COURSE DESCRIPTION
This discussion-intensive, interdisciplinary course will explore cultural representations of the U.S.-Mexico border region specifically in literature, film, painting, poetry, music, and performance arts. In the course students will examine the socio-historical process through which border images have been constructed and shaped over time. Through an analysis of relevant artistic works in a diversity of expressions, students will engage in the study of historical themes and cultural tensions arising between the U.S. and Mexico border.
US/Mexico Border Culture will examine the ways in which artists have depicted the experience of crossing, settling, or living in the border regions between the U.S and Mexico. We will investigate the historical dimension of the border although the emphasis will be on cultural production from the 1950’s to the present. We will search for answers to the following questions: How and why have representations of the border changed overtime. How do political, social, and economic events influence artistic representations? How do national identities are shaped in border contexts? What are some alternative cultural discourses have emerged produced by contemporary border artists?
- Teacher: Luis Pena