Welcome! ¡Bienvenidos!
I am thrilled to be starting my time at Boston University by teaching “Monsters, Horror, and Haunting in Latinx Literature and Film.” This is a course I have taught before, first as a graduate student at the George Washington University and then as an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The course has changed a lot throughout the years: while it was originally designed as a multiethnic literature course (one which I will hopefully teach again), I have changed the class to be focused on Latinx literature and culture. I have also blogged alongside my students each time I teach the course, and you can see those posts in this blog as well. There will be time when I reuse some of the material, while making modifications depending on the discussions we have in class.
“Monsters, Horror, and Haunting” introduces students to the varied and rich history of representations of horror, trauma, violence, and monstrosity in Latinx literature and film. When I originally introduced this course, I had the distinct impression that horror was beginning to make its way into pop culture in a way I had not seen before. Films like Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street were beloved because of their campy B-movie aesthetic (a “so bad it’s good” vibe). Now, however, there is a plethora of what critics are calling “elevated horror,” a designation I have issues with and which this class will explore. Importantly for this course, I and my students will explore how speculative fiction and its subcategories of horror and science fiction have usually been dominated by white, male authors/filmmakers. Part of the goal of this class is to uncover the important tradition of Latinx literary and cultural production that mobilizes the tropes of the genre in unexpected ways, compelling us to reimagine what horror can be as it intersects with race and ethnicity.
We will think of horror and the speculative in capacious ways, asking how these tropes can be seen in texts that are usually read as “realist,” and how genre fiction addresses the unique experience of Latinx people in the Americas. I hope that throughout the semester my students will gain a deeper understanding of the capacities of horror to depict the foundational yet spectral presence of Latinx people in the “American” imaginary, treating monsters and haunting expansively.
Attending to how writers use images of ghosts, zombies, monsters, and the otherworldly, we will explore shifting definitions of citizenship, nationhood, belonging, and identity. As we survey a variety of monstrous bodies, postapocalyptic landscapes, and dystopian fantasies, we will consider questions such as: What is a monster? What is “Latinx”? How does the unique experience of Latinx people in the “New World” haunt conceptions of nation, citizenship, “illegality,” and personhood? Why do Latinx authors and filmmakers turn to horror in order to depict the Latinx experience?
I am returning to an assignment that has worked well in past iterations of this class: the “Monster Blog.” Each student will be responsible for creating and curating their own digital archive that focuses on their opinions and arguments about the course’s materials. As they write, students will form an argument about the questions that opened this course. And since students will be required to make their analysis of this semester’s texts public, I will also be posting about our class activities, reflections on that day’s texts, and further reading recommendations. I will also provide links for my student’s blogs, readings, and assignments throughout the semester. I hope you’ll read along with us!
Monsters, Hauntings, and Horror in Latinx Literature & Film 