CORE C158 - Puerto Rico

Understand the cultural, political and social complexities of Puerto Rican identity, with particular attention given to the effects of Spanish and U.S. colonialism on gender and race relations in the stateless nation. Students will study how the colonial discourses that shaped the earliest modern Puerto Rican imaginary continue to inform current political discourse. Through the study of a wide-ranging body of Puerto Rican works that includes literature, cinema, history, and politics, students seek answers to how national identity is articulated in a colonial context, how migration to the mainland has altered the cultural landscape and what kinds of collective cultural and political movements have emerged in response to the island’s socio-economic, environmental and political problems. Through its focus on how gender, sexuality, race, and class are linked to the island’s colonial legacy, this course develops a framework for understanding the complexities of identity on the island and within Puerto Rican communities in the U.S.

Credits: 1.00
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: No Junior, Senior
Area of Inquiry: None
Liberal Arts Practices: None
Core Component: Communities

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