The United States social fabric is threaded with more than 60 million Latinos. Latinos, however, are not a monolithic group. The term “Latino” masks heterogeneous political experiences and views. Latinos have divergent immigration histories and socialization experiences in the US, all of which have differently shaped their political perspectives and engagement patterns. This course examines the past and present of Latino politics in the US. The course reviews the history of conquest, colonization, and immigration that gave rise to the Latino population in the US, the differences and similarities in the contexts of reception of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and Central American, the cultural and institutional determinants of Latino identities, and the historical and institutional contexts shaping the contemporary political attitudes, behaviors, and representation of Latino voters.
The course follows and builds on two textbooks: Latino Politics by Lisa García Bedolla and Christian Hosam, and Latino Politics in America by John García and Gabriel Sanchez. Students will attend lectures, engage in reading-based participation and active learning, take two exams, and complete two assignments; one assignment on the elements of a research paper on Latino politics and a second assignment on analysis of quantitative data using the software R. Students will start acquiring the skills to complete these two assignments early in the course. Discussion sections will be designed to introduce students to the writing of a research paper and quantitative data analysis, and to provide a forum for students to present advances on their assignments and to receive feedback from their peers and instructors.
Subfield: American Politics
Note that PS166 is the same course as PS109L renumbered. Please do not enroll in PS166 "Latino Politics" if you have already taken PS109L "Selected Topics: Latino Politics" in a previous semester as it will be considered duplicate credit.