SWBS- Southwest Borderland Studies

This course provides a basic understanding of theoretical foundations of Borderlands Studies, with a focus on the Southwestern United States. In particular, this course theorizes the border as not simply as a physical barrier meant to regulate migration, but the economic, cultural, spatial, and metaphorical borderlands that informs us on larger processes of membership, belonging, identity, politics, and dehumanization linked to social structures and institutions. The role of Christian faith, churches and faith-based social movements within the study of the Mexican-US border will also be explored.

This course explores the main historical events that shaped Mexico’s culture, such as traditions, food, music, film, and how they formed the rich and diverse society in Mexico today. It surveys the pre-Columbian cultures, the Conquest, the Colonial period, the Independence Movement, the Porfiriato, the Mexican Revolution, and the post revolutionary era. This course also studies contemporary Mexico and its relationship with the United States, with an emphasis on the importance of Mexico to the Southwest Borderlands.

This course studies the literature of the Southwestern Borderlands through the historical and social context related to the experience of the communities that developed in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands region. It includes reading from early Mexican-American literature as well as contemporary authors through prose fiction, dram, poetry, and film. The course also analyzes topics that lead to the understanding of the social circumstances in which the authors write, such as immigration, the Chicano Movement, bilingualism, and contemporary borderlands issues. Prerequisites: SWBS 2310 and SWBS 3315.

Using the theoretical foundations of Borderlands Studies, the course will address critical contemporary issues in the Southwestern Borderlands. This includes immigration/migration, political particularization and representation, social movements, and the conditions and social patterns related to religion, education, and health on the U.S.- Mexican border. Insights gained through the study of Contemporary Borderlands Issues take on a critical significance with the Southwestern border is gaining national attention for its rapid growth, intercultural exchange, and site of political debates. Prerequisites: SWBS 2310, SOCI 3305