The Latino Experiences in the United States SOC 335                                                       Fall 2007 Instructor: Dr. Gonzalo Santos santos_class@csub.edu Office: DDH-AA205     Phone: 654-2191 Class Time: 9:30 - 10:55 am, MWF   Classroom:   AE-105    Office Hours:  11:15 am - 12:30 pm, MWF

• Manuel Gonzales, 1999. Mexicanos. A History of Mexicans in the United States. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

• David Gutiérrez, ed., 2006. Columbia History of Latinos in the U.S. Since 1960. New York: Columbia University Press.
  

• Vicky L. Ruiz & Virginia Sánchez Korrol, eds., 2005. Latina Legacies. Identity, Biography, and Community. New York: Oxford University Press.

This course explores the historical sociology of Latino peoples in the United States at three levels: First, we survey the history of annexation, dispossession, migration, and ethnic resistance and adaptations of Mexicans in the United States, from their 19th-century conquest and incorporation into the U.S. Southwest, through their racialized/"alien-ized", mostly working class, migratory and settlement experiences during the first six decades of the 20th century; to their ethnic rebellion and cultural resurgence in the late 1960s and early 1970s - the Chicano Movement -, to their present day contradictory dual evolution as a domestic, "American entitled," leading and increasingly successful component of the emerged Latino panethnicity, yet ceaselessly being replenished by a massively stigmatized & persecuted, "illegal" immigrant component, the product of extensive and asymmetrical US-Mexico  economic integration.

Secondly, we explore various Caribbean/Central American Latino communities in the U.S. since the 1960s, with an emphasis on their historic and contemporary modes of annexation/integration into the U.S. political economy, society, & culture.

Lastly, we look at the role and contributions Latinas have been playing in every aspect of the Latino experiences in the United States since the XIX Century. We will do this by exploring the lives of 15 prominent Latinas.

Grupo structure of student participation: The course will rely on intense student class participation,  accomplished through group ("grupo") presentations, class discussions, and joint research projects. The students will therefore form 10 grupos of up to four students each at the beginning of the course and engage in collaborative & participatory learning throughout the quarter.

Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Unauthorized absences, tardiness, and/or early departures will be penalized (especially for those that miss or are late to their own scheduled presentations!). If you need to be excused (or need to leave early/arrive late), please call or talk to Dr. Santos ahead of time. 

Lectures, grupo presentations, and class participation: Dr. Santos will typically lecture (all by himself during the reading of the first book, or after the grupo student presentations subsequently). Occasionally, there may be a video documentary shown after the student presentations as well.

All students - including those not presenting - are expected to come to class fully prepared to discuss the assigned readings for each class session. The policy on class participation is, on the one hand, "no investigation, no right to speak - at least not at first." Informed & frequent student participation, on the other hand, is highly encouraged and will be rewarded by Dr. Santos at the time of giving final grades.

Each grupo will be assigned two class presentations during the term (see rotational schedule below). Each time, the presenting students will take turns summarizing and critically assessing the various significant issues or aspects contained in the assigned reading for that day. Each presenting student will be given the opportunity to make a presentation for roughly 5 to 7 minutes. Each presentation should be delivered as a PowerPoint presentation (print it for Dr. Santos; please do not CLUTTER slides with too much text - make more slides when needed!).  Students are responsible for uploading and pre-testing the files  earlier, before class starts! All individual presentations should end with at least one well-thought-out question for discussion. Following the individual presentations, there will be full class discussion focused on the questions raised.

The individual presentations will be graded based on organization & clarity, relevancy of topics selected, accuracy, quality of critical analysis & final question, and overall presentation skills. The grupo presentations will also be assessed a grade based on the quality of the overall organization of the themes or aspects covered, including the final questions, and the appeal of the visuals used.

Grupo Term Paper Research Projects:

Students in each grupo will also be asked to select a pertinent historical/sociological topic relating to the Latino experiences in the United States, and design, organize, and carry out a written group research project on it. The selected subject may be panethnic (all Latinos) or ethnic (one Latino ethnic group); it might focus on the immigrant and/or the settlement experiences; the period covered may be historic (19th. & 20th. Centuries), or contemporary (1990s to 2000s); the spatial dimension may be as small as a city or local area, a state, a region of the U.S., or as large as the entire North America & Caribbean area; the topics may focus on the social, political, economic, demographic, and/or cultural conditions, trends, institutional dynamics, or social movements, or burning issues affecting Latinos or affected by them. There are literally hundreds of possible interesting topics. Brainstorm! The students must obtain approval from Dr. Santos for both their overall grupo topic and for their individual subtopics no later than October 26. Grupo delegates may visit Dr. Santos to obtain this.

For guidelines on how to write a good research term paper, citations & bibliographic styles, etc., please go to the following URL: http://www.csub.edu/~gsantos/Guide-Paper.html.

Extra credit:

There are two general studies courses that students are strongly encouraged to take if they wish to develop their research skills, and if they do will receive extra credit in this course:

GST 126 - Researching the Electronic Library (2 units)
Introduces students to effective research techniques using Library electronic resources. Emphasis will be placed upon skills necessary for the identification, retrieval, and evaluation of information for general and specific topics. Students will acquire the competencies necessary to develop an effective search strategy and find research materials, including references to journal articles, full text articles in electronic format, government publications, books, and Internet resources.

 GST 153 - Research on the Internet (2 units)
Introduces students to the information resources available on the Internet for research purposes Students will develop general knowledge of the Internet, navigation skills, effective search strategy skills, familiarity with Internet finding tools, evaluation methodologies and other Internet research skills.

Contact: Ms. Christy Gavin
Librarian, Walter W. Stiern Library
cgavin@csub.edu
661-664-3237

Grading:

Each grupo class presentation is worth 25 points each (20 points for the individual oral presentation, 5 points for the overall group effort). The research project is worth 35 points (30 points for the individual paper and 5 points for the quality of the conceptual and physical organization of the grupo volume as a whole). Class attendance, punctuality, preparedness and participation are worth the remaining 15 points. The extra credit students may receive for taking the suggested General Studies courses will depend on their final grade in those courses, and may range from zero to six points (up to 3 extra points per course). The final letter grade will be assigned, on a scale of 0 to 100, as follows:
 

Office Hours & Private E-Mail to Dr. Santos:

All students are encouraged to visit Dr. Santos regularly during posted office hours just after class (see above), or by appointment, to ensure their groupo research project topics are approved and organized into well chosen subtopics, their individual research papers are well focused, or to discuss any question from the class lectures, the textbooks, or their grupo class presentations. Approval/consultation of the grupo research topics must be done in person at Dr. Santos office by representatives of each grupo - no emails on that, please. 

Dr. Santos much prefers students either come to his office during office hours or to call him by phone, rather than to receive e-mail messages that require more than a very short one-line reply, due to his large email traffic - he appreciates the ease and fun of talking as opposed to typing! But if you wish to send Dr. Santos a brief, to-the-point, personal message, you may do so at his email address above:

My GRUPO # is:_____                            We present on these dates: ___________ and ___________

My Own Research Subtopic:___________________________________________________________

My  GRUPO members are:

___Name______________________Phone_____________________Email___________________________

1._______________________________________________________________________________________

2._______________________________________________________________________________________

3._______________________________________________________________________________________

4._______________________________________________________________________________________