LANG3419 - 01 - Puerto Rican Diaspora Lit.

The course study the literature by Puerto Rican diaspora in the United States emphasizing the development of themes, techniques, and language in various genres, including essays, short story, theater, novel, and poetry. How this literature challenges colonial and national paradigms, both in the United States and in Puerto Rico, will be a central question of the course. Among these paradigms, again in both locations, is the link between language, race, identity, and nation. Concerns also include classism, racism, gender, sexuality, assimilation/acculturation, cultural hybridity, exile, bilingualism, biculturalism, and the formation and maintenance of national literary canons. Literature from the turn of the 20th century to the present will be analyzed in tis socio-political-historical context. Class meetings will consist of analysis and discussions of reading assignments, and conceptual understanding of related issues. Visual and audio materials will be incorporated as needed and available.