Mexican American Histories

4 credits · Undergraduate

This course introduces students to the history of Mexican and Mexican American peoples in the United States. It begins in the precolonial Americas with an emphasis on North America and the region that later became the U.S. Southwest, and it ends in our present moment. It contextualizes historical moments, processes, and ideologies that continue to shape the lives of Mexican Americans: conquest, capitalism, heteropatriarchy, mestizaje, and white supremacy. Rooted in social history, the course emphasizes the struggles of everyday people to improve the circumstances of their lives. It asks students to examine U.S. history from the perspective of communities often erased in national narratives.