Fall 2013 Course Descriptions

CHS 1000 Intro to Chicana/o Studies
3 Credit Hours
*This course satisfies the multicultural requirement

This course introduces the range of interdisciplinary curricula which constitutes Chicana/o Studies.  It is history and social science based and also analyzes, among other themes, the Chicana/o art, literature, education and politics.  This course will trace and reflect a historical overview of Chicana/o/Mexicana/o and Indigenous experiences and perspectives from before 1942 to 2000.  This overview will present to the students a perspective of the Chicana/o experience in the United States.  This course will enhance the student’s ability to identify, analyze, recognize and comprehend Chicana/o movements and the importance of the continual subtle differences among the political systems that dominate changes which impact the Chicana/o Mexicana/o Indigenous communities.  

CHS 1020 History of Chicana/os in the Southwest, 1810 to the Present
3 Credit Hours
Crosslisted with HIS 1920
*This course satisfies the multicultural requirement

This course concentrates on the era from Mexican Independence (1810-1821) through modern Chicano society.  This historical survey provides an overview of the Mexican population that was born or living in the southwestern United States.  Students will study complex racial, class, gender, regional, generational identity issues affecting the intra-ethnic relations among Chicanos and the inter-ethnic relations with other groups in America’s multicultural environment.  This course also provides specific attention to Chicano history in Colorado.  

CHS 2010 Survey of Chicana/o Literature
3 Credit Hours 
Crosslisted with ENG 2410

This course reviews major literary genres associated with Chicana/o and Latina/o creative expression from the 1800s to the present including poetry, drama, and the novel.  All texts for the class are “English-dominant.” Please note, however, many of the selections contain Spanish words, idiomatic expressions and phrases.

CHS 2020 Chicana/o Poetry and Drama
3 Credit Hours
Prerequisite: CHS 2010 or permission from Instructor 

This course is an intensive study of Chicano poetic and dramatic arts as it attempts to move into a post-millennium voice that combines traditional form and message with the instantly evolving culture and messaging of present day Latinos.  The course will also equip the student with a basic approach to poetry and drama as a craft through production and agent for cultural identity and affirmation through production and expression.  

CHS 2100 Women of Color
3 Credit Hours
Crosslisted with AAS 2100 and WMS 2100

Though U.S. women share much in common, their differences are salient to a thorough understanding of all women’s experiences.  Comparative analysis of these differences and their significance according to race, class, and ethnicity are central to this course.  The similarities among diverse groups of women will also be examined in order to better understand the complexity of women’s lives.  Topics covered in this course include work, family, sexuality and reproduction, religion, and politics.  

CHS 250A Borderland Studies Food and Culture: Tacos, Tamales, and Tortillas
3 Credit hours

This course will cover and analyze Chicana/o food ways along the borderlands. It will look at the historical, social, and cultural contexts of the people’s food. Many different cultures have added ingredients to the pot that is Mexican food and Mexican and ingredients have also become core elements in other cuisines. Food knows no borders and while it is well known how much European ingredients have influenced the Americas, it is hardly mentioned how much the Americas influenced the world cuisine. The kitchen as space, cooks as writers, kitchen as knowledge are also themes that will be analyzed in the course. We will use cookbooks, historical analysis of Mexican and Mexican-American food, articles, a novel, memoir, and children's story will be used.

CHS 2600 Latina/o & Chicana/o Religious Cultures
3 Credit Hours

In this course, we will engage aspects of Chicana/o & Latina/o religious experiences, practices, and expressions in the United States of America. While the course is grounded Chicana/o religious  experience, there will also be discussion of other Latina/o communities with emphasis on comparative aspects of the groups. Some attention will be given to historical contexts in Iberia and Latin America, as well as questions of how one studies Latina/o religions, but most of the course will examine moments where religious expressions intersect with politics, popular culture, and daily life in the U.S.A. Given the plurality of Chicana/o/Latina/o communities and religious lives in the U.S.A., we will engage certain selected religious traditions and practices by focusing on particular moments of religious expression as elucidated in specific historiographies, ethnographies, art, literature, and film. Rooting ourselves in the social, political, cultural, and historical contexts in which particular Latina/o religious formations developed, this course also examines issues of social and institutional power relations that influence particular religious formations. 

CHS 3100 Social Justice and Activism in The Chicana/o Community
3 Credit Hours
Crosslisted with SWK 3110, HON 3101

This course is designed to provide in-depth sociological, historical and political analysis of community based organizations.  Topics include the process by which these organizations originated, their leadership styles and information relative to their missions and functions within the Chicana/o community.   

CHS 3200 Chicana/os and the Law
3 Credit hours
Crosslisted with CJC 3720

This course will focus on the Chicana/o culture and the legal system in the United States.  The interaction between the Chicano and the legal system will be examined within the context of political history and police/community relations.  Culture and various views of individuals, who identify as Chicano/Hispanic/Latino, ect., will be explored and discussed.  The impact of the legal and criminal justice system upon the Chicano as an individual and as a group with by examined.  

CHS 3300 Education of Chicana/o Children
3 Credit Hours
Crosslisted with EDU 3120

This course develops the understanding of Chicana/o perspective and the schooling needs of the Chicana/o child.  Students analyze public educational policy and legal and historical controversies related to bilingual/bicultural education and their impact on schooling.  Students develop skills of culturally sensitive teaching, cross-cultural communication, and strategies for establishing strong home-school connections with families of Chicana/o children. 

CHS 3400 The Chicana/o Novel
3 Credit Hours
Crosslisted with ENG 3480 

This course examines the origins, themes and techniques that characterize long fiction by Chicana/o and Latina/o writers.  Taking a historical approach, this course will explore how form and content reflect political, social and historical contexts.  The politics surrounding the border, family and identity will inform our close readings of texts.  All texts for this class are “English-dominant”, however many of the novels contain Spanish words, idiomatic expressions and phrases.  

CHS 3460 Chicana Feminism
3 Credit Hours

This course will provide students with a general background on Chicana feminist thought. Chicana feminism has carved out a discursive space for Chicanas and other women of color, a space where they can articulate their experiences at the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality, among other considerations. In the process, Chicana feminists have critically challenged Chicano nationalist discourse as well as European and North American feminism. Through this class, we will address the diversity in thinking and methodology that defines these discourses thus acknowledging the existence of a variety of feminisms that occur within Chicana intellectual thought. We will also explore the diversity of realms where this feminist thinking is applied: labor, education, cultural production (literature, art, performance, etc.), sexuality, spirituality, among others.

CHS 4850 Research Experience in Chicana/o Studies
3 Credit Hours

This course is designed to further enhance the student’s knowledge and development of research skills, theory construction and application of theory to the discipline of Chicana/o studies.  Students will conduct an in-depth research project and write a research paper on a selected topic under close supervision of the instructor.  Emphasis will be on critical understanding of the literature and writing a research paper.  This course is designed primarily for Chicana/o Studies major and minors.