SETON HALL UNIVERSITY
SOCIOLOGY/ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT
Soci 2517AA
Latinas/Latinos in the United States
David T. Abalos
Fall 1996
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course will examine the personal, political, historical and sacred faces of Latinas/Latinos in
U.S. society from the perspective of a theory of transformation. Particular attention is given to the
struggle of Latinas and Latinos with the archetypal stories of their cultural past and present. La
Comunidad Latina has not had the opportunity to confront their heritage nor the dominant stories
of the wider society. The very fact that only a lecture here and there is devoted to Latinos in courses
on the family, politics or sociology attests to the invisibility of the community. The issues facing
Latinas in the United States is important and deserves a focus of its own. We know from the latest
census that Latinos are the youngest population in the United States; that their rate of increase
through birth and migration is the largest in the nation; their growing involvement based on sheer
numbers is having a significant impact on politics in the West, the Southwest and increasingly in
the Northeastern United States and Florida. Yet la comunidad Latina suffers from low
employment, poor education, substandard housing, inadequate
Social services and political
under-representation. This course seeks to explore the reasons for such powerlessness.
Purpose and goals of the course: The course intends to provide Latinas and Latinos as well as
students from all backgrounds the opportunity to see a people in their own midst creating a
community. The Latino community is struggling with and asking all the relevant questions: Who
am I as an individual Latina or Latino and what is my relationship to my community and to the
wider society? What are the stories of our inherited past? What are the consequences when we
uncritically live these dramas? How do we create a new and more compassionate culture? In
response to these questions strategies of transformation will be examined.
Prerequisites: none; this course is intended for lower and upper level undergraduates, majors or
non-majors, as a free elective
BOOKS TO BE PURCHASED
David T. Abalos, The Latino Family and the Politics of
Transformation
David T. Abalos, Latinos in the United States: The Sacred and the
Political
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate
Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Papers: There will be a mid-term paper of 10-12 pages and a final work of 12-15 pages. Two in class
essays will also be required as well as class discussion of assigned readings.
184
GRADING POLICY
The two major essays will count for 80% of your grade; the two in class essays and class discussion
will count for the other 20% of the grade.
OFFICE HOURS
TTH 10:00-12:00 (and by appointment)
Office phone: 761-9472 (Department phone: 761-9180)
OUTLINE OF TOPICS AND READINGS
WEEK OF AUGUST 26
Overview of the semester; presentation of key concepts, objectives and goals of the course.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 2
I. Introduction to the various Latino populations in the United States. Latinas and Latinos do not
constitute a monolith but are composed of diverse social, economic, racial and religious groups.
A.
What is a Latina, a Latino? -- the issue of identity.
B.
Readings:
1.
*"Going Home: A Return to the Sources, The Search for Latino Identity",
David T. Abalos, Latinos in the United States, Ch. 2.
2.
Latin American Tradition, Essays on the Unity and the Diversity of Latin
American Culture, Charles Wagley.
3.
The Plumed Serpent, D. H. Lawrence
4.
The Analysis of Hispanic Texts, ed., Rolstan Adams, et. al.
5.
Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodríguez
6.
Homo Ludens, Johan Huizinga
7.
The Puerto Rican Experience, F. Cordasco and E. Bucchioni.
8.
The Spaniards, Americo Castro
9.
The Cuban American Experience, Thomas D. Baswell and James R. Curtis
10.
*Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko, pp. 1-63.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 9 AND 16
II. The personal, political, historical and sacred faces of Latina women and Latino men in the
United States from the perspective of a theory of transformation.
A.
The Latino community and the core drama of transformation
B.
Readings:
l.
*Acknowledgments, Introduction, A Theory of
Transformation, Chapter I, Abalos, The Latino Family and the Politics of
Transformation
2.
"The Archetypal Drama of Transformation", Part I and Part II, Manfred
Halpern, Chapter 6 of an unpublished manuscript: Transformation: Its
Theory and Practice in Our Personal, Political, Historical and Sacred Being
3.
Cubans in Exile, Richard R. Fagan
4.
The New Class War, Cloward and Piven, pp. 1-39
185
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Cuban Exiles in the United States, ed., Carlos E. Cortes
La Causa Politica: A Chicano Politics Reader, ed., F. Chris García, pp. 19-85
Eros and Civilization, Herbert Marcuse
The Anatomy of Dependence, Takeo Doi
The Tacit Dimension, Michael Polanyi
"Political Theory as a Vocation," Sheldon Wolin, ASPR, December, l969, Vol.
63.
The Social Contract, J.J. Rousseau
Too Late the Phalarope, Alan Paton
Habits of the Heart, Individualism and Commitment in American Life,
Robert N. Bellah et. al.
"Preface" and "Introduction: The Personal is Political", Marshall Berman, The
Politics of Authenticity.
Justice and the Politics of Difference, Iris Marion Young
*"Images of the Sacred and the Political in Literature: The Story of the
Journey of Transformation", David T. Abalos, a paper delivered at the
annual meeting of the APSA, Chicago, Ill., September 3, 1992.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 23
III. Cultural Comparison between Latino Culture and Anglo Saxon Ethos: The Archetypal Stories
of Uncritical Loyalty and Capitalism.
A.
The tragedy of people speaking past one another--stories and ways of life at odds
with one another
B.
Readings:
1.
*"Reflections, Mexico and the United States" , Octavio Paz
2.
"La Carreta Made a U-Turn: Puerto Rican Culture and Language i n t h e
United States," Juan Flores, et, al., Daedalus, Spring, l981
3.
"The People's Two Bodies," Sheldon Wolin, Democracy, January, l981
4.
Beyond Geography: The Western Spirit Against the, Wilderness, Frederick
Turner
5.
Galilean Journey, The Mexican-American Promise, Virgilio Elizondo
6.
La Carreta, René Marqués
7.
Life Against Death, Norman O. Brown
8.
Cien Años de Soledad, Gabriel García Márquez
9
.Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
10.
Distant Neighbors, A Portrait of the Mexicans, Alan Riding
11.
I Heard the Owl Call My Name, Margaret Craven
12.
*Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko, pp. 64-l00.
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 30
IV. Economic Impediments To A More Human Life
A.
The Archetypal Story of Capitalism
B.
Readings:
l.
"Puerto Ricans in the New Economic Order", Frank Bonilla and Ricardo
Campos, Daedalus, Spring, l981, pp. 133-176 2.
2.
Race and Class in the Southwest, Mario Barrera, pp. 34-57.
186
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The New Class War, Cloward and Piven, pp. 40-99.
Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States, Chapter II.
.Race and Economics, Thomas Sowell.
*Population, Economic Mobility and Income Inequality: A Portrait of
Latinos in the United States, 1970-1991", Havidán Rodríguez, The Latino
Studies Journal, Vol. III, May,1992
*The Archetype of Capitalism”, Manfred Halpern
WEEK OF OCTOBER 7
V. Race and Ethnicity as Political Issues
A.
Latinas/Latinos challenge the stories of upward mobility and the story of tribalism.
B.
Readings:
l.
"Colonialism: The Case of the Mexican American", John W. Moore, Chicano
Studies, pp. 363-372
2.
"Toward a Transforming Analysis of Social Classes", Manfred Halpern
3.
"Cultural Assimilation versus National Consciousness: The Essential
Dilemma," Puerto Rico: A Socio-Historic Interpretation, M.
Maldonado-Denis, pp. l30-l47
4.
Race and Culture Contacts in the United States, Franklin Frazier.
5.
The Colonizer and the Colonized, Albert Memmi.
6.
The Assimilation of Cuban Exiles, Eleanor Meyer Rogg
7.
Race and Class in the Southwest, Mario Barrera, pp. l74-219.
8.
Ethnic America, Thomas Sowell.
9.
A Survey of Puerto Ricans on the U.S. Mainland in the l970's, K.
Wagenheim, Chapters l,4, and 5.
10.
The Puerto Rican Struggle, C. Rodríguez, pp. 31-46.
11.
*"The Politics of Liberation versus the Politics of Assimilation," Chapter 6;
"Latino Professionals: A Transforming Middle Class," Chapter 7, Abalos,
Latinos in the United States: The Sacred and the Political.
12.
"Self Alienation in Traditional and Modern Society," pp. 87-l44, M. Berman,
The Politics of Authenticity.
13.
*Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko, pp. l00-l52
14.
Playing in the Dark, Toni Morrison
15.
Two Nations, Black and White, Separate, Hostile, Unequal, Andrew Hacker
16.
In My Father's House, Kwame Anthony Appiah
WEEK OF OCTOBER 14 AND 21
Mid-Term Paper Due
VI.
The Politics of Bilingual/Bicultural and Multicultural Education: the Archetypal Story of
Democracy
A.
The United States public school system was established in the nineteenth century
to socialize and nationalize the immigrants; why did Congress support bilingualism
and biculturalism in l968? What is multicultural and how does it relate to specific
ethnic and racial group?
B.
Readings:
l.
*"The Politics of Transformation in the Latino Community," Chapter 4,
Abalos, Latinos in the United States.
187
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
"Bilingualism and Mental Measures: A Word of Caution, " George I.
Sánchez, Chicano Studies, pp. 441-447.
"Bilingual Education and the Hispanic Challenge," Alan Pifer, Annual
Report Carnegie Corporation of New York.
"The Archetypal Drama of Democracy: Choosing Between Ways of Life and
Death", Manfred Halpern.
Education of the Spanish-Speaking Urban Child, Earl J. Ogletree.
Puerto Ricans in the Continental United States, Chapter III.
The Chicano Experience, ed., June Macklin and Stanley A. West.
Hunger of Memory, Richard Rodríguez.
*Ceremony, Silko. pp. l53-l78.
One Third of a Nation; A Report of the Commission on Minority
Participation in Education and American Life.
.Loose Canons, Notes on the Culture Wars, Henry L.Gates, Jr.
The Signifying Monkey, Henry Louis gates, Jr.
A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki
Culture and Imperialism, Edward Said
*"Multicultural and Gender Fair Education in the Service of
Transformation", David T. Abalos, The Latino Studies Journal, Vol. 2, No.
1, January, 1991
*"Politics and Pedagogy: The Case of Bilingual Education", Carlos J.
Ovando, Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 60, No. 3, August, 1990
WEEK OF OCTOBER 28 AND NOVEMBER 4
VII. Latina Women and the Family: An Internal Liberation Movement
A.
The Archetypal Stories of Romantic Love and Patriarchy: The Politics of
Male/Female Relations.
B.
Readings:
1.
*Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel"
2.
*"Woman Hollering Creek", Sandra Cisneros
3.
The Puerto Rican Woman, ed., Edna Acosta-Belen, pp. 51-63; l24-141.
4.
Mexican Women in the United States, ed., Magdalena Mora and Adelaide
R. del Castillo, pp. 29-61.
5.
"Montesquieu's Persian Letters", The Politics of Authenticity, M. Berman,
pp. 3-53.
6.
The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels.
7.
Capitalism, The Family and Personal Life, Eli Zaretsky, Chapters 1-3, 5.
8.
*"The Politics of the Latino Family”, Chapter 3, Abalos, Latinos in the
United States.
9.
*"The Latino Family at Risk ", Chapter 4, Abalos, The Latino Family and the
Politics of Transformation.
10.
The Puerto Rican Struggle, C. Rodríguez, pp. 58-73.
11.
"Intergenerational Change in Ethnic Identity in the Puerto Rican Family," J.
Rogler, International Migration Review, Vol. l4, pp. l83-214.
12.
La Familia, Chicano Families in the Urban Southwest l848 to the Present,
Richard Griswold del Castillo.
188
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
The Color Purple, Alice Walker.
Beloved, Toni Morrison.
Sor Juana, Octavio Paz.
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, Oscar Hijuelos
Bread Givers, Anzia Yezierska
"To Tell One's Story: Women's Self Definition in Latino Male/Female
Relationships", Sinsi Mercedes Hernández Cáncio, The Latino Studies
Journal, Vol. I, No. 2, May, 1990.
The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 11
VIII. Drugs, Gangs and Violence
A.
Turning Towards Deformation
B.
Readings:
l.
"The Barrio as an Internal Colony", M. Barrera, Carlos Muñoz and Charles
Ornelas in La Causa Politica, pp. 281-301.
2.
The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon, pp. 35-l06.
3.
"The l970-l971 East Los Angeles Chicano-Police Riots," Armando Morales
in La Causa Politica, pp. 374-404.
4.
"The Emergence of el Partido de la Raza Unida: California's New Chicano
Party," Alberto Juárez in La Causa Politica pp. 304-321.
5.
The Politics of Protest, Jerome Skolnick.
6.
Occupied America, Rodolfo Acuña, Chapters IX and X
7.
"Internal Colonialism and Ghetto Revolt," R. Blauner, Social Problems, Vol.
l6, No. 4, September l969, pp. 393-408.
8.
Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social Power, K. B. Clark, Chapter 5.
9.
Gringo Justice, Alfredo Mirandé.
10.
"The Life and Death of Julie"; "More Escapes from Freedom", M. Berman,
The Politics of Authenticity, pp. 231-310.
11.
*Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko, pp. l80-213.
12.
Blood on the Forge, William Attaway
13.
*TBA
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 18
IX. Latinos and the Politics of Transformation
A.
Grass Roots Politics and Party Politics
B.
Readings:
l.
Chicano Revolt in a Texas Town, John S. Shockley, Preface, pp.
1-41,
111-l49.
2.
*"The Politics of Transformation", Chapter 4, Abalos, Latinos in the United
States.
3.
The New Class War, Cloward and Piven, pp. l00-124.
4.
The Ethnic Factor: How America's Minorities Decide Elections, Mark Levy
and Michael Kramer.
5.
The Puerto Rican Struggle, C. Rodríguez, pp. 74-89; 90-128.
6.
“Minorities in the American Class System," Joan W. Moore, Daedalus,
189
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
Spring, l981 pp. 275-299.
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Freire.
Puerto Rican Chicago, Félix Padilla.
Sal Si Puedes, Peter Mattheison.
"Tilting with the System," Bob Fitch in La Causa Politica, pp. 360-365.
Problems in Political Economy, David Gordon.
"A New Morality: The Authentic Woman and Man", pp. l63-l99 and "A New
Politics: The Authentic Citizen," pp. 200-228, M. Berman, The Politics of
Authenticity.
"Politics, " Collected Essays, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The New Class War, Cloward and Piven, pp. 125-150
"What Revolutionary Action Means Today, "Sheldon Wolin in Democracy,
Fall l982, pp.l7-28; and "On Participation", H. Pitkin and Sara Shumer, pp.
43-54.
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of l844, Karl Marx.
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 25 AND DECEMBER 2
XI. Latinas/Latinos and the Sacred
A. The Role of Religion in Assimilation and Liberation
B.
Readings:
l.
*"Latinos and the Sacred", D.T. Abalos, Latinos in the United States.
2.
Galilean Journey, The Mexican-American Promise,Virgilio Elizondo,
Chapters 8 and 9.
3.
Cry of the People, The Struggle for Human Rights in Latin America, Penny
Lernoux, Chapters 9-12.
4.
*U.S. Bishops, "Pastoral Letter on Hispanics in the United States"
5.
"The Human Being in the Image of God: A Cosmos of Creative
Participation," Manfred Halpern, unpublished manuscript, Op. cit., Chapter
14.
6.
The Feminine in Jungian Psychology and in Christian Theology, Ann
Belford Ulanov, pp. 277-285.
7.
Ceremony, Silko, pp. 248-262.
8.
On Exodus, A Liberation Perspective, George V. Pixley.
9.
*”Somos en Cuerpo en Cristo”, Luís D. Leon, Latino Studies
Journal,September, 1994, Vol. 5, Issue 1 and the Introduction and Critique
of this Special Issue
10.
When Jesus Came the Corn Mothers Went Away, Ramon Gutiérrez
11.
We Drink From Our Own Wells, Gustavo Gutiérrez
WEEK OF DECEMBER 9
XII. Latinas/Latinos Look to the Future
A.
Strategies of Transformation: Creating New Archetypal Stories
B.
Readings:
1.
"Mexican Americans in the Urban Area: Will they Riot?", Ralph Guzmán in
La Causa Politica, pp. 415-421
190
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Chicano Revolt in a Texas Town, John Shockley, pp. l96-226.
Poor People's Movements, Piven and Cloward, pp. 354-350.
*"Creating New Archetypal Dramas", Chapter 5, The Latino Family and the
Politics of Transformation.
Structures of Dependency, eds., Frank Bonilla and Robert Girling.
The Declining Significance of Race, William J. Wilson, Chapters l, 6, 7 and
8.
Beyond Black and White, An Alternative America, Vernon J. Dixon and Badi
Foster.
*"Choices for Latinos: Creating the Present and the Future," Chapter 8,
Abalos, Latinos in the United States.
"Schools for Action: Radical Uses of Social Space", Sara Evans and Harry
Boyte in Democracy, Fall l982, pp.55-65.
"Conclusion," M. Berman, The Politics of Authenticity.
*Ceremony, Silko, pp. 248-262
Afro-American Literature in the Twentieth Century: The Achievement of
Intimacy, Michael Cooke
*”Some Reflections on the Creation of a Cultura Latina in the United States
from the Perspective of a Theory of Transformation”, David T. Abalos
“On Culture”, Juan Gómez-Quiñones, UCLA, Chicano Studies Center
Publication
191