232073 Language at the Border (S) (SoSe 2011)

In the last two decades border matters have gradually moved to the forefront of political and cultural agendas both in Mexico and the United States. The North American Free Trade Agreement, the militarization of the border, political resistance to a migration bill, drug traffic, and pervasive violence both north and south define political debate as well as everyday culture in the borderlands. These borderlands constitute a unique cultural contact zone, a laboratory of postmodernism, as Canclini has put it, which stretches far north and south of the political borderline. Mass migration, cultural uprooting, multilingualism, and border racism create a cultural location which has been the site of struggle over the ways cultural identities – nationality, ethnicity, gender, class – define one’s place and say in society. This highly dynamic context has given rise to a vast production of literature, film, and cultural criticism. As part of an inter-American approach to cultural studies, this seminar gives an overview of representative works from the 1960s to today, contrasting views from North and South as well as from the culture industries and alternative sites of cultural production. We will treat texts, plays and performances by Luis Valdés (Actos, 1965/1990), Oscar Zeta Brown (Revolt of the Cockroach People, 1973), Gloria Anzaldúa (La Frontera/ Borderland, 1987), Carlos Fuentes (La frontera de cristal/The Crystal Frontier (1995)) and Guillermo Gómez Peña (New World (B)order, 1996). Films to be treated are El norte (1983, dir.: Gregory Nava), Zoot Suit (1981, dir.: Luis Valdez), My McQueen (2004, dir.: Lourdes Portillo), Traffic (2000, dir.: Steven Soderbergh), and Babel (2006, dir.: Alejandro González Iñárritu) as well as exemplary scenes from further movies.

This seminar is conceived as complementary to the seminar “Literature and Film in the Borderlands” by Sebastian Thies. In “Language at the Border” we will look specifically at Chicano English and at linguistic contact phenomena such as borrowing, code-switching, hybridity, the identitarian role of language, and the discursive construction of identity. As the syllabuses complement each other, students are advised to enroll in both seminars. It is, however, not obligatory to do so. Please be aware, though, that at least three sessions will be held from 12 to 4.

Requirements for participation, required level

Some knowledge of Spanish is desirable.

Bibliography

Will be provided.