Readings and Weekly Assignments

All assigned material should be fully reviewed and reflected on before the start of class on the corresponding day. 

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Assigned materials are available for purchase, via the web (hyperlinked) or on Moodle.

Week One 

Aug 29 

Intro

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No assigned readings but discussion topics will include: 

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    urban anxieties and possibilities 

    Caribbean spaces and sexualities 

        Sex and the City (HBO)

        Transparent (Amazon Prime) 

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Week Two 

Sept 5

Space, Place, and Urban Landscapes 

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    Benjamin, “Paris” 

    Sassen, “The Global City”  

    Tenorio, “On 1910 Contrasts” 

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Week Three

Sept 12

The Spaces and Places of (Non)Normativity 

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    Manalansan, “Out There”  

    Halberstam, “Animating Failure” 

    LaFountain Stokes, “De un pájaro” 

    Warner, “Zoning Out Sex” 

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Week Four

Sept 19

Gendered Trajectories and Bodily Inscriptions 

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Sarduy, Escrito sobre un cuerpo 

Carpentier, Los pasos perdidos 

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Week Five

Sept 26

Of Rural and Urban Landscapes 

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    Marqués, Los soles turcos 

    Gelpí, “La crisis del canon” 

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    Scarpaci, et.al. “Havana’s Future: Risks and Opportunities” 

    Bobes, “Visit to a Non-Place” 

    Alvarez-Tabio Aldo, “The City in Mid-Air” 

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Week Six

Oct 3

Tell me a Story

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Vega, “Letra para salsa” 

Hernández, “Masticar una rosa” 

Fernández Pintado, “La otra vida” 

Sánchez, “Etc.” 

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Munoz, “Feeling Utopia” 

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Week Seven

Oct 10

Nostalgie féminine

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¿Por qué lloran mis amigas? 

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Quiroga, “Untimely Cuba” 

Hall, “Negotiating Caribbean Identities” 

Hirsch and Smith, “Feminism and Cultural Memory” 

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Week Eight

Oct 17

Future Imperfect

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Yoss, Super Extra Grande

Ferré, “La extraña muerte del Capitancito Candelario” 

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Halberstam, “Queer Temporality and Postmodern Geographies” 

Muñoz, “The Future is in the Present” 

CLR James, “The Olympia Statues” 

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Week Nine

Dec 5 

Of Walls and Waywardness

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Portela, Cien botellas en una pared

Loss, “Amateurs and Professionals” 

Alvarez, “Ena Lucía Portela: humor y subversión en la sombra del hombre nuevo” 

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Week Ten

Oct 31

Sexile and Queer (Dis)Placements  

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Sánchez, “¡Jum!”

Cortez, Sexilio

Fresa y chocolate 

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Cruz Malavé, “Lecciones de cubanía”

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Week Eleven

Nov 7

Undercurrents

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Ponte, La fiesta vigilada 

Negrón,  “El vampiro de Moca” 

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Quiroga, “Espionage and Identity” 

La Fountain Stokes, “The Persecution of Difference” 

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Week Twelve

Nov 14

Masks and Performativity 

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Padura, Máscaras 

Bejel, “The Masks of Mascaras” 

Montoya, “Las máscaras estéticas y sexuales” 

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Week Thirteen

Nov 28

Urban Soundscapes and Queer Longings

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Ismael Rivera, “La perla”  

Calle 13 ft. Rubén Blades, “La perla” 

Luis Fonsi, “Depsacito” 

The Wire, Season 5, Episode 3, “Not for Attribution” 

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Ivy Queen

Señorita Dayana 

El Micha

Chacal 

Baby Lores 

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Martínez Noriega, “Música, imagen, y sexualidad” 

Nerón Muntaner/Rivera, “Nación Reggaetón” 

Goldman, “Walk Like a Woman” 

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Week Fourteen 

Dec 5 

Of Walls and Waywardness

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Portela, Cien botellas en una pared

Loss, “Amateurs and Professionals” 

Alvarez, “Ena Lucía Portela: humor y subversión en la sombra del hombre nuevo” 

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Week Fifteen 

Dec 12

Dominican Desires

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Jorge Piñeda 

Raquel Paiewonsky 

Junot Diaz, “How to Date a Brown Girl” 

Sanky Panky