Mexican American Studies
Expand Your Knowledge with a Mexican American Studies Minor
About the Minor
This disciplinary minor will allow students to delve deep into the history of Mexican Americans in U.S. society. Through a suite of courses, students will study Mexico’s history, U.S.-Latin American relations since the early nineteenth century, the centrality of immigration in U.S. history, and the various political, social, and cultural factors that comprise the “Mexican-American” identity.
Courses
U.S.–Latin American Relations since 1810
Looks at U.S.–Latin American relations since the early 1800s, focusing specifically on U.S. expansion vis-a-via Latin American state formation, the history of U.S. political, military, and economic intervention into multiple countries of the Western Hemisphere, and how larger global contexts—such as the Cold War, neoliberalism, or the drug war—influenced intraregional relations.
U.S. Immigration History
Discusses how immigration is a central part of United States history that touches on the meaning of American citizenship, the power of the federal government, and the nature of border restriction through history. This course gives particular attention to Japanese, Jewish, Vietnamese, Mexican, Central American, and Cuban immigration during the twentieth century.
The History of Mexico
Analyzes the history of Mexico, from its Mesoamerican beginnings, through Spanish colonialism, to its struggles for statehood that include domestic troubles, foreign interventions, and political revolution. Particular attention will be given to the Wars of Independence (1810-1821), the War of the Reform (late 1850s), and the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920). Notable historical figures discussed in this class include Miguel Hidalgo, Benito Juarez, Emiliano Zapata, and Francisco “Pancho” Villa.
Readings in Mexican-American History
Studies the history of Mexican Americans in U.S. society, analyzing how a distinct “Mexican-American” identity formed in relation to a shifting U.S.-Mexico border, continuous streams of Mexican immigration, and economic and spatial development of the United States, particularly in the American Southwest. Additionally, this course will discuss the history of Anglo-American nativism toward Hispanic Americans, Mexican Americans’ socio-political activism in U.S. society through time, and Mexican-Americans’ place in the historical memory of the United States.
WANT MORE INFO? ▶
Directory
