MAS - Mexican American Studies
Mexican American Studies: MAS
Lower-Division Courses
MAS X01. Introduction to Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.
Introduction to the theoretical and substantive issues covered under the interdisciplinary rubric of ethnic studies. Explore the Mexican American and Latina/o experience through the methodological approaches of historical analysis, cultural critique, and social production.
MAS X07. Introduction to Mexican American Cultural Studies.
An introduction to the theoretical and substantive issues covered under the interdisciplinary rubric of cultural studies. Explores the Mexican American cultural experience through the methodological approaches of historical analysis, cultural critique, and literary production.
MAS X07C. Mexican American and Latina/o Folkore Across the United States.
MAS X08. Introduction to Mexican American Policy Studies.
Introduction to the basics of policy analysis, employing demographic and empirical information on the Mexican American and Latino populations in the United States. Explore current policy issues, such as bilingual education, affirmative action, the English-only movement, immigration, Latino consumers, Latino entrepreneurship, and Latino political participation.
MAS X08E. Police, Prisons, and Inequality.
Explore the ethical issues related to inequality and the United States criminal legal system. Examine the experiences of the poor, Indigenous people, immigrants, racial minorities, women, sexual minorities, and gender-nonconforming people.
MAS X11. Ethnicity and Gender: La Chicana.
MAS X14. Mexican American Literature and Culture.
Representative Chicano writers and genres, such as poetry, prose fiction, and theatre.
MAS X15. Latina Performance: From Celia to Selena.
MAS X16. History of Mexican Americans in the United States.
Examines the origin and growth of the Mexican American community in the United States.
MAS X16C. Immigration and Ethnicity.
Examine the changing population of the United States from colonial times to present.
MAS X16D. Latinas and Latinos and Segregation in the United States.
MAS X16E. The Places of Mexican American History.
Examine Mexican American history from the point of view of three distinct places: Los Angeles, the mountains of northern New Mexico, and the far southern tip of Texas.
MAS X16R. North American Borderlands.
Explore the formation of political borders in nineteenth- and twentieth-century North America, their contestation, and the multiple meanings attached to them.
MAS X18. Mexican American Culture.
Mexican American cultural distinctiveness in the areas of social organization, child rearing, food culture, folklore, language, and religion.
MAS X18C. Latina and Latino Media and Popular Culture.
Explore Latina/o media and popular culture from 1950 to the present.
MAS X18D. Introduction to Latinx Body Art.
Examine the social, historical, economic, and commercial contexts influencing the production, display, and circulation of Latinx body art.
MAS X18E. Latinx Digital Worlds.
Explore how Latinx communities (traditionally figured as on the wrong side of the "digital divide") have embraced, mobilized, and sometimes usurped emerging digital tools and spaces to forge community and create new forms of culture, memory, and activism.
MAS X18F. Black and Latinx Intersections.
Examine the complex relationships between and among Black and Latinx communities and the political and structural forces and contexts that shape their interactions. Explore Black identity within the Latinx population, racial politics, coalitions of Black American and Latinx groups, race among Latinxs, racial inequality, and the politics of immigration.
MAS X18G. The New Latinas/os/xs.
Explore the trajectories of various communities many have called the new Latinas/os/xs by identifying how race, gender, sexuality, class, indigeneity, language, migration, and geography influence the lives, identities, and sociopolitical incorporation of new Latinas/os/xs.
MAS X18J. Latinx Material Culture.
Discuss utilizing material culture as a method of analysis to highlight histories of oppression, struggles towards liberation, and the politics of everyday Latinx life in the U.S..
MAS X18P. Fighting for Latino Power.
Examine issues that affect Latino political representation in the United States, specifically three aspects that are critical to political power in this country: the decennial Census, voting rights and the legal system, and electoral politics and political campaigns.
MAS X19. Special Topics.
MAS X19.2. The Chicano Movement.
Analyzes the history and legacy of the Chicano Movement in order to understand its origins, strategies, challenges, and successes.
MAS X19.3. Latinx Histories.
Explore the cultures, politics, and policies that shape the many Latinx histories in the United States.
MAS X19.4. Mexican American Women, 1910-Present.
Examines the history of Mexican and Mexican American women in the United States from the twentieth century to the present.
MAS X19.5. Chicano Literature and Popular Culture.
Explores the ways in which Chicana/o creative writers have addressed their experiences in the United States.
MAS X19.6. Comparative Latina/o Immigration to the United States.
MAS X19S. Topics in Mexican American Studies.
This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer credit is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program.
Upper-Division Courses
MAS X20C. Power and Place: Making Texas History.
MAS X20E. Texas before 1900.
Focus on the basic history of Texas from roughly 1450 to 1900. Investigate major events such as the Texas Revolution and Civil War with an emphasis on how and why Texas, its culture, and its groups of people changed or did not change over time.
MAS X20F. Texas, 1900 to the Present.
Examine the steady dissociation of Texas from its Old South status to a transitional state and a power in national politics.
MAS X20G. Native American Women's History.
Investigate the histories of Native American women to reaffirm and reclaim their place and role in the histories of Native Americans, indigenous peoples, women, Chican@/xs, Greater Mexico, and the United States. Contemplate how many understandings that center colonization, settler colonialism, genocide, race, and environmentalism are essential to examining Native American women's history. Explore the stories, struggles, and ideas of community-building, sovereignty, and liberation as integral to their genders and sexualities as Native American, Indian, First Nations, indigenous, and red and brown women.
MAS X20I. Mexican American Studies at UT.
Trace the origins and development of Mexican American Studies at the national, regional, and local levels. Collaborate to help preserve and recognize the significance of Mexican American Studies at the University in historical and contemporary contexts.
MAS X20J. Mexican Americans in Texas History.
Introduction to the historical experience of Mexican-American persons in Texas.
MAS X20T. Texas History's History.
Explore evolving ideas and meanings concerning the most significant events, personages, and social processes in Texas' history.
MAS X23C. Black Art, Brown Art.
MAS X23D. Contemporary Latinx Visual and Performance Art.
Explore contemporary visual and performance art by Latinx artists working since the 1970's to the present. Examine artists who began to engage with and in civil rights discourse to intervene through their art-making practices; and to align with contemporary trends in the art world that began to expand in the 1970's, such as performance art, installation art, video art, and, later, digital art.
MAS X23E. Latinidades: Art and Performance.
Contextualize and analyze diverse forms of Latina/o/x artistic expression, including visual art, music, dance, theatre, and film, or Latinidades".
MAS X29S. Topics in Mexican American Studies.
This course is used to record credit the student earns while enrolled at another institution in a program administered by the University's Study Abroad Office. Credit is recorded as assigned by the study abroad adviser. University credit is awarded for work in an exchange program; it may be counted as coursework taken in residence. Transfer work is awarded for work in an affiliated studies program.
MAS X35M. Queer Migrations.
MAS X37C. Chicana Feminisms.
MAS X37D. Russian and Mexican Men in Popular Culture.
Study representations of masculinity in products of Mexican and Russian popular culture at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries.
MAS X37F. Latina Feminism and Health.
MAS X37G. Disability, Race, and Sexuality in Literature and Culture.
MAS X37I. Tejana Cultural Studies.
Investigate the history of Tejanas to reaffirm and reclaim their place and role in the histories of Native Americans, women, Chican@/Chicanxs, Greater Mexico, and the United States. Explore how transborderism and transregionalism complicate this history. Contemplate how Tejanas' stories are fundamental to illuminating the struggles, resistance, and liberation of Chicanas, mestizas, and afromexicanas from precontact to decolonization.
MAS X37J. Latinx Sexualities.
Examine Latinx sexualities from a historical perspective to comprehend the social, cultural, political, and economic factors, which have shaped these experiences.
MAS X40S. Latina and Latino Spirituality.
MAS X45C. Julia Alvarez and Sandra Cisneros.
MAS X45D. Life and Literature of the US-Mexico Borderlands.
Examine the literature of the US-Mexico borderlands experience, with an emphasis on the historical and social conditions that characterize this unique region. Explore this in the context of prose fiction, as well as drama, film, and poetry.
MAS X45E. Latinx Short Story.
MAS X45F. Latinx Legend Tripping.
Explore narrative folklore from diverse traditions across the United States based Latinx diaspora. Focus on supernatural legends and the creation of the female "monster".
MAS X45G. Contemporary United States Latina/o Literature and Culture.
MAS X45I. Latinx Young Adult Literatures.
MAS X45J. 21st Century Latinx Literature.
Explore Latinx literature from the past two decades including both literary form and political engagement, with an emphasis on Latina, queer, and nonbinary writers.
MAS X47C. Transnational Latinx Popular Culture.
MAS X50C. Social Science Methods and Latina/o/x Communities.
Learn the methods and tools that social scientists use to make sense of the world, specifically as it pertains to understanding the Latina/o/x experience in the United States.
MAS X50F. Latino Urbanism in the United States City.
MAS X50L. Latinx Sociology.
Explore how institutions have shaped the gendered, racial, and class-based experiences of Latinxs from a sociological perspective, including historical patterns of Latinx migration to the United States, contestations over racial classifications, and problematic issues surrounding the term Latino. Review more recent studies that show how different institutions shape the Latinx experience and demonstrate how gendered, racial, and classed forces have shaped various Latinx communities. Examine Latinx agency and how Latinx communities have sought to reconfigure and push back on these social forces.
MAS X54. Latinx Austin.
Explore the city of Austin, the city's importance for Latino communities, and the importance of Latinos for the city.
MAS X61. Mexican American Cultural Studies Seminar.
Explores cultural studies literature as read through the experience of the Mexican-origin community in the United States. Discussions include race, class, and feminism. Students write a research paper and deliver a scholarly presentation.
MAS X62. Mexican American Policy Studies Seminar.
Profiles the current economic status of Mexican Americans in the United States. Examines two dimensions of public policy: historical trends and comparisons with other ethnic groups. Students write a policy report and deliver a professional presentation.
MAS X63. Sociolinguistics in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.
Examines the presence and use of language in the United States with focus on aspects affecting Latina/o communities.
MAS X63R. Bad Language: Race, Class, and Gender.
MAS X64. History of the United States-Mexico Borderland.
Introduction to the history of the United States and Mexico border region.
MAS X64C. The Civil Rights Movement from a Comparative Perspective.
Focuses on African American and Mexican American struggles for civil rights. Asian American and Native American movements will also be addressed. Using a comparative approach the student will consider the distinctiveness of each of these struggles while also viewing them in relation to each other.
MAS X64D. Latino Migrations and Asylum.
MAS X64E. Policing Latinidad.
MAS X64F. Mexican Immigration Cultural History.
Examines the history of Mexican immigration to the United States, and provides an overview of migratory patterns dating back to the late prehistoric period through contemporary times.
MAS X64G. Latino Migration and Human Trafficking.
Critically examine the complexity and intersectionality of Latino migration and human trafficking from global, regional, and local perspectives.
MAS X64I. Mexican American Political Thought.
Critically explore the multiple complementary and contradictory intellectual expressions of Mexican American political thought. Pay particular attention to Texas from the mid-nineteenth century through the period of the Chicano Movement in the latter part of the twentieth century.
MAS X64J. Migration Crisis.
MAS X64K. Afro-Latinidades in the United States and Latin America.
MAS X64L. La Causa, The Farmworker Movement.
Examine the twentieth-century expansion of commercial agriculture and concomitant labor organizing struggles waged by agricultural workers in the United States, including Arkansas, California, Hawai'i, Puerto Rico, and Texas. Explore the role of the United Farm Workers of America.
MAS X64M. Latina/o/x Citizenship.
Explore the concepts of membership, belonging, immigration and citizenship in the Latina/o/x experience. Examine how historically, politically, socially and culturally, Latinas/os/xs have been construed as belonging or not belonging members of the United States society.
MAS X64N. Politics of Latino Identity.
Explore the creation of the pan-ethnic Latino group identity, differences between national origin groups from Latin America, and how Latino group and national origin identities influence political participation.
MAS X64O. Central Americans in the United States.
Examine the extensive and diverse histories, cultures, social and political movements of Central Americans in the United States, particularly through a Black, Indigenous, and Ethnic Studies framework.
MAS X64P. Puerto Rico In Crisis.
MAS X64Q. Race and Ethnicity Politics.
Explore racial and ethnic politics throughout the United States with a focus on Black and Latino politics. Examine group identity, racial inequality, policy making, activism, criminal justice system, and immigration.
MAS X64R. Race Politics and Caribbeans.
Examine racial and political themes among Spanish-speaking Caribbeans on the islands and in the United States. Explore racial politics in the three countries and compares notions of identity, experiences with racism and anti-racist protest with the United States
MAS X64S. Land in America.
Explore how the history of land helps explain the society we live in today and ideas about the human-nature relationship.
MAS X64U. United States Immigration Policy and Stories of Migration.
Explore the history of immigration policy to the United States with memoirs of migration, immigration policy, and incorporation to provide a fuller picture of how immigrants are affected by these policies in the United States.
MAS X64V. Rhetoric of Ethnic Studies.
Study the histories of ethnic (and gender) studies in both higher education and K-12 institutions, and the rhetoric of attacks on, and defenses of, ethnic and gender studies through an examination of primary and secondary source materials.
MAS X70D. Latinx Media, Arts, and Activism.
Investigate the ways in which Latinx activists have used mainstream, alternative, legacy, and new media (as well as other visual and performing arts), to affect social and political change in the United States.
MAS X70E. Chicana/o Cinema.
MAS X70F. Latina Filmmakers in the United States.
MAS X73. Independent Research.
MAS X74. Special Topics.
MAS X74.15. Latino Politics.
Explore the political experiences of the United States Latino populations.
MAS X74.22. Minorities and the Media.
Issues concerning minority or nondominant groups within the United States. Survey of minority communication problems: alienation, fragmentation, media and Internet access; criticism and feedback for minority groups based on racial/ethnic background, age, sex, disability, social or economic class, and sexual orientation.
MAS X74.23. Mexican American Indigenous Heritage.
The prehistory, history, and contemporary racial understanding of Mexican Americans.
MAS X74.32. Radical Latinos.
Examines the social positioning and history of Latinas/os in the United States. Analyzes the histories of Latinas/os who have gone against mainstream expectations, or who have challenged or critiqued the status quo in provocative and unexpected ways.
MAS X74.33. United States Latino and Latina Ethnographies.
Explores past and present anthropological representations of Latinos and Latinas in the United States.
MAS X74.34. Writing Border Narratives.
Examines the United States and Mexico border through the use of the personal essay in its various forms. Students write personal essays that focus on their relationships to the border.
MAS X74.37. United States Catholic History.
Examine how Catholicism and national identity work for Catholics in the United States, with an emphasis on Catholic women and Latino/as.
MAS X74.38. Feminist Interventions in Borderlands History.
Provides an in-depth understanding of the social, economic, and spatial transformations of the United States/Mexico borderlands in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
MAS X74.40. Gender, Class, and Ethnicity American Literature and Film.
Examines the ways in which authors and filmmakers construct gender, class, and identity in each of their texts.
MAS X74.41. Border Control and Deaths.
Focus on enactment of border control policies, policy implementation and death patterns at the United States-Mexico border, patterns of unauthorized border crossings through dangerous border terrain, grassroots movements to support migrants and lessen deaths, and the ethics of coercive border control. Surveys the public sentiments and attitudes that support new border control policies, the patterns of migrant deaths in deserts and in the Rio Grande River associated with border control strategies, movements and community efforts to support migrants in the Arizona border area, and legal and ethical arguments and concepts that frame discussions of migrant deaths at the United States-Mexico border.
MAS X74.42. United States Immigration.
Utilizes a sociological perspective to gain an understanding of what social forces drive migration to the United States, how migrants organize their migration, and how immigration affects United States' society.
MAS X75. Internship.
Participate in a nonpartisan, direct-service capacity in a community, civic, or government organization or program that facilitates the economic, political, and social development of the Mexican American community. Write a report based on the internship project under the supervision of a faculty member.
MAS X77. Mellon Mays Program Seminar.
Seminar designed as an interdisciplinary primer to the exploration of research, writing, and professionalization in preparation for doctoral study.
MAS X78. Capstone Seminar.
Pursue in depth the research interests and methodological skills developed in other Mexican American and Latina/o Studies classes.
MAS X79H. Honors Tutorial Course.
Supervised research, readings, and writing of a substantial paper on a Mexican American and Latina/o Studies topic.
Graduate Courses
MAS X82. Conference Course in Mexican American Studies.
MAS X90. Introduction to Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.
Examine an overview of Mexican American and Latina/o studies for graduate research.
MAS X92. Topics in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.
MAS X95C. Theories in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.
Examines the major theoretical foundations in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.
MAS X95M. Interpretive Methods.
Examine interpretive methods used in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.
MAS X96Q. Qualifying Exam Prep.
Prepare for qualifying examinations.
MAS X98. Thesis.
MAS X98F. Doctoral Forum.
Develop and present a course project, such as research papers, grant proposals, and dissertation chapters in a workshop environment.
MAS X98R. Master's Report.
Preparation of a report to fulfill the requirement for the master's degree under the report option.
MAS X98T. Supervised Teaching in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.
Methods of interdisciplinary teaching and professional work in Mexican American and Latina/o Studies.