First Year Seminar: Latino New York
Latino NY: Work, Identity, and Class
Byrne First Year Seminar — 1 credit, pass/fail, no sweat
Work (activity)
noun [U]
an activity, such as a job, which a person uses physical or mental effort or do, usually for money
Identity
noun [C or U]
who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group which make them different from others
Class (economic group)
noun [C or U]
a group of people within society who have the same economic and social position
Latino
noun [C] plural Latinos MAINLY US
someone who lives in the US and who comes from or whose family comes from Latin America
New York
The greatest city in the world
DESCRIPTION
We will review my research on the history of Puerto Rican and other Latinos in NYC with work, union organizing, wages/poverty, identity, and participation in labor and civil rights movements from 1920-1990s. In a workshop/discussion format, we will study current research on the topic and learn about the challenges involved in conducting historical research. Topics such as analyzing census data and relating abstract concepts and cause/effect arguments to empirical materials will be discussed. We will read archival documents, newspaper and magazine articles, and oral histories in order to discover how these sources are used in the research process.
PREMISES
- Reveal your assumptions
- Commit to learning as necessity and liberation
- Participate & express
GOALS
- Learn to be a student
- Unlearn assumptions
- Handle complexity and uncertainty
- Understand others
- Conceptualize historical inquiry and Latino studies
- Establish mentoring relationship
- Ask the right questions
- Learn about the Puerto Rican experience, research the Dominican experience, and discuss relationship between them
COURSE STRUCTURE
- Read four or five articles
- Study a few web pages
- Read a dozen one-page documents
- Practice some research skills
- Write three one-page discussions
- Miss no classes
- Trip is obligatory
COURSE ORGANIZATION
Feb 01
- Latino arrivals: migration and the formation of communities
- Reading #1
Feb 08
- Working class culture and solidarity, 1930s-1940s
- Reading #2
- Short paper #1
Feb 15
- Latino workers during the 1950s
- Reading #3
- Discuss documents
Mar 1
- Working class issues, anti poverty and civil rights in the 1960s
- Reading #4
- Short paper #2
Mar 8
- New Latinos and their labor and civil rights experiences, 1970s-1990s
- Reading #5
Apr 5
- Researching Latinos in New York City
- LAB and short report
Apr 12
- TBA
Apr 15
- Trip to NYC