ChLa 330U Latino Popular Culture

Explores a wide scope of Latino popular culture: highly produced entertainment (television, radio, film, magazines); commercial and noncommercial musical and artistic expression; popular celebrations; and the culture of "everyday life," from traditional folklore to newly invented customs and rituals. Popular culture is examined to reveal how Latino groups (Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, etc.), reinvent their culture, heritage, and ethnic identity in the United States, and how Latinos in the process are changing American popular culture and national identity. Students will become familiar with theories of popular culture and get hands-on experience investigating a Latino popular culture form.