GOALS: The purpose of this course is to deepen the participants' information on – and critical evaluation of – the situation of Latinas/os in the U.S. at the dawn of the third millennium. It is expected that the students will creatively go beyond the minimum requirements and do newspaper, radio, TV, film, museums, field, library, and/or internet/www research on the current situation of U.S. Hispanics.

WORKING METHODOLOGY: Usually, our classes will start with either a one-hour lecture or a fictional or documentary film dealing with the life/history of Latinas/Latinos in the U.S.
       In the case of lectures, we shall take a 15' break around 5:00 pm, and the time from 5:15 through 6:30 pm will be dedicated to sharing thoughts, doubts, questions, and concerns raised among the participants by the lecture, as well as by the previous readings, related experiences, personal reflections and other discussions related to the theme of the week.
       In the case of films, depending on their length, they might be directly followed by a break and/or a short presentation by the instructor (or by somebody else) on a topic bearing on the subject matter of the film. Afterwards, we will engage in a discussion (connected to both the day’s theme & the required previous readings for that week), hopefully within a spirit of mutual, participatory, humble, respectful, and very open inquiry and discussion.

REQUIREMENTS: Students are expected – besides full attendance at all meetings of the seminar – to participate in an active and cooperative way in the seminar's discussions, including the Blackboard discussion board; to prepare every meeting by doing the previously assigned readings; to do a personal interview of a Hispanic/Latina(o) pastor in Newark and to present every month one of three essays (guidelines immediately below).

PERSONAL INTERVIEW: The instructor will give you a list of Latina/o congregations in Newark, a questionnaire (in Spanish, English, or both), and a letter of introduction to the pastor (in both languages). Each student will choose one pastor to interview.
       Before November, you will visit the church during a service, look for the pastor, and set up an appointment with her/him for a 45' interview (unless s/he is available right away, of course).
       Before December, you will interview the pastor and fill out the appropriate form.
       On Thu. December 5th, at the latest, you will hand in the filled out form. Within certain limits, and after approval of the instructor, you may extend your interview beyond the questionnaire and use your research for one of your monthly essays.

MONTHLY ESSAYS: If you are a student taking this course for credit, you are required to present a monthly essay. You may do your three essays as either “installments” of a larger final essay or as three separate, shorter essays, on a different topic each.
       All essays should be research-and-reflection essays, typewritten in NUMBERED & DOUBLE-SPACED pages. Each essay should be divided into at least seven parts (title page, table of contents, introduction, central body, conclusions, endnotes and bibliography). The central body of the essay (but only the central body) should be further subdivided in three sections at least, each with its own pertinent, explicit title and specific focus. Only the central body of the essay can be longer than two pages (outline, introduction, conclusions, endnotes & bibliography should be just one page long, except in long final essays, where these parts may span a maximum of two pages each). Use normal fonts (12 points or near 70 spaces per line), standard line spacing (double space, or near 25 lines per page) and conventional margins (one inch each of all four margins).
       These essays should be of 8 pages minimum/12 pages maximum each, counting everything. Long essays are expected to be between 24 and 35 pages tops.
       Essays are to be handed in at 4:00 pm on Thursdays 10/7, 11/4 & 12/2 at the very latest. You may apply for an oral presentation of one of your essays, before or after handing it in its final written version (see below)

LONG FINAL ESSAY: The 1st installment or draft should consist of a clear project of your final research essay (in 3-6 pages), containing title, tentative outline (5-10 lines), initial bibliography (at least three books or 10-15 articles or book chapters), and a 10-15-LINE description of what you intend to say and do in such paper, plus at the very least one tentative page of the paper itself. The 2nd installment (15-35 pages) should be a first draft either of the full blown paper, or of a significant chunk of it. The 3rd and last installment should be the finished, full final draft of the paper.

NOTE: The essays could be, given previous approval by the instructor, on any of a wide array of aspects (historical, sociological, anthropological, theoretical, etc.) of the history & culture of U.S. Latinas/os with some reference to the religious dimension, too. Make a sustained effort in them to use inclusive language at all times. For ecological reasons, please use recycled paper (at least printing BOTH sides OR on the other side of used pages).

ORAL PRESENTATION: An oral presentation on any of the essays might be done in previous agreement with the instructor. You have to responsibly and conscientiously PREPARE your presentation following these steps:

EVALUATION: Students taking this course for credit will be graded between A+ (Honors) and D (or F) according to the quality and degree of satisfaction of each of the previous requirements. Bear in mind that A means work of unusual excellence; B means superior work above average; while C means a satisfactory work of average quality (and that we all have an interest in fighting grade inflation!).
       Classes missed, late arrivals, early departures, low and/or non-cooperative participation; late, incomplete and/or low quality essays/presentations will indeed EACH contribute to LOWER final grades.
       Each two (2) late arrivals/early departures equal one class missed; three classes missed (for whatever reasons, justified or not) will entail the failure of the course.
       Essays will usually be returned in the next class with a grade and comments pointing strengths and weaknesses on which the grade is based (except late essays, which will be returned in 3-4 weeks with a grade but no comments).
       Doing only the minimum required, even well, will rarely earn more than a C+/B-.