The Latino-U.S. Connection
The U.S. perspective dominates the history of Inter-American relations, so we often fail to notice more than clash and conflict. Episodes of concert between the U.S. and Latin America and between the two now most populous ethnic groups, whites and Latinos, tend to pass less noted despite great benefits for both sides. The U.S. Good Neighbor policy greatly profited Latin America and the U.S. during the dark days of the Depression and World War II, but it is much less well known than our destructive half century feud with Cuba. Building on Pacific Seminar I themes of politics, law and citizenship, this course will focus on contrasting episodes of coercion and cooperation to raise questions about how an ideal society increases collaboration. Topics will include:
- The questioning of Latino patriotism and widespread ignorance of Hispanic contributions to American history and especially contemporary California society
- Why Castro, Chavez and some of our other neighbors are so anti-American
- The impact of education, work and identity on inter-ethnic conflict
- The role of Spanglish, values and other hurdles in cross cultural communications
- Comparison of Hispanophobia to discrimination against other ethnic groups in the U.S. and why many people think that recent immigration trends are so deleterious
The course will call upon students to explore these topics together and then individually in historical contexts, such as the great orphan abduction of 1904 in Arizona and the 1968 Los Angeles high school walkout, and then in more contemporary settings. Students will also have the option of participating in a project related to Latino community development.
Assignments include informal writing, current event presentations and discussions, classroom debates and other informal speaking assignments, a major research paper and oral presentation of the findings to the class. The majority of the readings will be drawn from Linda Gordon, The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction, Diego Hayes-Bautista, La Nueva California: Latinos in the Golden State, Lars Schoultz, Beneath the United States: A History of U.S. Policy toward Latin America, and the collection Latinos Remaking America, edited by Marcelo Suarez Orozco and Mariela Paez.
