AML 5637 Fall 2020 Ribo

“Latinx Studies on Trial” examines the theoretical, pedagogical, and practical challenges of teaching Latinx literatures from the colonial period to the present within contemporary debates on the role of ethnic studies in public education and public life in the United States. Throughout the semester as we read memoirs, essays, poems, short stories, plays, and novels, we will return to questions raised by the banning of Mexican American Studies and the censorship of books written by Latinx authors in Arizona in 2010 and the denial of tenure of prominent Latinx Studies scholars at Ivy League universities a decade later. Why was Mexican American Studies banned? Why were these books censored? Why were these scholars denied tenure? In addition to these specific inquiries, these case studies will lead to more general questions about the role of the university and other educational institutions. Who sets educational curricula and defines literary canons? Can the literary and cultural traditions of minoritized people thrive in the university? What do scholarship and pedagogy inspired by and participating in the existential struggles of underrepresented communities look like? In addition to film, television, music, and other popular culture, readings will include selections from The Norton Anthology of Latino/a Literature and books by Jennine Capó Crucet, Joseph Cassara, Sandra Cisneros, Angie Cruz, Edwidge Danticat, and Javier Zamora.