Department of Spanish and Portuguese, UT Austin

SPN 359: US Latino Literature and Culture

(Focus on Latino Caribbean Writing and Performance)
Spring 2020

Prof. César A. Salgado

Unique Number: 44775 Office Hours: T 8-9:30AM Th 1:30-3PM
Times: TTh 11-12:30 BEN 3.140
Room: BEN 1.102 Email Address: cslgd@mail.utexas.ed

DESCRIPTION:

This course is intended to introduce students to some of the main cultural actors and literary and
artistic works and agendas of the Latino Caribbean diaspora in the United States. We will study these
figures, works, and agendas in historical context by also reviewing scholarship on the geo-political,
economic, social, ethnic, racial, gender, and community dynamics of migration from Cuba, Puerto
Rico, and Hispaniola to the United States from the nineteenth century to the present. The course will
be divided according to four areas of concern: 1. print culture and writings by nineteen century
Cuban pro-independence political exiles in the United States; 2. Puerto Rican migration to the United
States from 1898 to the present and the ethnic, social, economic, and political struggles of Boricua
urban communities in the East Coast and mid West; 3. waves of Cuban exiles and their descendants
in Miami, New York, and other Latino urban enclaves contingent on the impact of Castro's socialist
revolution in the island and the hemisphere; 4. Dominican and Haitian migration to the U.S.A. as a
response to dictatorship (Trujillo, Duvalier) or socioeconomic crisis in Hispaniola.

Three novels are available online or for purchase at the COOP. Other reading materials will be
available on the course Canvas page for students to download at their convenience. As this is the first
time I teach this course, I reserve the right to make minor changes in the syllabus within a two-week
notice and to make available some reading materials in midcourse at least two weeks before such
reading is due for discussion.

Students will receive a weekly memo at the end of each week with instructions, questions, and
suggestions regarding how to best prepare for classes the following next week. Regular postings on
the Canvas discussion page and active involvement in class discussion will count for your
participation grade.

COURSE MATERIALS:
BOOKS AT THE COOP:
Guillermo Rosales, Casa de los náufragos (online)
Roberto Fernández, Raining Backwards (COOP)
Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accent (COOP)

Films, Musicals and Soundtracks:

Piñero
West Side Story
In the Heights
Hamilton

Other readings will be available for downloading through the course's Canvas page.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Two take-homes of 2 essays each 60%
One last take-home essay 15%
Class participation and attendance 25%
Presentation on a Latinx poet and poem 5%
COURSE SCHEDULE

JANUARY
Week 1
21T Introduction to the course: Jose María Heredia at Niagara Falls
23Th Latinidad Today and Before: Definitions and Locales. The Poets of El Laúd del Desterrado
Critical Readings:
María del Pilar Blanco: "Wither Latinidad? The Trajectories of Latin American, Caribbean, and
Latina/o Literature" (Canvas pdf)
Rodrigo Lazo,"Los Filibusteros: Cuban Writers in the United States and Deterritorialized Print
Culture" (Canvas pdf)
Primary texts:
José María Heredia, Miguel T. Tolón, and J. Clemente Zenea, selection of poems (Canvas
pdfs)

Week 2
28T Cuban "Filibuster" Poets, cntd. José Martí as Latino chronicler of the U.S. in the "Gilded Age "
Critical readings:
Oscar Montero, "José Martí: Exile in New York"; from José Martí: An Introduction, "Coney
Island: Alone in a Crowd" (Canvas pdfs)
Primary texts:
José Martí, "Coney Island" (11/26/1881); “Instantáneas de una ciudad” (3/4/1882);
"Correspondencia particular para El Partido Liberal" (6/26 & 7/6/1886); “Nueva York bajo la
nieve” (3.15/1888) (Canvas pdfs)
30Th José Martí as Latino chronicler, ctnd.
Primary texts (Canvas):
Jose Martí, ‘Igualdad de la mujer” (4/11/1882), El puente de Brooklyn" (6/1883), "Fiestas de la
Estatua de la Libertad" (1/1887), “Un país se expande" (1889); “Indios y negros” (1889)
(Canvas pdfs)

FEBRUARY
Week 3
4T Marti Founds the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York City (1895-1898)
Critical reading:
Laura Lomas, "José Martí [...] and the Emergence of Latina/o Modernity in Gilded Age New
York" (Canvas pdf)
Primary texts:
José Martí, “Congreso Internacional de Washington” (1889); “Latinoamericanos en
Washington” (4/1890); "Nuestra América" (1891); "La verdad sobre los EE.UU." (1892);
selection of poems from Ismaelillo, Versos sencillos, Poemas libres (Canvas pdf)
6Th Afro-Caribbean Freedom Fighters Assist Martí in New York City: Sotero Figueroa and Arturo
Schomburg
Critical reading:
César A. Salgado, "Arturo A. Schomburg at the Intersection of Puerto Rican and Afro-American
Literatures and Studies" (Canvas pdf)
Primary texts:
Sotero Figueroa, selection of articles published in Patria and Revista de Cayo Hueso (Canvas
pdfs)
Arthur A. Schomburg, "Plácido: an Epoch in Cuba's Struggle of Liberty", "Antonio Maceo",
"General Evaristo Estenoz", "Henri Christophe, King of Haiti" (Canvas pdf)

Week 4
11T Boricua Workers as Writers and Community Organizers in New York after 1898
Primary texts:
Luisa Capetillo, “Mi Lucha” (Canvas pdf)
Bernardo Vega, selections from Memorias (chapters 1-4) (Canvas pdf)
Jesús Colón, selection from A Puerto Rican in New York City: "Stowaway"; "Easy Job, Good Wages"; "I
Heard a Man Crying"; "How to Rent an Apartment Without Money" (Canvas pdf)
13Th Boricua Workers as Writers and Community Organizers. ctnd.
Primary texts:
Bernardo Vega, selections from Memorias (chapter 5, 11) (Canvas pdf)
Jesús Colón, selection from A Puerto Rican in New York City ("Hiawatha in Spanish"; "Little
Things Are Big"; "A Puerto Rican in New York") (Canvas pdf)
TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR FIRST TAKE-HOME DISTRIBUTED

Week 5
18Th Puerto Rican Nationalist Poet Activists in NYC after 1936: Clemente Soto Velez and Julia de
Burgos
Critical reading:
Vanessa Perez, "Julia de Burgos' Writing for Pueblos Hispanos" (Canvas)
Primary texts:
Clemente Soto Vélez, selection of poems from Arboles & Caballo de palo (Canvas)
Julia de Burgos, selection of poems written in Puerto Rico and New York City (Canvas)
20Th Storytellers of the 1950s Puerto Rican Migration Wave
Primary texts:
José Luis González: "La carta," "La noche que volvimos a ser gente" (Canvas)
Emilio Diaz Varcárcel, “Harlem todos los días.” (Canvas)

Week 6
25T The Nuyorican Poets Movement: Confronting Urban Decay in the 1960s
Critical readings (Canvas):
Miguel Algarín and Miguel Piñero, introduction to Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology
Primary texts:
Pedro Pietri http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/pedro-pietri#about
"Puerto Rican Obituary"; "Telephone Booth (number 905 1/2)"; "Traffic Misdirector"; "Ode to
a Grasshopper"
Miguel Piñero http://allpoetry.com/Miguel-Pinero
"A Lower Eastside Poem"; "The Book of Genesis According to St. Miguelito"; "La Bodega Sold
Dreams"; "La Gente No Se Quiere Pa' Na Con La Lengua"
Sandra María Esteves
http://www.sandraesteves.com/poetrybookslinks/newselectedpoems.html
"Autobiography of a Nuyorican"; "Mambo Love Poem"; "Spirit Dance"; "Puerto Rican
Discovery Number 43, A Julia y a mi"; "Homenaje al Reverendo, for Pedro Pietri"
Piri Thomas http://cheverote.com/poetry.html
"A First Night at El Sign Sing"; "Born Anew At Each A.M."; "Sermon From the Ghettos Softly";
"Puerto Rican, You Ain't Alone"
CLASS REPORTS
27Th Nuyorican Poets on the Screen: Piñero by Leon Ichaso
Screening of scenes from film and discussion of Piñero poems after home viewing
FIRST TAKE HOME DUE

MARCH
Week 7
3T Post-Nuyorican Writers: Three Poet-Advocates
Jack Agüeros
Background article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/06/nyregion/jack-agueros-79-a-champion-of-el-
barrio-dies.html?_r=0/
 Poems: "Sonnet Substantially Like the Words of F Rodriguez..."; "Sonnet: The History of
Puerto Rico"
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0MpP9nJXas/
Víctor Hernández Cruz
Background articles:
César A. Salgado, "A Note on Victor Hernández-Cruz" (CANVAS pdf)
Poems: "The Lower East Side of Manhattan"; "Latin & Soul"; "Two Guitars"; "Problems with
Hurricanes"
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btwXRMuzs3c/
Martín Espada
Background article: https://www.pshares.org/issues/spring-2005/about-martín-espada/
Poems: "Mrs. Báez Serves Coffee on the Third Floor";"The Sign in My Father's Hands";
"Imagine the Angels of Bread"; "Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100"; "Blessed Be the Truth-
Tellers"; "Litany at the Tomb of Frederick Douglas"
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk21TZlN2u4/
CLASS REPORTS
5Th Afro-Rican Poets: Tato Laviera, Willie Perdomo, María Teresa “Mariposa” Fernández
Tato Laviera
Background article: http://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/tato-laviera-bio/
Poems:"AmeRícan"; "Spanglish"; "my graduation speech"; "the new rumbón";
"commonwealth"
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KT36sZH0-U/
Willie Perdomo
Background Article: http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/dispatches/article/the-city-and-
the-writer-in-new-york-city-with-willie-perdomo/
Poems:
"Where I'm From"; "Nigger-Reecan Blues"; "Poet in Harlem"; "See Saw"; "Come Back"
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrtEAr88xjg
María Teresa "Mariposa" Fernández
Background: http://www.shaggyflores.com/mariposa-maria-teresa-fernandez/
Poems:"Ode to the Diasporican"; "Broken Ends, Broken Promise"
Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n802rVXC8l0/
CLASS REPORTS

Week 8
10T Memoirs and Autobiographical Writings by Wise Boricua Latinas, Part 1
Primary Text:
Esmeralda Santiago, chapters from Cuando era puertorriqueña (Canvas)
12Th Memoirs and Autobiographical Writings by Wise Boricua Latinas, Part 2
Primary Text:
Sonia Sotomayor, chapters from Mi mundo adorado (Canvas)

Spring Break
SECTION III
Week 9 Writers From the “One and a Half” Generation of Exiles from the Cuban Revolution
24T Selection of poetry and prose by Gustavo Pérez-Firmat & Lourdes Casal
Gustavo Perez Firmat:
Background http://www.pbs.org/video/2365071342/
Poetry selection: "Bilingual Blues” "Waiting Game"; "Matriz y margen"
Prose selections "Mambos 1, 5 & 7" from Life on the Hyphen (CANVAS)”; Next Year in
Cuba (excerpt, 1995); Next Year in Cuba (excerpt, 2000); My Own Private
Cuba (excerpt);Cincuenta lecciones de exilio y desexilio (fragmento)
Lourdes Casal:
 Background: Jan Voogd, "Lourdes Casal" from Latinos; Yolanda Prieto, "Casal, Lourdes
(1938-1981)" from Latinas in the United States (CANVAS)
Poems: "Para Ana Veldford"; "Definición," "Año VII," "La Habana 1968":
26Th Selection of poems by Virgil Suárez & Richard Blanco
Virgil Suárez:
Background http://nd.edu/~ndr/issues/ndr10/suarez/suarez.html ;
Poems: "Isla"; "Four Poems": "Three Poems"
Richard Blanco:
Background: http://richard-blanco.com/bio/
Poems: "America"; "Betting on America"; "El Florida Room”; "Unspoken Elegy for Tía
Cucha”; "Varadero en Alba"; "Since Unfinished"; "One Today";"Cosas del mar"
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUZ1vNqFh60
TOPICS FOR SECOND TAKE HOME DISTRIBUTED

Week 10
Tales of disturbance from the writers of the Mariel Exodus
31T Guillermo Rosales, La casa de los náufragos (first part); Achy Obejas, “We Came All the
Way from Cuba So You Could Dress Like This?” (Canvas)
April
2Th Guillermo Rosales, La casa de los náufragos (finish); Ana Menéndez, “In Cuba I Was a German
Shepherd”

Week 11
Miami Exiles Seen by Cuban American Second Generation Writers II: Roberto Fernández's Fierce Satire
7T Roberto Fernández, Raining Backwards (first half) (CO-OP)
9Th Roberto Fernández, Raining Backwards (second half)
SECOND TAKE HOME DUE

Week 12 & 13
Writers of pre and post-Trujillo Dominican-American US Exile and Adaption
14Th Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accent (Part 1, COOP); selection of poems
(Canvas)
16T Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accent (Part 2)
21T Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accent (Part 3)
Tour of the Julia Alvarez Papers at the Harry Ransom Center
23 Th Josefina Baez, Dominicanish (text and video in Canvas)

Week 14
Boricuas in Broadway: from West Side Story to Hamilton
28 T Song productions from musicals by Lin Manuel Miranda and other productions (West Side Story,
The Capeman, In the Heights)
30 Th Selections from Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton
TOPICS AND QUESTIONS FOR THIRD TAKE-HOME DISTRIBUTED
MAY
Week 15
Bilingual, Translingualor Spanglish poets? New Diasporican Writers
3T Selection of bilingual poetry by Urayoan Noel (text and video in Canvas)
5Th Selection of bilingual poetry by Raquel Rivera Salas (text and video in Canvas)

FINAL TAKE-HOME DUE BY EMAIL ON WEDNESDAY 11 AT 4PM

Make-up Policy. If you fail to turn in homework and essays on the dates due, you lose the full points,
regardless of reason or cause. Only serious illness or accident or a fully documented family
emergency will count as a valid excuse.
Students with Disabilities. The instructor will make himself available to discuss appropriate
academic accommodations for students with a disability. These students may be required to provide
documentation from the Office of the Dean of Students-Services for Students with Disabilities.

Religious Holidays. By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence at least
fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holiday. If you must miss a class, an
examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holiday, you will be
given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.

Emergency Situations: Familiarize yourself when you can with the following recommendations
regarding emergency evacuations from the Office of Campus Safety and Security, 512-471-5767,
http://www.utexas.edu/safety/

Academic Honesty: UT expects its students to abide to an Honors Code that forbids any mode of
plagiarism in written assignments submitted as original work. You can familiarize yourself with
these expectations by consulting this link: http://catalog.utexas.edu/archive/2012-13/general-
information/student- services/discipline/

Senate Bill 212 and Title IX Reporting Requirements. Under Senate Bill 212 (SB 212), the
professor for this course is required to report for further investigation any information concerning
incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking committed by or against
a UT student or employee. Federal law and university policy also requires reporting incidents of sex-
and gender-based discrimination and sexual misconduct (collectively known as Title IX incidents).
This means we cannot keep confidential information about any such incidents that you share with us.
If you need to talk with someone who can maintain confidentiality, please contact University Health
Services (512-471-4955 or 512-475-6877) or the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center (512-471-
3515 or 512-471-2255). We strongly urge you make use of these services for any needed support
and that you report any Title IX incidents to the Title IX Office.