ENGL 216: American Latino Literature

Citrus College Course Outline of Record

Citrus College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Fall 2022
Credits: 3
Total Contact Hours: 54
Lecture Hours : 54
Lab Hours: 0
Hours Arranged: 0
Outside of Class Hours: 108
Strongly Recommended: ENGL 101.
District General Education: C2. Humanities
Transferable to CSU: Yes
Transferable to UC: Yes - Approved
Grading Method: Standard Letter

Catalog Course Description

The study of American Latino literature emphasizing the development of literary expression within the Latino community specifically in the mediums of poetry, short stories, and novels. The course will explore literature within the context of the Latino culture and examine the impact the works have had on the Latino and literary community. 54 lecture hours.

Course Objectives

  • critically examine and evaluate written texts in regards to American Latino literature, including the primary source material and secondary source critical analysis of that material,
  • discuss and analyze the various cultural and historical differences and commonalities of the American Latino experience expressed in writing and what they reveal of American Latino identity,
  • comprehend the variants to Latino identity in the United States,
  • comprehend and analyze the importance of storytelling and folklore in the Latino culture,
  • demonstrate proper use of Internet and research skills.

Major Course Content

  1. Moving from oral tradition to the page.
    1. The need to document histories and experiences.
    2. Checking boxes: exploring the broadness of identity.
  2. Mexican/Chicano Experience.
    1. Always Running: from L.A. gang life to community activist.
    2. Selected poems: Baca, Quintana, Salinas, Villanueva, Soto, and Herrera.
    3. The Moths and Other Stories: redefining the role of the woman in a machista world.
    4. Selected poems: Cisneros, Castillo, Mora, and Garcia.
  3. Puerto Rican Experience.
    1. Latin Doll: from country to colony.
    2. Selected poems: Ayala, Agijeros, Esteves, Adorno, and Algarin.
  4. Dominican-American Experience.
    1. Drown: dictators, class systems, color lines, and island sharing.
    2. Selected poems: Alvarez, Esteves, Castro, and James.
  5. Cuban-American Experience.
    1. Dreaming in Cuban: escaping communism and Fidel Castro, introduction to the word refugee.
    2. Selected poems: Perez, Suarez, and Martinez.
  6. Knowing our neighbors: selected poems.
    1. Agosin (Chile)
    2. Suarez-Arauz (Bolivia)
    3. Beilli and Rodeiro (Nicaragua)
    4. Borinsky (Argentina)
    5. Montejo and Unger (Guatemala)

Suggested Reading Other Than Required Textbook

Online literary journals and ezines.

Examples of Required Writing Assignments

Write an essay in which you analyze the themes of a specific poet or short story writer and how it connects to some of Latino experiences discussed in class.

Examples of Outside Assignments

Find a short story or poem from a contemporary Latino writer and compare his or her style with one of the writers discussed in class.

Instruction Type(s)

Lecture, Online Education Lecture

IGETC Area 3: Arts and Humanities

3B. Humanities