Span 308: History and Culture of Aztlan
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.
Course Reflective Narrative
This Span308 culture course, History and Culture of Aztlan, that I complete in Spring of 2014 fulfills the Seconday Culture Major Learning Outcome for my B.A. Japanese Language and Culture.
This course delved very deeply into the question of "who is the Mexican American?" The course starts with the Olmec Civilization in Central America, continues with the arrival of the Spanish, the mixing of the races, and the subsequent US acquisition of over half of Mexico's territory. This course was perfect for fulfilling the Secondary Culture outcome because the Mexican people's history is so different than Japan's, so it provides a new critical perspective to look at the culture I'm studying. The question of identity is at the forefront of many Mexican-Americans' minds because they see it everyday when they fill out forms and such. Should they put Hispanic, Latino, Mexican, Chicano, or Mestizo? Whereas, in Japan, the people's identities have a strong foundation, only recently running into issues in the twentieth century after two thousand years of almost uninterrupted history.
This was an online course, which was split up into five seminars. In each seminar we read two to three chapters from the book Mexicanos by Manuel Gonzales. We wrote reflections for the chapters and created our own timeline of events for the time period we read about. We also did small research projects and an annotated bibliography outside of the textbook using scholarly resources. We were encouraged to make strong arguments and create our own opinions based of what we read instead of merely summarizing the reading. These opinions were put onto forums where we would have a back and forth with other students.
This class in particular was important to me because it went over the history of a population that I was very close to growing up in Southern California. In school we learned about the European conquerors, such as the Spanish, French and English, but did not learn very much about the conquered. Many of my friends come from first and second generation families who recently arrived in America. By taking this course, I felt like I grew closer to some of my friends' families.
I hope that my knowledge of Mexican American history will give me a shared interest with some of my friends families, so that I can better connect and get closer to them. Also, this knowledge will help me remember while I'm in Japan, that there is much more out there in the world to explore!
This course delved very deeply into the question of "who is the Mexican American?" The course starts with the Olmec Civilization in Central America, continues with the arrival of the Spanish, the mixing of the races, and the subsequent US acquisition of over half of Mexico's territory. This course was perfect for fulfilling the Secondary Culture outcome because the Mexican people's history is so different than Japan's, so it provides a new critical perspective to look at the culture I'm studying. The question of identity is at the forefront of many Mexican-Americans' minds because they see it everyday when they fill out forms and such. Should they put Hispanic, Latino, Mexican, Chicano, or Mestizo? Whereas, in Japan, the people's identities have a strong foundation, only recently running into issues in the twentieth century after two thousand years of almost uninterrupted history.
This was an online course, which was split up into five seminars. In each seminar we read two to three chapters from the book Mexicanos by Manuel Gonzales. We wrote reflections for the chapters and created our own timeline of events for the time period we read about. We also did small research projects and an annotated bibliography outside of the textbook using scholarly resources. We were encouraged to make strong arguments and create our own opinions based of what we read instead of merely summarizing the reading. These opinions were put onto forums where we would have a back and forth with other students.
This class in particular was important to me because it went over the history of a population that I was very close to growing up in Southern California. In school we learned about the European conquerors, such as the Spanish, French and English, but did not learn very much about the conquered. Many of my friends come from first and second generation families who recently arrived in America. By taking this course, I felt like I grew closer to some of my friends' families.
I hope that my knowledge of Mexican American history will give me a shared interest with some of my friends families, so that I can better connect and get closer to them. Also, this knowledge will help me remember while I'm in Japan, that there is much more out there in the world to explore!
sem1_2analysis_silbert.pdf | |
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sem1_timeline_silbert.pdf | |
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chapter3_4analysis_steven_silbert.docx | |
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sem2_timeline_steven_silbert.xlsx | |
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steven_silbert_sem2_researchproject.pptx | |
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steven_silbert_sem3_historical_writing_document.docx | |
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steven_silbert_sem4_annotated_bibliography.pdf | |
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