WEEK 06: Synthesis Essays

We’ve reached the point in our class where we now take “collective pause” and engage the literature in a more focused, analytical, and provocative way. Next week (Monday, February 27th) you will each turn in your first Synthesis Essay.

The “assignment sheet” for this essay can be downloaded here or by visiting the Assignments page. As we discussed in class, this is a chance for you to use the readings, your previous CE essays, and our class discussions to craft an organized paper on some topic, theme, theory, or other analytical purpose we’ve addressed in some way thus far. There is no prompt, but you should be mindful of our intended outcome and the criteria used to assess it. You should also be mindful of audience. During the week of March 5th you will work in small tutorial groups reading and discussing each others’ essays.

These essays are due NO LATER than Monday, February 27th at 1:15PM. You should email your paper to me as an attachment, in accordance with the directions on the assignment sheet.

IN CLASS we will watch a film, have a discussion, and have some snacks. We will also discuss our tutorial format for the following week, both what is expected of us and with whom we will work.

Have a great week! If you have any questions related to the assignment, feel free to ask them as a “Comment” to this post.

WEEK 05

This week will be a change of pace for us. Rather than read the next half of the book by Ruiz, or begin a new one, we’ll take a pause and read a series of shorter pieces by an array of historians studying Puerto Rican women. The goal here is twofold: 1) to go deeper into some of the themes presented to us by Vicki Ruiz in the first half of her book From Out of the Shadows (in particular to look at migration and labor with greater complexity); and 2) to broaden our discussion of Latinas by including some focused study on the lives and historical experiences of Puerto Rican women, or puertoriqueñas.

There are four individual readings for this week. Each is a chapter from a larger collection on the above themes and topics. They can be accessed and downloaded from our password-protected page, under the heading “Digital Readings for Monday, February 20th.”

When writing your Critical Evaluation Essay don’t feel the pressure to talk about her piece equally. The more important goal is to frame some kind of analysis and “take away” from having done the reading, which may entail discussion one, two, or three of them as you require to make your analytical points.

See you Monday!

WEEK 04

This week we read the introduction and chapters 1-4 of the book From Out of the Shadows: Mexican Women in Twentieth-Century America. Written by Vicki Ruiz–one of the foundational figures in Chicana history–this books is a sweeping historical chronicle with as many compelling stories as it has theoretical tools.

As usual, you are expected to write and print out your Critical Evaluation Essay, unless you are one of our two class leaders.

See you in class…

WEEK 03

Thanks to each of you for your effort and participation in our first regular, weekly seminar! It was a good beginning to a semester of sharing and building understanding.

Next week we finish “This Land Was Mexican Once” by Linda Heidenreich, reading from chapter 4 through the conclusion. To provide another perspective for our discussions we will also read the article “Engendering the History of Alta California” by Antonia Castañeda, one of the foundational names in the field of Chicana history. That piece is provided to you in our password-protected digital readings page above.

Our discussion session will be guided by one of our classmates, the first student leadership go around. Prepare in the same way you should each week, by doing the reading and composing a thoughtful Critical Evaluation Essay.

Have a great week!

WEEK 02

Next Monday we will have our first “normal” class as we engage some course readings, prepare a thoughtful Critical Evaluation Essay, and then have a full seminar discussion.

For our first full seminar, I will act as the discussion leader. Beginning in Week 03, one or more of you will. In the next few days I will make the schedule of discussion leaders for the semester and the email you the results.

This week we begin our colectiva’s inquiry by reading pages 1-92 in the book “This Land Was Mexican Once”: Histories of Resistance From Northern California, by Linda Heidenreich. You also have a digital reading assignment, chapters 1 and 2 from the book Negotiating Conquest: Gender and Power in California, 1770s to 1880s, by Miroslava Chávez-García. This second reading can be downloaded from the password-protected page above.

It was great getting to meet you all last Monday, and also watch our discussion group begin to take shape! We’ll see you next time.

WEEK 00: WELCOME

This website is for the Spring 2012 History and Chicana/o~Latina/o Studies course CHICANA/LATINA FEMINIST HISTORIES. The class is taught by Tomás F. Summers Sandoval Jr., an Assistant Professor at Pomona College.

You can use this website to access valuable information regarding our class. Using the tabs above, you will find the course description, explanations of our course outcomes, details regarding our course assignments, and information on the grading policies. You will also find a list of the books nd other readings we will be discussing, with links to buy them online.

If you are a registered member of the class, you will want to make regular visits to the website during the semester. Regular updates will be posted every Wednesday, but occasionally new information will be added at other times as well. To stay in the loop, feel free to use a feed reader to subscribe to the RSS feed for the class.

If you are not a “formal” part of our class, you are still welcome to browse. While we are not an “online course,” per se, and instead rely heavily on weekly discussions and activities, our strong online component might help you follow along on your own.

Welcome to our class!