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.