North American Borderlands

The frontier, the border between Mexico and the U.S., and the 49th parallel (the border between Canada and the U.S.) have inspired a dazzling variety of theoretical concepts and cultural artefacts. In this class we will discuss a variety of North American theoretical and literary texts pertaining to North American borderlands, including Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893), Gloria E. Anzaldúa’s essay Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987), Thomas King’s short story “Borders” (1993), T.C. Boyles’ novel The Tortilla Curtain (1995), and Jim Lynch’s novel Border Songs (2009). While thematically unified, this class will particularly focus on key competences in literary and cultural studies, including Information literacy (how to access secondary literature), Reading (how to use secondary literature), Inquiry & Analysis (how to analyze literary texts), and Written and Oral Communication (how to present your discussion in the shape of a term paper or an oral exam).