Social Sciences   

In 1845, the northern boundary of Mexico lay just a dozen miles from today’s SOU campus. In the Mexican-American War, the United States conquered roughly half of Mexico, moving the border more than 600 miles to the south. Ever since then, both countries have lived with a muddled memory of this experience. The border has moved over people, and people have moved across the border. In fact, the two countries’ populations, economies, and political histories are so closely interrelated that we may meaningfully ask, “Where does one country end and the other begin?” This course is a lecture series (with extended time for discussion) presented by SOU faculty who have explored this historical and cultural middle ground from a wide range of academic perspectives. It brings together Chicano literature, Spanish literature, history, and anthropology professors to examine the complex relationships between the U.S. and Mexico and among the people and places that belong to both worlds.

NOTE: The faculty presenters are: Alma Rosa Álvarez, “The History and Politics of Chicano Identity”; Enrique Chacón, “Ambiguous Border: The Representations of the U.S.-Mexico in Film”; Sean McEnroe, “The Imagined Communities of the Mexican-American War”; Mark Axel Tveskov, “The Archaeology of the Battle of Buena, 1847: La Angostura and the Construction of Manifest Destiny.”

The 47th president will be inaugurated on January 20, and two weeks earlier the 119th Congress will have been sworn in. The country could have a president and Congress of one political party, a president and a Congress of different parties, or a Congress with divided party majorities in the House and Senate. We will have lots to talk about, beginning with the results of the November election, the new president’s formation of a government leadership team, and the makeup and leaders of the House and Senate. Articles I and II of the Constitution will be reviewed, along with how those provisions have evolved over the past two centuries. Current issues will also be discussed. Students should have opinions to be shared and a respect for the views of others.

NOTE: There are two sections of this course offered: one is at the Campbell Center in Ashland; the other is at the Higher Education Center in Medford.

The 47th president will be inaugurated on January 20, and two weeks earlier the 119th Congress will have been sworn in. The country could have a president and Congress of one political party, a president and a Congress of different parties, or a Congress with divided party majorities in the House and Senate. We will have lots to talk about, beginning with the results of the November election, the new president’s formation of a government leadership team, and the makeup and leaders of the House and Senate. Articles I and II of the Constitution will be reviewed, along with how those provisions have evolved over the past two centuries. Current issues will also be discussed. Students should have opinions to be shared and a respect for the views of others.

NOTE: There are two sections of this course offered: one is at the Campbell Center in Ashland; the other is at the Higher Education Center in Medford.