Hispanic Studies 428: Spanglish: Discourses of Language and Cultural Identity in the United States

What is Spanglish? Is it a Spanish “deformed” by the English language, as the Real Academia Española has traditionally defined it? Or is it instead a form of cultural resistance practiced in the Hispanic territories historically occupied by the United States? This course analyzes “Spanglish” as a capacious symbol for broad, long-standing issues of identity, belonging, and cultural citizenship in the United States. Our analysis of bilingual literary artifacts, personal essays, and cultural commentaries will attend to the ways in which discourses of language intervene in notions of Latinx belonging, ethnonational identity, and cultural citizenship in the United States. Primary texts may be drawn from authors such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Sandra Cisneros, Gary Soto, Giannina Braschi, Ana Lydia Vega, Tato Laviera, and Gustavo Pérez-Firmat, among others. Evaluation is based on class participation, oral and written assignments, and a final research paper. Course taught in Spanish. May be applied to the Narrative/Essay requirement for the Hispanic Studies Major. Satisfies 400 level requirement for Hispanic Studies minor. Course taught in Spanish.