3000

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.