43450 SOC 3133 001 SOCIOLOGY OF PLURALISM IN THE SOUTHWEST Fall 1998

TR 9:30-10:45 MS 2.03.02

Dr. Pablo Vila

Office MS 4.03.20 Telephone: 458-5639 e-mail: pvila@lonestar.utsa.edu

Off. Hrs: Tuesday and Thursday 12:15-1:15

Wednesday 11:00-12:00

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The principal minority groups in the American Southwest, with emphasis on form and
consequences of intergroup relations, social movements and related social changes. The course will
examine the experience of Mexican American, Mexican immigrants, African Americans and Anglos.
Culture and identity in Southern Texas and specially the border region will be emphasized this semester.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

On the completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Identify the major social groups and cultures that characterize the American Southwest
nowadays.
2. Understand the dynamic of cultural encounter in the Southwest.
3. Evaluate the pros and cons of the multicultural situation that characterizes the American
Southwest.

REQUIRED TEXT

. A package of articles will be available at Campus South (Student) Bookstore (14531

Roadrunner Way, San Antonio, TX 78249 - across the Student Complex at UTSA Boulevard).

. Two set of additional articles and the class lectures will be on reserve at the library.

ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADE ALLOCATION

You are expected to read the assigned articles and the lectures before class. Lectures and readings
are designed to supplement each other, but will not cover the same material.
All students are required to take a first examination on September 24, covering readings and
lectures from the first part of the course. This will count for 25% of the final course grade. There is a
second examination on October 27. This examination will cover readings and lectures from the second
part of the course and will count for 25% of the final grade. A final examination covering readings and
lectures from the last part of the course is scheduled December 7 at 10:30 am and it will count for 25% of
the final grade. Every two or three weeks the students, organized in small groups, have to write a brief
essay analyzing the particular topics we were covering. Those essays will count for 25% of the final

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grade. Also, students are encouraged to participate in class discussions, debate with the professor, bring
new information, different perspectives and the like. This participation will be counted as the only extra
credit allowed in this course. Make-up examinations are possible only for very important reasons.

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES

Lecture Topics and Assigned Readings:

1. August 25 and 27

Topic

Early studies of Mexican Americans in the Southwest: Chicano criticism.

Readings

Rosaldo, Renato.
1986 "When Natives Talk Back: Chicano Anthropology since the late sixties."
Pp. 3-20 in Renato Rosaldo Lecture Series Monograph, Vol. 2, Spring.
Edited by Ignacio M. García. Tucson, Arizona: Mexican American
Studies and Research Center, University of Arizona.

Paredes, Américo.
1977 "On Ethnographic Work Among Minority Groups: A Folklorist's
Perspective." Pp. 1-32 in New Directions in Chicano Scholarship edited
by Ricardo Romo and Raymund Paredes. Santa Barbara, California:
University of California, Santa Barbara.

2. September 1 and 3.

Topic

Americans of Mexican descent, Mexican-Americans or Chicanos?

Readings

Jones-Correa, Michael and David L. Leal.

1996 "Becoming 'Hispanic': Secondary Panethnic Identification Among Latin
American-Origin Populations in the United States," Hispanic Journal of
Behavioral Sciences 18 (2): 214-254.

Hurtado, Aída and Carlos H. Arce.

1986 "Mexicans, Chicanos, Mexican Americans, or Pochos ... ¿Qué somos?
The Impact of Nativity on Ethnic Labeling," Aztlan, Volume 17, No. 1
(1986): 103-130.

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3. September 8 and 10.

Topic

The political construction of ethnicity.

Readings

Oboler, Suzanne.
1992 The Politics of Labeling. Latino/o Cultural Identities of Self and Others.
Latin American Perspectives, Issue 75, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Fall): 18-36.

Gómez, Laura E.
1992 The Birth of the "Hispanic" Generation. Attitudes of Mexican-American
Political Elites toward the Hispanic Label. Latin American Perspectives,
Issue 75, Vol. 19, No. 4 (Fall):45-58.

4. September 15 and 17.

Topic

Mexican American Culture in the Southwest.

Readings

Paredes, Américo.
1978 "The Problem of Identity in a Changing Culture: Popular Expressions of Culture
Conflict Along the Lower Rio Grande Border." Pp. 68-94 in Views Across the
Border. The United States and Mexico edited by Stanley R. Ross. Albuquerque:
University of New Mexico Press.

1993 "The Folklore of Groups of Mexican Origin in the United States." Pp. 3-18 in
Folklore and Culture on the Texas-Mexican Border. Américo Paredes edited by
Richard Bauman. Austin: Center for Mexican American Studies, University of
Texas at Austin.

5. September 22

Topic

Mexican American Culture in the Southwest (cont.).

Readings

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 Paredes, Américo.
1994 "From 'With a Pistol in His Hand': A Border Ballad and Its Hero." PP. 404-412
in Barrios and Borderlands. Cultures of Latinos and Latinas in the United
States edited by Danis Lynn Daly Heyck. New York: Routledge.

Hidalgo, Margarita.
1995 "Language and ethnicity in the 'taboo' region: the U.S.-Mexican border."
International Journal of the Sociology of Language 114: 29-45.

Davalos, Karen Mary.

1996 "La Quinceañera: Making Gender and Ethnic Identities," Frontiers XVI (2/3):
101-127.

September 24 First Examination

6. September 29 and October 1.

Topic

Mexican-American/Chicano culture and identity: music.

Readings

Lipsitz, George.
1992 "Chicano Rock. Cruising around the historical block." in Rockin'the
Boat. Mass Music and Mass Movements, Reebee Garofalo, ed. (Boston:
South End Press), 267-279.

Lewis, George H.
1991 "Ghosts, Ragged But Beautiful: Influences of Mexican Music on
American Country-Western & Rock'n'Roll," Popular Music and Society,
Volume 15, No. 4 (Winter 1991): 85-101

Peña, Manuel.
1996 "Música Fronteriza/Border Music." Aztlán 21 (1-2): 191-225.

Valdez, Abelardo and Jeffrey A. Halley.

1996 "Gender in the Culture of Mexican American Conjunto Music," Gender
& Society 10 (2): 148-167.

7. October 6 and 8.

Topic

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 Mexican-American/Chicano culture and identity: gender.

Readings

Zavella, Patricia.
1991 "Reflections on Diversity Among Chicanas," Frontiers, Volume XII,
Number 2: 73-85.

1993 "Feminist Insider Dilemmas: Constructing Ethnic Identity with 'Chicana'

Informants," Frontiers, Volume XIII, Number 3: 53-76.

8. October 13 and 15.

Topic

Mexican immigration in the United States. Or the pre-history of Operation Blockade and
Proposition 187.

Readings

Romo, Ricardo.
1993 "Responses to Mexican Immigration, 1910-1930." Pp. 115-135 in
Beyond 1848: Readings in the Modern Chicano Historical Experience
edited by Michael R. Ornelas. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing
Company.

Hoffman, Abraham.
1993 "Closing America's Back Door." Pp. 205-217 in Beyond 1848: Readings
in the Modern Chicano Historical Experience edited by Michael R.
Ornelas. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

9. October 20 and 22.

Topic

Mexican immigration in the United States. Or the pre-history of Operation Blockade and
Proposition 187.

Readings

Griswold del Castillo, Richard.

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 1993 "Latinos and the 'New Immigrants,' Since 1975." Pp. 265-286 in Beyond
1848: Readings in the Modern Chicano Historical Experience edited by
Michael R. Ornelas. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing
Company.

Gutiérrez, David G.
1991 "Sin Fronteras?: Chicanos, Mexican Americans, and the Emergence of
the Contemporary Mexican Immigration Debate, 1968-1978." Journal of
American Ethnic History 10 (4): 5-37.

October 27 Second Examination

10. October 29.

Topic

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans/Chicanos: a problematic relationship.

Readings

de la Garza, Rodolfo O.
1981 Chicano Political Elite Perceptions of the Undocumented Worker: An
Empirical Analysis. La Jolla, California: Program in United States-
Mexican Studies. University of California, San Diego.

1991 Understanding Intra-Ethnic Attitude Variations: Mexican Origin

Population Views of Immigration. Social Science Quarterly, Vol. 72,
No. 2 (June): 379-387.

11. November 3 and 5.

Topic

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans/Chicanos: a problematic relationship (Cont.).

Readings

Chavez, Leo R.
1991 "Outside the Imagined Community: Undocumented Settlers and
Experiences of Incorporation," American Ethnologist, Volume 18,

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 Number 2 (May 1991): 257-278.

Rodríguez, Nestor and Rogelio T. Nuñez.

1986 An Exploration of Factors that Contribute to Differentiation between
Chicanos and Indocumentados. In Mexican Immigrants and Mexican
Americans: An Evolving Relation. Harley L. Browning and Rodolfo O.
de la Garza (eds.) Austin: Center for Mexican American Studies,
University of Texas Press, 138-156.

12. November 10 and 12.

Topic

Mexicans and Mexican-Americans/Chicanos: a problematic relationship (Cont.).

Readings

Miller, Lawrence W., Jerry L. Polinard, and Robert D. Wrinkle.

1985 Attitudes Toward Undocumented Workers: The Mexican American
Perspective. In The Mexican American Experience: An Interdisciplinary
Anthology. Rodolfo O. De la Garza et al. eds. Austin: University of
Texas Press, 228-240.

Vila, Pablo.
1997 "Narrative Identities: The Emplotment of the
Mexican on the U.S.-Mexico Border," The Sociological Quarterly 38
(1): 147-183.

13. November 17 and 19.

Topic

The Social Construction of Ethnicity.

Readings

Keefe, Susan E. and Amado M. Padilla.

1987 Chicano Ethnicity. Albuquerque. University of New
Mexico Press. Introduction (1-12), and Chapters 5, 6 and 7 (61-

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 97).

Menchaca, Martha.
1993 "Chicano Indianism: a historical account of racial
repression in the United States," American Ethnologist Vol. 20,
No. 3 (August), 583-603.

14. November 24.

Topic

Chicano Political Action.

Readings

Sierra, Christine M.
1993 "Chicano Political Development: Historical Considerations." Pp. 159-173 in
Beyond 1848: Readings in the Modern Chicano Historical Experience edited by
Michael R. Ornelas. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

Muñoz, Carlos Jr.

1993 "The Militant Challenge: The Chicano Generation." Pp. 239-263 in Beyond
1848: Readings in the Modern Chicano Historical Experience edited by Michael
R. Ornelas. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.

15. December 1.

Topic

Chicano Political Action (Cont.)

Readings

García, John A.
1996 "The Chicano Movement: Its Legacy for Politics and Policy." Pp. 83-107 in
Chicanas/Chicanos at the Crossroads. Social, Economic, and Political Change
edited by David R. Maciel and Isidro D. Ortiz. Tucson: The University of
Arizona Press.

Fernández, Carlos.
1994 "Interview." Pp. 204-213 in Barrios and Borderlands. Cultures of Latinos and
Latinas in the United States edited by Danis Lynn Daly Heyck. New York:
Routledge.

Martínez Torres, María Guadalupe.

1994 "Interview." Pp. 240-250 in Barrios and Borderlands. Cultures of Latinos and
Latinas in the United States edited by Danis Lynn Daly Heyck. New York:

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 Routledge.

Final Examination 12/7 10:30am-01:15pm

CLASS POLICIES

Students are required to attend class regularly. Class attendance is mandatory. Each student will
be allowed to miss 6 classes. No distinction will be made between "excused" or "unexcused" absences. If
the student is absent for a seventh class she/he will be automatically dropped from the course.

UNIVERSITY POLICY ON DISHONESTY (from Faculty Handbook, p. IV-31v)

Students are expected to be above reproach in scholastic activities. Students who violate
University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subjected to disciplinary penalties, including the
possibility of failure in the course and dismissal from the University. "Scholastic dishonesty
includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarism, collusion, the submission for credit of any
work or material that are attributable in whole or in part to another person, taking an exam for
another person, any act designed to give unfair advantage to a student or to attempt to commit
such acts." Regent's Rules and Regulations, Part One, Chapter VI, Section 3, Subsection 3.2,
Subdivision 3.22. Since scholastic dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity
of the University, policies or scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced.

Following these general guidelines, students in this course will not be allowed to leave the room during
examinations, and books, notes and any other supporting material are prohibited during examination
time.