HCOM 345 - Chicano StudiesCourse Description: Intensive introduction to Chicana/o and Latina/o cultural formations. Course has two objectives: to equip students with the analytical skills necessary to interpret the variety and particularity of the Mexican American and Latin American experiences; and, to expose students to an array of cultural experiences that have contributed to the formation of Chicana/o and Latina/o identities. Offers built-in assessment in HCOM MLO 5 or the concentrations in Comparative American Studies, or Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies.
Reflective Narrative: This was a very interesting class for me. Growing up in Northern California, without a large Latino population, we never learned about Chicano culture and history. We learned extensively about Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez, the Farm Workers Union, and the 1970 Chicano Moratorium in Chicano Park, Los Angeles. Our professor, David Serena, has a long history of activism in the local Chicano community and was a pleasure to learn from. He even had us learn the basics of the Nahuatl language! One of the books we read discusses the Six C’s model of Sociocultural Change as an assessment of the social system in Mexican and Chicano history. It deals with 6 structures of categorization: Class, Culture, Color, Contact, Conflict, and Change. Furthermore, we learned about history of social structure in ancient Mesoamerican societies. For example, in the Pre-Columbian era, the Calpulli system formed the system of class, where the Pipiltin ruled over the other, lower classes like the Macehualtins. One of the most significant cultural readings we were assigned was that of Corky Gonzales' poem, I am Joaquin, which deals with the Chicano identity and history in a dramatic tone. Through interesting readings and informative documentaries, this class helped me learn a lot about the significance of the word Chicano, and why some people reject the label while others wear it proudly. Overall, this class was part of MLO 3 and helped with cultural immersion (and the end-of-semester potluck certainly didn't hurt... My future capstone partner Iván made a flan-omenal dessert that was to die for). |
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