2. An introductory article for Latino/a literature:
“Hispanics and the Mediaâ€
Questions, before: What Mexican-American actors, artists, musicians are popular in the mainstream media? What televisions shows have Mexican-American main characters? Are there other celebrities, besides Mexican-Americans, who are known for their ethnicity or race or religion or sexual preferences? Are there any celebrities who could be known for those but are instead known for their abilities or their reputation instead?
Questions, after: Who has seen Dora the Explorer? What makes her Mexican-American? How is she different from someone of a different origin? How is she the same? Which is there more of, similarities or contrasts? What does that show? Why is it important to differentiate Mexican-Americans (or why do people do it)? Is it racist? How? Is it not racist? Why not? Is Tiger Woods more or less famous because he is partially black and partially Asian? Would he be more or less famous if his father’s ancestry was mostly Dutch and German and his mother’s was mostly English and Irish? What race do mixed race people become known as? How do people identify Tiger Woods? How do they identify President Obama? What is the point of that? Why does that happen? Does it mean anything? If so, what does it mean?
Research topic: What is consanguinity? What is the one-drop rule? Where did it get started? Does any other country use it? How is it used there? Read http://knol.google.com/k/what-caused-the-one-drop-rule-c16# for how the one-drop rule worked in a certain time and place. What is the import of that? What does it mean?