Latines in the US: Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
This course will explore the diversity of the Latine community in the U.S. focusing on history, immigration, assimilation, identity, and culture. We will explore these themes through readings, art, music, literature, documentaries, interviews, and interaction with the Latine community in Lexington. Students will explore the cultural diversity of the Latine experience in the U.S.; analyze the socio-political and economic mechanisms that have contributed to more recent immigrations towards the North, and examine the impact of Latine culture on American culture both through common classroom assignments, and independent research.
Required texts, below
Possible Catalog Searches
Here are some example searches on your class topic in the library catalog. To conduct your own searches, go to the library homepage.
Featured Books
Inventing Latinos by ISBN: 9781595589170Publication Date: 2020-08-25Who are Latinos and where do they fit in America's racial order? In this "timely and important examination of Latinx identity" (Ms.), Laura E. Gómez, a leading critical race scholar, argues that it is only recently that Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Dominicans, Central Americans, and others are seeing themselves (and being seen by others) under the banner of a cohesive racial identity.
Keywords for Latina/o studies by ISBN: 9781479892532Publication Date: 2017The keywords included in this text represent established and emergent terms, categories, and concepts that undergird Latina/o studies; they delineate the shifting contours of a field best thought of as an intellectual imaginary and experiential project of social and cultural identities within the U.S. academy.
Our America by ISBN: 9781907804441Publication Date: 2014Is Latino art an integral part of modern American art? Presenting over one hundred major artworks from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Our America seeks to "recalibrate" enduring concepts about American national culture by exploring how one group of artists--those of Latin American descent and heritage--express their relationship to American art, history, and culture.
The Routledge Companion to Latino/a Literature by ISBN: 9780203097199Publication Date: 2012"The Routledge Companion to Latino/a Literature" presents over forty essays by leading and emerging international scholars of Latino/a literature and analyses: Regional, cultural and sexual identities in Latino/a literature, worldviews and traditions of Latino/a cultural creation, and Latino/a literature in different international contexts.
War Echoes by ISBN: 9780813569352Publication Date: 2014-07-10War Echoes examines how Latina/o cultural production has engaged with U.S. militarism in the post-Viet Nam era. Analyzing literature alongside film, memoir, and activism, Ariana E. Vigil highlights the productive interplay among social, political, and cultural movements while exploring Latina/o responses to U.S. intervention in Central America and the Middle East.
Gather Background Information
Use broad reference materials to find out background information about your topic. This will help you narrow your future searches and will also give you keywords to find the most relevant sources. Credo can be a good place to start for that first step in research.
- Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Credo Reference provides access to a large number of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and other reference books. Subjects covered include art, biography, history, literature, music, religion, and science and technology.
Reference Books
Encyclopedia entries will give you background information on a topic as well as provide timelines, keywords, and the names of important figures related to your topic, and sometimes a good start on other sources through a bibliography.
Gale Virtual Reference Library - Search lots of encyclopedias at once. Including:
- Anti-immigration in the United States: A Historical Encyclopedia, edited by Kathleen R. Arnold, Greenwood, 2011, Gale eBooks.
- Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, edited by Jay Kinsbruner and Erick D. Langer, Charles Scribner's Sons, 2008, Gale eBooks.
- Undocumented Immigrants in the United States: An Encyclopedia of Their Experience, edited by Anna Ochoa O'Leary, Greenwood, 2014, Gale eBooks.
- Who We Are: Hispanics. New Strategist Publications, Inc, 2011, Gale eBooks.
Additional reference books
Databases
Remember to limit to scholarly articles. Depending on your topic, you may wish to use other limits such as date or publication type.
- Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals. Includes searchable PDF content going back as far as 1887. - Alt-Press Watch This link opens in a new window
Alt-PressWatch is a full text database comprised of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the alternative and independent press. Alternative newsweeklies, available in most cities, give readers alternative perspectives on politics, government, policy and culture; report on issues of government. - JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Provides articles from 1,900+ scholarly journals in the arts, humanities, and sciences and around 5,000 ebooks. Coverage dates for journals are from the very first issue of each journal (the nineteenth or early twentieth centuries for many) and continues to 2 – 5 years prior to the current year (moving wall).
Scholarly Articles
- "Andando entre dos mundos": Towards an Appalachian Latino LiteratureDowdy, Michael. “‘Andando Entre Dos Mundos’: Towards an Appalachian Latino Literature.” Appalachian Journal, vol. 39, no. 3/4, 2012, pp. 270–93. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43489017. Accessed 18 Jan. 2024.
- "Taquerias" and "Tiendas" in the Blue Ridge: Viewing the Transformation of Space in a Globalized AppalachiaMargolies, Daniel S. “‘Taquerias’ and ‘Tiendas’ in the Blue Ridge: Viewing the Transformation of Space in a Globalized Appalachia.” Appalachian Journal, vol. 39, no. 3-4, 2012, pp. 246–268.
- Cultural Citizenship and Agency in the Genre of Chica Lit and Sofia Quintero's Feminist InterventionHurt, Erin. “Cultural Citizenship and Agency in the Genre of Chica Lit and Sofia Quintero's Feminist Intervention.” Melus: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the U.S., vol. 42, no. 1, 2017, pp. 7–31.
- The Latinx Canon in Anthologies: Who Are the Authors?Tovar-Hilbert, Jessica, and Lee Mountain. “The Latinx Canon in Anthologies: Who Are the Authors?” Journal of Latinos and Education, vol. 18, no. 4, 2019, pp. 387–392.
- The Price of the Ticket: Latino Immigrants and the Challenge of Community in AppalachiaSmith, Barbara Ellen. “The Price of the Ticket: Latino Immigrants and the Challenge of Community in Appalachia.” Appalachian Journal, vol. 39, no. 3/4, 2012, pp. 234–44. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/43489013. Accessed 18 Jan. 2024.
Library PowerPoints & Activities
- Evaluation of Sources Chart(template to copy)
Primary Sources
- Kentucky Hispanic Heritage ProjectThe mission of the Kentucky Hispanic Heritage Project (KHHP) is to maintain a digital space that brings together written, visual, and audio sources that document the histories and cultures of Hispanic people and communities in Kentucky.
- Kentucky Hispanic Heritage Project > LexingtonGo directly to KHHP's Lexington resources
News & Magazines
Log into your Transy Google account in a Chrome browser for full-text access to articles.
- The New York TimesActivate your free digital pass
- Wall Street JournalActivate your free digital pass
Videos
- Biculturalism and acculturation among LatinosMartinez, Celso, et al., directors. Biculturalism and Acculturation among Latinos. Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2003.
