Order ready-to-submit essays. No Plagiarism Guarantee!
Note: All our papers are written from scratch by human writers to ensure authenticity and originality.
Unit 2 EXPLORING BORDERLANDS
Contact and Conflict in North America Authors and Works Overview Questions Featured in the Video:
Bernal Díaz del Castillo, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain (history, exploration narrative)
Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, The Relation of Álvar
Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (exploration narrative,
captivity narrative, hagiography)
Americo Paredes, George Washington Gomez
(novel), With a Pistol in His Hand: A Border Ballad
and Its Hero (cultural criticism, music history)
Gloria Anzaldúa, La Frontera/Borderlands: The New
Mestiza (memoir, poetry, cultural criticism, political theory) I What is a mestizo/a? How has mestizo/a identity and consciousness altered and developed over
the past four centuries?
I What kinds of relationships did European
explorers and colonizers have with the Native
Americans they encountered in the New World?
What stereotypes and conventions did they rely on
to represent Indians in their narratives?
I How did European colonizers use their narratives to mediate their relationships with authorities back in Europe?
I How do writings that originated in South
America, Mexico, the West Indies, and Canada fit
into the American canon? Why have writings in
Spanish, Dutch, and French been absent from the
canon for so long? What responsibilities do we
have as readers when we read these works in
translation?
I How do concepts of writing and literacy differ
among cultures? How did these differences shape
the colonial experience?
I How does bilingualism affect mestizo/a narratives?
I What characterizes a “borderland” or “contact
zone”? What boundaries are challenged in a border region? How have conceptions of borderlands
and contact zones changed over time?
I What differentiates assimilation, acculturation, and transculturation? Which of these terms
seems most appropriate for the colonial experiences described in the texts for this unit?
I How did the Spanish, French, Dutch, and
English approaches to colonizing the New World
differ? How did those differences affect European–
Native American relationships in different regions
of the Americas? How did differences among
native cultures in Mesoamerica, Florida, Virginia, Discussed in This Unit:
Christopher Columbus, letters
Bartolomé de las Casas, The Very Brief Relation of
the Devastation of the Indies (history, protest literature)
Garcilaso de la Vega, The Florida of the Inca (history, folklore)
Samuel de Champlain, The Voyages of Sieur de
Champlain, The Voyages and Discoveries (histories, exploration narratives)
John Smith, The General History of Virginia, New
England, and the Summer Isles (history, captivity
narrative, exploration narrative), A Description
of New England (exploration narrative, promotional tract), New England’s Trials (history, exploration narrative)
Adriaen Van der Donck, A Description of New
Netherland (promotional tract) 2 U N I T 2 , E X P LO R I N G B O R D E R L A N D S the Middle Atlantic, and New France affect contact
between Native Americans and colonizers?
I How did the first European explorers envision
the New World? How did their preconceptions
affect their experiences in the Americas?
I Why do early narratives of the New World so
frequently invoke the language of wonder? What
narrative strategies did explorers and colonizers
use to describe their experience of wonder?
I Most of the texts discussed in Unit 2 can be
characterized as belonging to more than one
genre. Why do texts that represent border and contact experiences so often combine different genres?
What is the effect of this genre blurring?
I How are early mestizo texts influenced by the
oral tradition and pre-Conquest literary styles?
I What kinds of images of America did the
European writers featured in Unit 2 construct to
promote colonization and settlement? What kinds
of natural resources and environmental factors did
they extol in their accounts of the New World?
I How did European writers justify taking over
Native American lands and resources?
I How are Native American women characterized in colonizers’ and mestizos’ narratives? What
archetypes and legends have developed about relationships between native women
Verify your essay before you submit. Get an Official Turnitin Report for Just $8.99!
Check your paper with the same Turnitin report your professor uses. AI detection + similarity score without storing your work. Pay once, no subscription
Check My Assignment! 