UF Center for Latin American Studies
Days/times: Tuesdays 11:45 am - 1:40 pm, Thursdays 12:50 - 1:40 pm
Location: Little 0205
How does our interpretation of U.S. political history change when we take our cues from labor organizers such as Luisa Morena or the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights organization, the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)? This course examines and highlights how Latinas/os/xs across the United States have woven together pro-working class and democratic movements. Focusing on the 20th and 21st centuries, this course delves into the rich political history and ongoing struggles of four Latinx communities—Mexicans/Chicanas/os/xs, Central Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. Students will explore these communities’ persistent efforts for social, economic, and political equality, with a particular emphasis on electoral politics and grassroots activism. Moreover, we will examine their integration into the U.S. by examining the opportunities Latinx populations have been afforded and the restrictions that have been placed on their political incorporation.
The core of the course, also, explores how social and political change is carried out from the grassroots, by examining cases of Latinx civic engagement. We are interested in the ways in which ordinary people have articulated extraordinary resistance (legal advocacy, voter mobilization efforts, mass mobilizations, etc.) to the material, social, and psychological effects of racism. We will read critical texts to studying Latinx politics and modern social movements. We will also engage in more recent work that explores, among other things, the significance of gender, sexuality, immigration, transnational, and the uses of geography for political analysis.
Rafael Ramirez Solórzano
Assistant Professor
Center for Latin American Studies
360 Grinter Hall
E-mail: r.solorzano@ufl.edu
Phone: 352-392‐4672
Research Interests
Latinx Social Movements with focus on Gender and Sexuality, Racial/Latinx Geographies, Women of Color Feminism, Queer of Color Critique, Latina/o/x Political Theory, Relational Racialization, Qualitative and Archival Research Methods
Geographic Expertise
United States (U.S. Southwest, U.S. South), Mexico, Central America
