Latinx Presence in New York City
Seminar, Winter Term 2021-2022, Timeslot Monday 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
M.A. Florian Deckers (florian.deckers@uni-due.de)
While cities such as Los Angeles or Miami may first come to mind first when thinking about the Latinx population in the United States, New York City has become a substantial hub for the community. Today almost one third of the city’s 8.2 million residents have a Latinx background and an accordingly big role in shaping its five boroughs.
In this course we will explore the Latinx presence in the Big Apple and the way in which it is represented in literature, music, film, and public art. With novels, memoirs, testimonios, but also rap songs and graffiti we will work our way through time: Beginning with la gran migración of Puerto Ricans, who came to the city from the 1950s onwards, we then consider the onset of gentrification in el barrio in the 1990s and end with Jenny from the Block’s performance at President Joseph R. Biden’s inauguration ceremony in January of 2021.
Students should buy the following books:
Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991)
Esmeralda Santiago, Almost a Woman (1998)
Ernesto Quiñonez, Bodega Dreams (2000)
- Lehrende(r): Florian Deckers