About the Course

This course provides an interdisciplinary approach to the border as an area of study in the neoliberal states of Mexico and the US. The course will explore the experiences of Mexican Americans on both sides of the border. Through research and fieldwork, students will be able to describe the opinions and sentiments of Chicanx/Latinx peoples about the border in Central Texas. This class is part of the Chicana/o Studies Minor.

Goals for this course–

  1. SLO-Diverse American Perspectives:
    1. Describe the various factors that contribute to the construction of social identities in American Society: Students will be able to understand the intrinsic paradigms that compose the Mexican American experience in the US. Special focus will be given to the peoples in the borderlands.
    2. Analyze struggles over freedom, equality, equity, justice, and power, within American Society: Students will be able to understand the formation of the US-Mesic since the early 15th Century to today. Additionally, students will explore the social struggles that endured and continue to endure the peoples that live in the neoliberal border.
    3. Critically examine the historical context of significant issues and events in America: Students will be able to understand and express complex ideas related to the topics of race, gender/sexuality, and class by engaging with critical texts and producing scholarly work in the form of critical essays and exams, as well as a community component through the Experiential Learning for Social Justice Mission Marker (EL4SJ).
  2. MM-Experiential Learning for Social Justice
  3. Students apply knowledge developed through the course to engage with social justice issues.  In this EL4SJ course student will explore social justice through the following lenses:
    1. Students will engage in field research that will require them to interact with the Chicanx/Latinx community in the larger Austin metro area. Their research will provide an insight into attitudes of immigrant communities their conditions in the region.
  4. Students carry out a social justice project that engages with a local community. This EL4SJ course will engage with the community as follows:
    1. Student will carry out field research by engaging with the local Chicanx/Latinx community in Austin. Students will carry out a research project that will analyze and document the experiences of Latinx Folks in the US Mexico Border. A class website will showcase the findings of the course.
  5. Students reflect on how community-based, social justice work shapes their understanding of the course material and their values, and how it relates to a liberal arts education at St. Edward’s University.
    1. Students will carry out a final reflection project tying in their educational experience at SEU and the impact of their work in the course. The format of this reflection will be open to student creativity, so this may be carried out as a webpage/blog/video journal/reflection journal/ZINE.