performance, along with recent literary and cultural theory works, the course will explore some of the major themes and issues that inform the cultural production of these groups. Topics to be discussed include identity formation and negotiation in terms of language, race, gender, sexuality, and class; the colonial subject; diaspora and emigration; the marketing of the Latinx identity; and activism through art
