Latina/o and Latin American Spiritualities
Spring 2016
[1]
Dr. Brenda Sendejo ANT 35-254-01
FST04-334-01
Office: Mood-Bridwell 311 ENV 49-254-01/ LAS 06-764-01
Office Hours: M 11-12 & Wed. 10-12 RES 37-354-01
Meets: MW 1:30-2:45 in Olin 209 PAI 03-484-AMERICAS
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course is an introduction to the study of religious and spiritual experiences of U.S. Latinas and Latinos. Following a general introduction to Latina/o religion and spirituality, we will turn our focus towards Latinas/os of Mexican-origin, who make up the largest group of Latinos in the U.S. and whose identities, histories, and culture are intertwined with that of their Indigenous, European, and African descendants. The readings for this course will emphasize an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Latina and Latino identities and cultural practices that intersect with spirituality and religion. We will situate our study within cultural anthropology broadly, drawing from the sub fields of U.S.-Mexico Borderlands Anthropology and the Anthropology of Religion. We will also address themes and readings in feminist studies, environmental studies, religious studies, race and ethnicity studies, Latin American Studies, and other disciplines as we examine religious and spiritual practices and beliefs and their intersections with various aspects of the social and material world. This course addresses religion in Latin America from a historical perspective, and delves into some experiences of Latin American populations. In examining the Latin America we also examine Mexican and Mesoamerican origins of U.S. Latina/o religious and spiritual expressions and the historical and social conditions of their making, unmaking, and remaking.
We will also study how religion and spirituality intersect with social justice pursuits that confront gender, racial, ethnic, class, and environmental inequalities. These include Mexica-Aztec spiritual recuperations such as danza Azteca, curanderismo (spiritual folk healing), women’s healing ceremonies, and environmental justice efforts to eliminate environmental hazards affecting the health and economic situations of working-class and people of color communities within the context of spiritual activism. We will examine Latina activism within the context of Catholic and Protestant social justice efforts and also explore feminist re-interpretations and critiques of Catholicism within and outside organized religion, as in and (re)articulations of Our Lady of Guadalupe as the Aztec earth goddess, Tonantzin. We will examine how religious ideologies and identities make their way across borders, as with Mexican immigration, and explore their various social impacts. We will discuss these and other topics from a holistic perspective, exploring the various facets of life—socioeconomics, politics, education, etc.— that inform and inspire religious and spiritual practices. Through class discussions, presentations, and film students will come to a deeper understanding of the diversity of religious and spiritual experiences and hence the diversity within the social and political lives of Latinas and Latinos in various geographic, political, imagined, and spiritual borderlands.
COURSE READINGS
Required Book (Available through the campus bookstore or through online booksellers. I will also put it on reserve at the SU library. Please be sure to get the edition noted.)
o Anzaldúa, Gloria. 2009. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, 3nd ed. Aunt Lute Press.
Other readings as assigned:
Additional readings will be assigned and I ask that you print them out before you come to class, rather than reading them on your laptops. They will be posted on Moodle, the library’s electronic reserves, or I will provide you with the name of the article and ask you to locate it on one of the library’s online academic databases.
COURSE OBJECTIVES/STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of this course, students should be able to:
§ demonstrate knowledge of some of the founding concepts, methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and debates in anthropology, feminist scholarship, oral history, and other disciplines that engage in the academic study of religion and spirituality;
§ draw upon multiple disciplinary perspectives and effectively communicate how Latina/o communities have used spirituality within the context of the natural environment and with respect to issues related to environmental and other social inequalities;
§ develop critical analytical skills and apply them to understanding how culture, as process and systems of meaning, constructs our everyday life within the context of Latina/o religion and spirituality;
§ exhibit an understanding of the cultural diversity of Latina/o religious and spiritual practices and beliefs and articulate how religious and spiritual practices and beliefs interact with gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, nation and other categories of difference;
§ draw connections between their lived experiences and across cultural differences with groups in other parts of the world and in their own communities;
§ analyze how power functions to create various systems of hierarchy and oppression on both local and global scales with respect to religious and spiritual practices;
§ and demonstrate proficiency in ethnographic writing skills and research and writing that engages with feminist scholarship.
Class culture and community
We will work together to cultivate a cooperative learning environment and community in our class. Participation also involves students’ contribution to creating this kind of class community and showing respect for one another’s individual perspectives during discussion. This is particularly necessary in a course that examines religion, as people can hold very close their beliefs on religion and it is vital that we all keep an open mind about the religious/spiritual beliefs – or lack there of – that we study and those of each member of our class community. Please turn off all electronic devices—phones, laptops, etc.—upon entering the classroom and be a fully present and contributing member of our learning community.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Ø Attendance, Preparation, and Participation (5%)
Ø Discussion Points Journal (10%)
Ø Response Papers-3 (15%)
Ø In-Class Assignments and Activities (15%)
Ø Class History Project (25%)
Ø Final Project (30%)
ATTENDANCE, DISCUSSION PREPARATION, AND PARTICIPATION (15%)
Class discussion and participation are an integral part of this course. Your participation in discussion is required. This portion of the grade corresponds to:
· Regular attendance.
o Attendance is mandatory and I will take roll. If you will miss class in order to observe a religious holiday, or must miss for a school sponsored event, or for other legitimate reasons, I ask that you notify me at least one week ahead of time. *In all cases students are responsible for obtaining class notes, announcements, handouts, and any other information they miss, as well as for completing all the readings. Except in the case of the above-mentioned exemptions, 2 full points will be deducted from your final course grade for every absence after two absences. I reserve the right to drop students from the class after four absences.
· Preparing for class by attending class, reading assignments, and actively participating in class discussions and activities (5%).
o Both discussion and activities are opportunities for students to think through arguments put forth in readings, new ideas presented in class, and to reflect on the long-held assumptions we bring to class with us. They are also opportunities to examine how our various positionalities inform our thinking about the world around us.
o Reading for this class: please bring your readings to class everyday, as we will use them in discussion and other in-class activities. In order to come prepared for class and help facilitate your learning experience, I suggest you take a proactive approach to your reading. Here are some tips on doing so:
§ Identify the main argument of the reading. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why not?
§ Make notes of aspects of the readings that you find interesting or that build upon, question, or align with your previous knowledge or experiences relevant to the subject.
§ Identify quotations that you find interesting, or passages that resonated with you.
§ Consider the connections you see between readings and how concepts and topics covered throughout the semester interrelate.
· Daily Discussion Points in Class Journal (10%) Our class discussion will be guided by student “Daily Discussion Points.” Please write down these points in a notebook or blue books designated for this purpose and use the same one for all of these assignments. Discussion points should be critical engagements with each of the readings for that day and you should cite the author and page number. If we have 3 readings for that day, write 3 discussion points. I will collect journals twice to grade: the week before Spring Break and the last week of the semester.
o Discussion points should included the following and you should come to every class prepared with:
1. a selected quotation/passage from each of that day’s readings that resonates with you;
2. an identified link between another course or a current event and a concept, idea, or quote from each reading;
3. and a discussion question per reading.
o You may opt out of 2 days worth of writing discussion points this semester and you can choose which days those are. Every additional day you do not write discussion points your discussion point grade will be reduced by 10%. (For example, you will receive a 100 if you complete all but two days of discussion points throughout the semester and follow all the requirements listed above. If you complete all but three days of discussion points and made an 88, then your grade will drop to a 79.)
o I will not accept late discussion points, as in at the end of the semester if a student realizes they did not complete enough.
*Reading in this way and completing daily discussion points can guide your participation in class discussion. If you come to class prepared in such a way, you will digest the information more fully and be able to contribute to class discussion.
ASSIGNMENTS
Students must attend class and be active and informed participants in order to get credit for in-class assignments such as group work. Each student is responsible for contributing to group work and making the most of that time with regards to the assignment. For the out of class assignments, students must be in class the day the project is assigned and the day it is due to obtain any credit. Out of class assignments must be turned in at the beginning of the day they are due or students will have points deducted. All out of class assignments must be typed, well written, and proof read. More details on all of the assignments below will be provided in class.
1. Response Papers (15%)
You are responsible for writing 3 response papers of 3-4 pages over the course of the semester. Two paper topics are set and the other topic can be chosen from papers noted as “optional” on the syllabus. The first paper is on readings by Gloria Anzaldúa and anthropological approaches to the study of religion and spirituality and the second paper on research methods. The third paper can be chosen from any of those topics noted as “optional” on the syllabus.
Response papers are not just reports but an opportunity for you to critically reflect on, react to, and engage with concepts/topics we covered in class the two weeks prior. I will provide a prompt for each individual paper on Moodle two weeks prior to each paper’s due date.
INFORMATION ON RESPONSE PAPERS & RUBRIC:
· Paper prompts will be posted on Moodle and papers are due via email and as hard copies in class on the due date noted on the syllabus.
· In addition to fully and completely answering the prompt (7 pts), you are asked to discuss whether the readings are you asked to discuss were challenging, interesting, old to you, new to you, and should explain how and why it made you think differently about religion/spirituality and the Latina/o or Latin American experience (5 pts).
· You will be graded on your ability to offer thoughtful and engaging answers to the prompt that are clear and which offer sufficient engagement with the texts. This is the bulk of your grade so please be sure you attend to this (75 pts—see the individual prompts for a breakdown of this point allocation).
· Mechanics: Papers should be a minimum of three pages and no longer than four pages in length, double-spaced with reasonable margins (5 pts), well written, cite the number of course readings indicated on the prompt, and include a complete and correctly structured bibliography (8 pts). (Use the citation guide you use in your major or Chicago Style).
· Response papers also act as a tool for initiating class discussion. On the days response papers are due I will ask students to discuss an aspect of their papers in class, so please come prepared to do so.
· Sample response papers will be posted on Moodle.
2. In-class Activities and Assignments (15%)
This includes various activities throughout the semester for completion grades. Students earn a 100%, 50%, or 0. You must be in attendance on days these are assigned to receive credit for them. These may include reflections written on a topic of Dr. Sendejo’s choice in class, conducting a practice oral history interview with a classmate, participating in group work assignments and presenting them to the class, developing discussion questions based on films we watch in class, and other activities.
3. Class History Project (25%)
This course will include a component whereby students contribute to Southwestern’s Latina History Project by way of conducting oral histories and archival materials on Central Texas/Tejana history housed at Southwestern. It involves students proposing More details about this assignment to follow.
4. Comparative Final Project (assignments totaling 30%)
Students will write a final paper for this course that explores an area of Latina/o or Latin American spirituality or religion. The topic can be related to one covered in class, or an area of religion/spirituality that we did not address, and should include a comparative component. Students will produce a 7-8 page well-written essay that critically analyzes a topic pre-approved by Dr. Sendejo. You will need to locate a spiritual or religious tradition/belief/expression located in a different cultural context and draw comparisons between your topic and that other tradition. For example, if you choose to explore feminist spiritual practices among Chicanas, you would locate other kinds of feminist expressions of spirituality among another group, such as Yoruba or Buddhist spiritual practices. Students will include a rich narrative portrayal of their topic in their paper and engage theoretically with the topic. Papers should address questions around culture and power with respect to religious and spiritual traditions, the history and context of such traditions, and how groups use them to adapt to their surroundings and make sense of their social worlds. You must make clear a connection between your topic and the discipline/program under which you registered for the course (ANT/ENV/RES/LABS/PAI). A detailed handout on the final project will be provided. Components of this assignment include the following: