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The Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute

Yale New Haven Teacher Institute

Latine Media, Representation, and Cultural Politics

Deb Vargas, Associate Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration

This seminar will draw from cinema, radio, and other popular media forms to explore the polotics of represenation in a U.S. context during key historical moments. From the greaser movies of the early twentieth century, the emergence of the first all-Spanish language radio stations, to the power of Instagram music artists creating their own fan following, this class considers Latine popular media to be a stage upon which class politics, color lines, and the recycling of disparaging stereotypes are reproduced and contested.

"We will discuss how Latine media tropes, narratives, and characterizations have served goals of institutional and state policy and also those remade by processes of Latine self-representation." - Deb Vargas"

Potential Curriculum Unit Topics

  • History teachers might develop units on the history and development of Latine media forms and outlets or how mainstream media forms have represented Latine culture and/or historical figures in the past
  • English teachers might develop units on the literary representations of Latine culture or literature by Latine writers and their place in mainstream media
  • Media and Art teachers might develop units on the state of Latine representation in a variety of media types and platforms and th representation of Latine culture in art or art by Latine artists
  • Spanish language and ESL teachers might develop units on literary representations of Latine culture in Spanish or literature by Latine writers and use such literature as a means of exploring issues related to language learning

This seminar is for K-12 teachers in:

  • History and Social Sciences
  • English Language Arts
  • Arts and Media
  • Spanish