SPAN 190 Citizenship and Belonging in the Hispanic World (taught in English) 

How has the story of citizenship and belonging in Iberia and the Ibero-American (or Hispanic) diaspora been told? This course explores the many meanings of citizenship by developing an historical and cross-cultural context to better understand and engage in contemporary and highly charged discussions related to citizenship in the Hispanic world. More specifically, we will be looking at how citizenship, understood broadly as belonging to and participating in a civic community, has been defined in medieval Spain, colonial Spanish America, and the US borderlands from the early twentieth century to the present. Among the issues we will be discussing are: the negotiation of Christian/Jewish/Arabic identities in medieval Spain, the categories of natural/vecino/ciudadano (native/neighbor/citizen) in colonial Spanish America, the role of national foundational narratives; language and religious identity as they relate to belonging; immigration and border-crossings in a globalized era; citizenship as it figures in modern Latino coming-of-age narratives; and poetry as an expression of belonging.