US/Latin American cultural interactions

Elective Courses 

This course will explore the relationship between US and three specific Latin American cultures during the twentieth century. Each context will offer a different way in which US and Spanish-Speaking Latin American cultures interact with each other. The first case will be the Latino presence in the US through the reading of the most canonical work by a Chicano author: The House on Mango Street (1984) by Sandra Cisneros (1954--). The following context will see interactions between the Harlem Renaissance author Langston Hughes (1902-1967) and Afrocuban poet Nicolás Guillén (1902-1989). Finally, the course will delve into poetic responses to US military and political intervention in Nicaragua from one of the fathers of Latin American poetry, Rubén Darío (1867-1916) and two contemporary poets, priest and political activist Ernesto Cardenal (1925--) and feminist poet Gioconda Belli (1948--).