SPAN488

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Theorizing Contemporary U.S. Latina/o Popular Culture

  • Senior Seminar
  • Macalester College
  • Spring 2004
  • MWF 9:40-10:40 am
  • HUM 217
  • American Studies 494-01
  • Spanish 488-01

María Elena Cepeda, Ph.D.

  • Office Hours: MWF 1:00-2:00 pm, or by appointment
  • HUM 221
  • x6389
  • cepeda@macalester.edu

Contents

[edit] COURSE DESCRIPTION

Via critical analysis of select musical and popular media texts, we will investigate the primary approaches to the study of U.S. Latino popular expression and identity. A broad range of contemporary Cultural Studies theory is included in this analysis of the historical, socio-political, and artistic uses of popular culture within various U.S. Latino commmunities.

Required texts (available for purchase at the Macalester College textbook store):

  • Dávila, Arlene. Latinos, Inc.: The Marketing and Making of a People. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
  • Habell-Pallán, Michelle, and Mary Romero, eds. Latino/a Popular Culture. New York: New York University Press, 2002.
  • García-Canclini, Néstor. Transforming Modernity: Popular Culture in Mexico. Trans. Lidia Lozano. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993.

Optional (though highly recommended to those not familiar with U.S. Latina/o Studies):

  • Romero, Mary, Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo, and Vilma Ortiz, eds. Challenging Fronteras: Structuring Latina and Latino Lives in the U.S. New York: Routledge, 1997.

Please note: all other course required course readings will be on reserve at the library.

[edit] COURSE POLICIES

  • Attendance: Regular, prompt attendance is essential to the successful completion of this course and will be reflected in your final grade for the class. There is a grace period of 2 unexcused absences; thereafter, 2 points (1/5 of a letter grade) will be dropped from your final grade with each unexcused absence. Illness, ceremonies, funerals, and participation in athletic events may be excused if written proof is presented beforehand. In the event of special circumstances or in case of emergency, please contact me immediately. If an absence is completely unavoidable, remember that it is your responsibility to find out what was covered in class and to obtain any materials and/or other details regarding the assignments for the next class session. You are an integral part of the class structure, and if you are absent, you will be missed.
  • Assignments and exams: Barring any unforeseen personal catastrophe or excused absence (see above), I accept no late assignments whatsoever. In addition, students must attend class on exam days. No exam may be made up unless you notify me before (or in case of dire emergency, immediately after) the class period and you present a documented excuse. Please do not purchase a plane ticket home until your final exam/paper date has been established, as conflicts with your travel schedule will not be considered a valid excuse for missing the final exam or paper.
  • No cell phones or beepers/pagers on in class, please. Ever. Gracias. I am also not a big fan of pungent food in class.

[edit] GRADING SCALE

  • A = 93-100%
  • A-= 90-92%
  • B+= 87-89%
  • B = 83-86%
  • B-= 80-82%
  • C+= 77-79%
  • C = 73-76%
  • C-= 70-72%
  • D+= 67-69%
  • D = 63-66%
  • D-= 60-62%
  • NC (no credit) = less than 60%

[edit] GRADES

  • Attendance and participation: 10%
  • Ethnographic Exercises (10% each): 30%
  • Research Project (60% total)
  • Abstract: 5%
  • Annotated Bibliography: 10%
  • Outline: 10%
  • Draft: 20%
  • Final paper: 20%

[edit] EVALUATION CRITERIA

  • Attendance and participation (10%): I take attendance every day, and expect your active, informed participation and attendance at all times. Your participation grade, which is directly linked to your attendance, takes into account your willingness to actively participate in class activities and discussion, as well as your general level of preparedness for the course.
  • Ethnographic exercises (30%): These are ethnographic exercises in the loosest sense of the word, and are designed to help you integrate your classroom knowledge into your experiences with popular culture on a daily basis. Critical thinking, clarity, creativity, organization, and appropriate use of key topics and terms will determine student’s grades for these brief, yet key, assignments.
  • Research Project (60%): Throughout the semester, you will be working towards the successful completion of an original piece of critical research related to a topic discussed in this class. Given that writing is an active, ongoing process, the research project will be divided into several stages (i.e., abstract, annotated bibliography, outline, draft, final paper), each of which will be discussed in further detail as the course progresses. Please be sure to allow yourself sufficient time to complete each step to the best of your ability.

PLEASE NOTE: I take academic dishonesty (i.e., cheating or plagiarism) or the mere appearance thereof very seriously. For further information regarding Macalester’s rules of academic honesty, please refer to this web site: http://www.macalester.edu/~dstudent/handbook/academic_policies.html

[edit] COURSE CALENDAR

  • Please note: unless otherwise stated, all assignments are due the class period for which they are listed.

[edit] U.S. Latina/o Studies

1/26

  • Class introduction

1/28

  • Pedro Cabán, “The New Synthesis of Latin American and Latino Studies,” Borderless Borders
  • Interview with Frances Aparicio, “Latino Cultural Studies,” Critical Latin American and Latino Studies

[edit] Popular Culture Studies

1/30

  • John Storey, An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: Ch. 1

2/2

  • Carla Freccero, Popular Culture: An Introduction: Ch. 2, 4, 5
  • Discussion of ethnographic exercise #1

[edit] The Politics of Identity

2/4

  • Suzanne Oboler, Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives: Introduction, Ch. 1

2/6

  • Suzanne Oboler, Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives: 2, 4
  • Juan Flores, “The Latino Imaginary: Dimensions of Community and Identity,” Tropicalizations

[edit] Theoretical Points of Departure

2/9

  • Frances Aparicio and Susana Chávez-Silverman, Introduction, Tropicalizations
  • Film screening: Mambo Mouth

2/11

  • Néstor García Canclini, Transforming Modernity: Preface, Ch. 1, 2

2/13

  • Néstor García Canclini, Transforming Modernity: Ch. 3, 5, Conclusion
  • Ethnographic exercise #1 due

2/16

  • Elaine Baldwin, et. al., “Stuart Hall: encoding, decoding and ideology,” Introducing Cultural Studies
  • Stuart Hall, “Encoding/Decoding,” Culture, Media, Language
  • Abstract due
  • Discussion of annotated bibliography

[edit] Media

2/18

  • Marcelo Ballvé, “The Battle for Latino Media,” NACLA
  • Arlene Dávila, Latinos, Inc.: Introduction, Ch. 1, 2

2/20

  • Arlene Dávila, Latinos, Inc.: Ch. 5, 6

2/23

  • Class meets in Bibliographic Instruction Room (Library 2nd Floor)

[edit] Performance

2/25

  • Stuart Hall, “Representation, Meaning and Language,” Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifiying Practices
  • Frances Negrón-Muntaner, “Jennifer’s Butt,” Aztlán

2/27

  • Michelle Habell-Pallán, “El Vez is ‘Taking Care of Business’: The Inter/National Appeal of Chicana/o Popular Music,” Cultural Studies

3/1

  • John Fiske, Understanding Popular Culture: Ch. 2, 5, 6
  • Annotated bibliography due

3/3

  • Dolores Prida, “Coser y Cantar,” Beautiful Señoritas
  • Discussion of ethnographic exercise #2
  • Discussion of outline

3/5

  • Carmelita Tropicana, “Milk of Amnesia/Leche de Amnesia,” I, Carmelita Tropicana

3/8

  • Caridad Svich, “Out of the Fringe: In Defense of Beauty,” Out of the Fringe
  • Michelle Habell-Pallán, “’Don’t Call Us Hispanic’: Popular Latino Theater in Vancouver,” Latino/a Popular Culture

[edit] Language

3/10 Ethnographic exercise #2 due 3/12

  • Ana Celia Zentella, “The Chiquitafication of U.S. Latinos,” SALSA Proceedings
  • Gloria Anzaldúa, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Borderlands/La Frontera

[edit] Spring Break: 3/13-3/21

3/22

  • Frances Aparicio, “Whose Spanish, Whose Language, Whose Power?: An Ethnographic Inquiry into Differential Bilingualism,” Indiana Journal of Hispanic Literatures

[edit] Film

3/24

  • Charles Ramírez Berg, “A Crash Course on Hollywood’s Latino Imagery,” Latino Images in Film
  • Angharad Valdivia, “A Latina in the Land of Hollywood: Transgressive Possibilities,” A Latina in the Land of Hollywood
  • Outline due
  • Discussion of draft

3/26

  • Rosa Linda Fregoso, “Re-Imagining Chicana Urban Identities in the Public Sphere, Cool Chica Style,” Between Woman and Nation

[edit] Popular Music

3/29

  • Simon Frith, “Music and Identity,” Questions of Cultural Identity
  • Andrew Leyshon, et. al., Introduction, The Place of Music
  • Samuel Huntington, "The Hispanic Challenge", Foreign Policy
  • Anonymous? "A Question of Identity", The Economist

3/31

  • Raquel Rivera, “Hip Hop and New York Puerto Ricans,” Latino/a Popular Culture
  • Richard R. Rodríguez, “The Verse of the Godfather: Signifying Family and Nationalism in Chicano Rap and Hip-Hop Culture,” Velvet Barrios

4/2

  • Frances Aparicio, “La Lupe, La India and Celia: Towards a Feminist Geneaology of Salsa Music,” Situating Salsa

4/5

  • Simon Frith, “The Discourse of World Music,” Western Music and Its Others

4/7

  • Jocelyn Guilbault, “On Redefining the ‘Local’ Through World Music,” The World of Music

Discussion of ethnographic exercise #3 4/9

  • No class—viernes santo

4/12

  • Josh Kun, “’The Sun Never Sets on MTV’: Tijuana NO! and the Border of Music Video,” Latino/a Popular Culture
  • Ethnographic exercise #3 due

4/14

  • George Lipsitz, “The Lion and the Spider: Mapping Sexuality, Space and Politics in Miami Music,” American Studies in a Moment of Danger

4/16

  • Simon Frith, “Towards an Aesthetic of Popular Music,” Music and Society
  • Draft due
  • Discussion of final draft

4/19

  • No Classes - work on papers

4/21

  • No Classes - work on papers

4/23

  • No Classes - work on papers

[edit] Performance

4/26

  • No class

4/28

  • María Elena Cepeda, “Shakira as the Idealized, Transnational Citizen: A Case Study of Colombianidad in Transition,” Latino Studies

4/30

  • María Elena Cepeda, “Columbus Effect(s): The Politics of Chronology and Crossover in the Latin(o) Music ‘Boom’,” Discourse
  • Gema Guevara, “La Cuba de Ayer/La Cuba de Hoy,” Musical Migrations

[edit] Conclusions and future directions

5/3

  • Pedro Cabán, “Moving from the margins to where?: Three Decades of Latino/a Studies,” Latino Studies
  • Deena J. González, “Enclaves y Transgresiones: Historical and Contemporary Considerations in *Pedro Cabán’s ‘Three Decades’,” Latino Studies

[edit] 5/10 (Monday) Final Paper Due in HUM 221 by 12:00 pm

[edit] Unassigned readings

  • José Esteban Muñoz, “Sister Acts,” Disidentifications
  • Film screening: Milk of Amnesia
  • Suzanne Oboler, Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives: Ch. 6
  • Tanya Katerí Hernández, “The Buena Vista Social Club: The Racial Politics of Nostalgia,” Latino/a Popular Culture
  • Felix Masud-Piloto, “Latino Studies: Moving Forward While Looking Back,” Latino Studies
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