Mexican American Studies, Minor
Program Description
Mexican American Studies (also known as Chicano Studies) is a multi-disciplinary concentration that exposes students to a wide range of topics relevant to the Mexican-American experience. This course of study offers students valuable insights and skills to complement most majors including Nursing, Business, Education, Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities.
Minor
The Mexican American Studies Minor requires a minimum of 18 hours of designated coursework. Students who select this minor must consult with and have approval of the Mexican American Studies Coordinator or the Academic Advisor to establish a degree plan. This should be done prior to completing 6 semester hours of coursework listed for the program.
Student Learning Outcomes
1. Students have developed knowledge of major historical, political, literary, and artistic themes, topics, or concepts in Mexican American Studies. This includes demonstrating their awareness of Mexican American identities, language, civilization, and culture in the United States.
2. Students have been introduced to and worked with varieties of Spanish, English, and Indigenous languages that infuse the literature, art, politics, mythologies, and cultural values in the Mexican American tradition. This includes demonstrating awareness of the variety, complexity, and importance of multiple linguistic traditions and histories in shaping Mexican American identities, helping foster cultural insights and increase intercultural understanding.
Program Requirements:
To obtain a minor in Mexican American Studies, the student must complete the 18 semester hours required for the minor, 12 hours of which must be upper division courses. All courses are taught in English except for SPAN.
Code | Title | Hours |
---|---|---|
Required Courses | ||
Introduction | ||
MXAS 1305 | Introduction to Mexican American Studies | 3 |
Cultural/Historical | ||
Select two of the following: | 6 | |
Pre-Columbian Art of Mesoamerica | ||
Modern Art of Mexico | ||
Mexican American History | ||
Mexican American Women's History | ||
Mexican American Folklore | ||
Linguistic/Literary | ||
Select two of the following: | 6 | |
Mexican American Literature | ||
Spotlight on Chicana Playwrights | ||
Spanish for Heritage Speakers | ||
Language and Culture for Heritage Learners | ||
Spanish III | ||
Continuing Spanish | ||
Spanish Composition | ||
Spanish Conversation | ||
Mexican Narrative | ||
Spanish in the Americas | ||
Political/Social Science | ||
POLS 2311 | Mexican American and Latinx Politics | 3 |
or SOCI 3321 | Mexican American Women | |
Total Hours | 18 |
Note:
Students may elect to count six hours from either their major towards the minor in Mexican American Studies or students may elect to count up to six hours from the college foreign language requirement (SPAN 2311 Spanish III (3 sch)and SPAN 2312 Continuing Spanish (3 sch)).
Topics (4390) courses can be taken in any participating discipline as electives when the topics are appropriate and approved by the program coordinator.
Courses
History Courses
A survey of the political, social, economic, military, cultural and intellectual history of the United States from 1492 to 1865.
A survey of the political, social, economic, military, cultural and intellectual history of the United States from 1865 to the present.
Spanish colonial period, Mexican statehood, independence, the development of the Republic, annexation and growth as a state.
Survey of the cultures and civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean world and the political, social, economic, military, cultural, and intellectual influences shaping the emergence and development of Europe to 1500.
A survey of the political, social, economic, military, cultural, and intellectual development of Europe from 1500 to the present.
This course offers a survey of the history of the world from the emergence of human cultures through the 15th century. The course examines major cultural regions of the world with a focus on their development and their cross-regional interactions.
examines major global issues over the past 500 years. Topics may include European expansion and colonialism, the integration of the Americans into world economic systems, changes in science and technology, decolonization, and modern environmental problems. This course will help students understand historical events within a global framework.
Surveys the key beliefs, practices, rituals, figures, and historical developments of the world's major religious traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and New Age religions. Gives particular attention to their encounter with modernity and their complicated place in today's global, diverse, post-modern world.
An overview of Latin American history from pre-Columbian times until Independence.
A study of the major political, economic and cultural processes that marked the development of modern Latin America.
This course examines the ancient history of the human race. It begins with the evolution of Homo sapiens in Africa and continues through approximately the 4th century CE. Topics examined include the formation of cultures, societies, states, and empires around the world including those in Egypt, Southwest Asia, India, China, and the Mediterranean.
Explores the processes which contributes to the establishment of a new political, economic, and social order in Europe. The course includes an in-depth focus upon the causes and consequences of the French Revolution as well as an examination of the European response to Napoleon.
Covers early North American history from pre-contact through 1763, with a focus on the territory that would eventually become the United States. Examines the varieties of colonial worlds created by Europeans and native peoples, the nature and impact of European colonization, the development of slave societies, the emergence of regional economies and modern culture, the consolidation of European empires in the early and mid-18th century, and the imperial wars that finally set the stage for the coming of the American Revolution.
The evolution of European industrial society from the Congress of Vienna to the outbreak of World War I. Themes include changes in the nature of work and family life, urbanization, and the emergence and growth of liberalism, socialism, nationalism, and romanticism as competing ideologies.
Covers the history of the American Revolution from the end of the Seven Years’ War in 1763 to the ratification on the new federal constitution in 1789. Covers the political and social history of the independence movement, the Declaration of Independence, the military, social, and indigenous history of the Revolutionary War, and the making of the Constitution.
Political, social, economic and cultural developments since 1914: includes the impact of World War I, the Russian Revolution, Fascism, the origins of the Cold War, the tension between European unification and growing ethnic tensions and the dissolution of the Soviet empire.
Traces regional economic, social, and political change in the Americas from 1607 to the end of the Revolution.
This course examines American history from the end of the revolutionary war to 1850. Political, economic, and social issues including, but not limited to, the creation of the Constitution, the development of the first and second party systems, the market revolution, antebellum reform, the Old South, and westward expansion.
Background and causes of the Civil War; military, political, diplomatic, and economic developments during the War; Reconstruction and post?war adjustments.
An examination of the dramatic period when the United States definitively settled the remaining portions of the continent and decisively moved towards becoming an industrial, urban nation with world-wide economic and political influence.
Study of American life from World War I through World War II. Topics include America's rise to a world power, the social, cultural, and political effects of corporate enterprise, urbanization, and immigration, women's suffrage, the Twenties, and the New Deal.
A study of American life and development as a world power since World War II.
A general survey of the social, cultural, and political history of the American city, with particular emphasis on Corpus Christi and the ways our city illustrates these larger trends.
This course will examine Asia from 1600 to the present. Topics include politics, the nation state, colonialism, empire, war, nationalism, the Cold War and revolution, all in a historical context.
Explores how the environment has shaped society and the ways in which humans, in turn, have shaped nature throughout American history. Also focuses on environmental justice and injustices along the Gulf Coast. Public history component.
Explores the rise of dictatorships and military regimes in twentieth century Latin America. Focuses on human rights struggles and popular movements in Mexico, Central America and the Southern Cone.
In this cross-disciplinary class, students of history, sciences, the arts, and more will be introduced to the different departments of a museum and gain experience in programming, exhibits, research, public engagement, and other various aspects of museum management through their participation in a real working museum (Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History).
A Project-centered class that examines public history practices and debates, including the changing field over time, the relationship between history and memory, and the interpretive and sometimes controversial nature of historical sites and exhibits. Students will also learn methods and practices of museums, archives, oral history, digital history, and more. Includes community-engaged learning, workshops, local field trips.
A project-based course designed to teach students oral history, audio recording, and editing. Topics include oral history theory and methods, the role of testimony and memory in constructing historical narratives, interview techniques, archival practices, and the technical aspects of audio production, audio storytelling, and podcasting.
Introduces students to the most significant historiographical problems that face historians, focusing on recent and current controversies that have shaken the profession and been the subject of public and political debate. Provides examples of how historians think about and do history.
Explores ways that the myriad groups who have made up American society from the colonial period to the "information age" understood and expressed themselves and related to each other. (The chronological scope of this course may vary.)
The historical development of modern popular culture—including television, movies, fiction, newspapers, music and consumption—and its effect on the structure and experience of U.S. society and work from the nineteenth century to the present.
The development of U.S. military strategy and policy from the Colonial Wars through Vietnam.
Spanish and Mesoamerican backgrounds, conquest and mestizaje, settlement of Aztlán, interaction with Anglo-Americans, 20th century immigration, urbanization, identity, the Chicano Movement, and Mexican American organizational/political development.
Themes include transformations in the notion of womanhood and of sexual differences, changes in the structure, function, and concept of "family" and "household," and historical factors that have shaped women's role in the work force and public life.
Study of the experiences of European women from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Also addresses the role that gender has played in the development of modern European societies. Some topics covered are women and the French Revolution, gender and class in industrial Europe, feminism and suffrage, and women and fashion.
Examines the Holocaust by exploring the role of racism and anti-Semitism, the rise of Nazi policies, Jewish responses and resistance to them, deportation and genocide, the role of war, and the aftermath and memory of an event "beyond human imagination."
Survey of the major European intellectual and cultural movements from the Enlightenment to the present. Broader than a traditional course in intellectual history, special attention will be given to the emergence and development of the concepts of "modernity" and the challenges of "postmodernism."
This course surveys modern Chinese history from the late Ming dynasty to the present, with an emphasis on the late 19th and 20th centuries. Topics include empire, colonialism, nationalism, the nation state, modernization, revolution and the Cold War, all in a historical context.
This course will examine how ideas about sexuality as well as sexual practices and identities have evolved over time and in different places; how the categories of homosexuality and heterosexuality were created and how they have been perceived. The course will focus on the 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and the United States, and address the themes of gender, body, race, class, image, representation, and the law.
Explores the transnational relations of Asia and the Pacific with the West from the 19th century to the present day. Themes include colonialism and imperialism, diaspora and migration, labor and economy, war and displacement. Topics include the Opium Wars, Immigration and Exclusion, Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima, Military War Brides, Third World Radicalism, Transnational Adoption Complex, and Environmentalism and Globalization.
Examines how the relations between history, memory, and contemporary politics in post-WWII U.S. and Asia-Pacific have shaped the meaning of various contentious issues related to the Pacific War-such as war origins and responsibility, atrocities, racism, reparations, and nationalism-in textbooks, monuments, literature, art, films, political debates, exhibits, commemorative events, and scholarly works in different social and temporal contexts.
Examines the broad political, economic, social, and cultural trends in the lives of Mexican American women since 1848.
Traces economic, social, and political change in Mexico from independence to the present.
An examination of the experiences of Latin American youth in modern Latin America. Special emphasis on the role of young people in the revolutions and rebellions that marked the Cold War period.
The study and writing of history, with emphasis on historical analysis, research, and writing. Designed as the capstone course for history majors and prospective social science teachers. This course will feature a senior research paper, and should be taken during the student's final year of undergraduate study.
Study of significant periods, countries, regions, or themes in history. May be repeated when topics vary.
See College description.
See College description.
Best practices and methods in digital archives, museums, and /or public history through field work at a local organization or museum. Offered on application. Repeatable up to 6 hours.
Spanish Courses
This is a one-credit course in which students in Spanish 1311 or 1312 may enroll and participate. This service learning course aims to promote collaborative learning between college students learning Spanish and people in the community. Available upon application. Repeatable up to 2 hours.
Introduction to listening, speaking, reading and writing skills within a Spanish cultural framework. For students without previous knowledge of the language. (Language laboratory required. One hour per week.) *A lab fee is required for these courses.
Continued practice in listening, speaking, reading and writing skills within a Spanish cultural framework. (Language laboratory required. One hour per week.) A lab fee is required for these courses.
Study of more complex Spanish sentence structure to further listening, speaking, reading and writing skills at an intermediate level within a Spanish cultural framework.
Continued development and review of all language skills at an intermediate level within a Spanish framework with an emphasis in the linguistic and cultural perspective.
An introductory course designed for bilingual students who wish to enhance their linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing). This course will focus on the cultural and historical aspects related to the heritage Spanish speaker.
This course is designed to guide Spanish heritage language learners, as well as advanced learners of Spanish, in the development of their oral proficiency, written communication, and grammatical accuracy while exploring different cultural aspects from the Spanish-speaking world. It is highly recommended for students who have taken SPAN 2313 and/or who are transitioning into upper-division Spanish courses.
The course stresses Spanish for the professions to enhance communication skills and cultural knowledge that will help to serve the South Texas Spanish-speaking population as well as to conduct interactions with Spanish speakers and/or businesses throughout the United States and the world.
Prerequisite: SPAN 2312.
A course designed to develop analytical perspectives in literary criticism and to strengthen reading and writing skills in Spanish through intensive reading of Spanish, Spanish American, and Chicano fiction.
A course designed to strengthen the student's oral proficiency in the language through selected readings, videos and oral presentations.
This course has been designed to provide a general overview of the cultural, linguistic, and historical experience of the Spanish people within its larger European context. Conducted in Spanish unless otherwise stated. This course may be used to satisfy the university core curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy, and Culture.
This course is designed to provide a general overview of the cultural, linguistic, and historical experience of Latin American people before and after Columbus. Conducted in Spanish unless otherwise stated. This course may be used to satisfy the university core curriculum in Language, Philosophy, and Culture.
A critical approach to the study of early Spanish literature from the Middle Ages through the Eighteenth Century. Literary selections include masterpieces that establish and reflect Spain's literary tradition within its larger European context.
A continuation of a critical approach to the study of Spanish literature from the Nineteenth Century through the present. Representative works of Spanish Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, and contemporary literature are studied within their larger European context.
A critical approach to the study of early Spanish American literature from the Pre-Columbian Period through the Nineteenth Century. Selected readings in all literary genres, major themes, writers, and early literary movements will be studied within their larger Latin American context.
A continuation of a critical approach to the study of Spanish American literature from the Twentieth Century through the present. Representative works of Latin American writers and literary movements: Modernism, Realism, Avant-Garde, Regionalism, Magic-Realism are studied within their larger Latin American context.
A course designed to study the production and discrimination of the Spanish sound system with a general overview of the geographical and social distribution of phonemic and allophonic variants.
The course will serve to expand vocabulary, further develop writing skills; understand, apply, and use Spanish grammatical structures, and communicate more accurately in written and oral Spanish within a Hispanic cultural context.
This course is an introduction to the theory, methods and practice of English to Spanish and Spanish to English translation of general texts from different fields. Challenges related to culture and language, as well as professional ethics will be examined.
This course has been designed to provide a general overview of the historical, sociocultural and political experience of peoples from the Spanish-Speaking world, both from Spain and Spanish America.
This course introduces the study of language, the main subfields of Hispanic linguistics, and their application to other sciences.
A critical approach to the study of Spanish literature from the Middle Ages through the present. Representative works of Spanish literature are studied within their larger European context. It is highly recommended that students take any of the following before taking this course: SPAN 2313, 2315, 3302, 3303 have advanced proficiency or faculty permit. Conducted in Spanish, unless otherwise stated. This course may be used to satisfy the University Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy, and Culture.
A critical approach to the study of Latin American literature from the Pre-Columbian Period through the present. Selected readings in all literary genres, major themes, writers, and literary movements will be studied with a wide Latin American context. It is highly recommended that students take any of the following before taking this course: SPAN 2313, 2315, 3302, 3303, have advanced proficiency or faculty permit. Conducted in Spanish, unless otherwise stated. This course may be used to satisfy the University Core Curriculum requirement in Language, Philosophy, and Culture.
This is a one-credit course designed specifically for students who are preparing themselves to serve the community using their Spanish language skills. Students in this course will familiarize themselves with the methodology of a particular field (heritage language teaching, translation, interpreting, etc) to be able to interact and serve Spanish-speaking individuals in the community. Available upon application. Repeatable up to 3 hours.
Significance of the Civil War for Spanish, European, and world history. Effect of war on literary and cultural life of the country and the response of writers from Spain and Latin America. Conducted in Spanish.
Examination of representative novels and short stories reflecting the emergence of a post-revolutionary society in Mexico. Conducted in Spanish.
Cultural and linguistic dimensions of Spanish dialects of the Southwestern United States, with special attention to Texas Spanish and its sociolinguistic perspectives in the bilingual community at large.
An advanced course designed to provide an introduction to Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quijote.
This course explores major novels from Latin America from the 20th century to the present. It examines the different problems, discourses, voices, contexts, and geographies that define this genre in Latin America.
This course presents an introduction to methodologies, requirements, terminology, and practice of interpretation, with emphasis on simultaneous, consecutive, and sight interpretation.
A study of the Spanish that was brought to the Americas, its development, propagation and contact with native-American languages, including the sociocultural factors that have contributed to the linguistic variation in contemporary Spanish-speaking societies.
An advanced course in translation concentrating on medical, scientific and technical translation. The course is designed to extend student's knowledge of translation theory and consolidate their skills in specialized translation.
This course is designed to study the current methods in foreign languages, their application in maximizing language proficiency, and the role of the students' culture and language during the learning process.
Study of specialized topics in language or literature. These courses may also be designed to develop terminology and overall Spanish proficiency regarding specific professions: Business, Medical, Criminal Justice, Sociology, etc. May be repeated when topics vary.
See College description.
A practical work experience related to the Spanish area and related careers. It is intended to provide an opportunity for a student to gain first-hand experience in an unfamiliar field. Consequently, Applied Experience credit may not be granted for a student's regular work assignment or for previous work experience. Registration is by application. The application must include a clearly written description of the duties and responsibilities involved in the Applied Experience project, and be signed by the student, the on-site supervisor, and the faculty supervisor. Completed applications must be received in the Dean's Office by the last class day of the semester preceding intended registration. This course is graded "credit" or "no credit." No more than three semester hours of Applied Experience credit may be counted toward the baccalaureate degree. Undergraduate Applied Experience course will include no less than one hundred hours and no more than 150 hours of work experience per semester.
An advanced course in translation concentrating on business, commercial and legal texts. The course is designed to extend student's knowledge of translation theory and consolidate their skills in specialized translation.