SPAN 308: History and Culture of Aztlan
Course Description:
Covers the story of indigenous peoples of the southwestern United States: Aztlan, the Spanish colonial period, the Mexican period, and the acquisition and settlement by the United States. Seeks the exposition of indigenous and Hispanic historical and cultural foundations of the region and the confluence with other Asian and European influences. Taught in English with Spanish readings for Spanish majors.
Narrative:
SPAN 308 fulfills MLO 3 of World language and Cultures. For the class we used the book called Mexicanos by Manuel Gonzales. This served as our textbook of sorts in which we learned about the history of modern day Mexican-Americans. The class was split up into seminars in which we would do things like make timelines out of the dates in the book to chronicle the events of the chapter, write reflections of the chapters, participate in the online forum and do mini research projects on prominent or important figures from the chapters.
Through reading the book, doing the assignments, and doing research projects, I've learned so much about the rich history of Mexican Americans in the United States. We spend most of our K-12 learning about history, but the strong majority of what we've learned was about Anglo American history. There were times where we learned about Native, Japanese, or Mexican Americans, but usually it was no more than a few paragraphs to a couple of pages. In the World Languages and Cultures building, there is TV that has a bunch of stuff going on on it. There is a quote that often shows up saying that to learn a different language is to gain a second soul. I feel that this relates to learning about a new culture. Learning about a new culture really puts into perspective how unique each culture is. Through this class, we got to see how it all began for Mexican-Americans. Modern day Mexican-Americans came from a history filled with hardships. With the control of Mexico by Spain, many of the indigenous population was killed by disease and then many of the remaining population ethnically mixed with the Spanish. This was the roots of Mexican-Americans. From then, after a series of wars, political turmoil and the "Acquisition" of land by the United States, Mexico was left in a fragile state. With the eventual exodus to the US and the exploitation of Mexicanos, the Mexican-American is born. After years of exploitation, the Mexican-American population rose up and fought for their rights. Overall, The Mexican-American identity, in my opinion is the product of a rough history in which the people rose to the occasion and made a name for themselves as a proud, strong people.
Covers the story of indigenous peoples of the southwestern United States: Aztlan, the Spanish colonial period, the Mexican period, and the acquisition and settlement by the United States. Seeks the exposition of indigenous and Hispanic historical and cultural foundations of the region and the confluence with other Asian and European influences. Taught in English with Spanish readings for Spanish majors.
Narrative:
SPAN 308 fulfills MLO 3 of World language and Cultures. For the class we used the book called Mexicanos by Manuel Gonzales. This served as our textbook of sorts in which we learned about the history of modern day Mexican-Americans. The class was split up into seminars in which we would do things like make timelines out of the dates in the book to chronicle the events of the chapter, write reflections of the chapters, participate in the online forum and do mini research projects on prominent or important figures from the chapters.
Through reading the book, doing the assignments, and doing research projects, I've learned so much about the rich history of Mexican Americans in the United States. We spend most of our K-12 learning about history, but the strong majority of what we've learned was about Anglo American history. There were times where we learned about Native, Japanese, or Mexican Americans, but usually it was no more than a few paragraphs to a couple of pages. In the World Languages and Cultures building, there is TV that has a bunch of stuff going on on it. There is a quote that often shows up saying that to learn a different language is to gain a second soul. I feel that this relates to learning about a new culture. Learning about a new culture really puts into perspective how unique each culture is. Through this class, we got to see how it all began for Mexican-Americans. Modern day Mexican-Americans came from a history filled with hardships. With the control of Mexico by Spain, many of the indigenous population was killed by disease and then many of the remaining population ethnically mixed with the Spanish. This was the roots of Mexican-Americans. From then, after a series of wars, political turmoil and the "Acquisition" of land by the United States, Mexico was left in a fragile state. With the eventual exodus to the US and the exploitation of Mexicanos, the Mexican-American is born. After years of exploitation, the Mexican-American population rose up and fought for their rights. Overall, The Mexican-American identity, in my opinion is the product of a rough history in which the people rose to the occasion and made a name for themselves as a proud, strong people.
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