Sumários
Lone Star (dir. John Sayles, 1996) and contemporary Border Politics.
18 Fevereiro 2019, 08:00 • Margarida Vale de Gato
Finished Lone Star. Building on our discussion of Anzaldúa and the depiction of border politics in Lone Star, we began a discussion on contemporary border politics in theTrump administration, with a focus on the idea of a wall.
Writing Workshop.
13 Fevereiro 2019, 08:00 • Margarida Vale de Gato
Today was a writing workshop. I went over common errors and problems in English-language essay writing. Students were asked to bring their own questions and concerns with writing in English.
Gloria Anzaldúa
11 Fevereiro 2019, 08:00 • Margarida Vale de Gato
Compared excerpts of Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera with the StephenCrane short story, “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky.” Class concentrated on Anzaldúa as students were not able to discuss the Crane story very much. Instead, discussed Anzaldua’s influential argument, and students discussed the following key terms from her book: “mestiza,” “borderlands,” and “consciousness.” Where are the “borderlands”? As a psychic and a physical place? Where does one end and the other begin? What separates north from south? What do borders mean?”
Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.-Mexico Border (by Rachel St. John)
6 Fevereiro 2019, 08:00 • Margarida Vale de Gato
We discussed Rachel St. John’s history, Line in the Sand: A History of the Western U.S.-Mexico Border. Class discussion focused on the question, what is a border intended todo? Answers included: To establish sovereignty—i.e., to assert that the nation-state controls its own territory; to establish citizens, to police non-citizens; For customs purposes. These are a mix of abstract and material things, experienced at different levels and at varying levels of abstraction. The US-Mexico border is a mixture of material reality and metaphor.
US-Mexico Border and Manifest Destiny
4 Fevereiro 2019, 08:00 • Margarida Vale de Gato
We begin a set of classes focused on the US-Mexico border and its history. The readings were a combination of historical/political analysis (Greg Grand in, “American ExtremismHas Always Flowed from the Border,” Bostonreview.net) and poetry: Jimmy SantiagoBaca, “Invasions,” Lorna Dee Cervantes, “Freeway 280,” Walt Whitman, “Facing West from California’s Shores.” Discussion focuses on the significance of expansion and manifest destiny—and thus the border—in the evolving identity of the United States. Wealso discuss challenges to dominant ideas of a hard border between U.S. and Mexican culture in the poetry.