How El Norte Became the Southwest

In this course we will study the political and cultural transformation of Northern Mexican/ Southwestern borderlands. Themes and issues will include: Mexican conceptions of frontier, constructions of identity by Tejanos, Californios, and Hispanos, the history of the Mexican American War, demographic transformation, and the role of dispossession and Americanization in cultural change. We will focus on close readings of texts such as: Maria Ruiz de Burton's The Squatter and the Don, The Life and Times of Juaquin Murrieta, Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop, Helen Hunt Jackson's Ramona, and the screenplay of the movie Lone Star. (Formerly INTL/AMST 0477). 3 hrs. lect/disc.