To what extent does the individual participate in shaping his/her respective era, and the era, in turn, help to shape the individual's sense of self and social identities? This interdisciplinary course uses Latino/a novels, memoirs, essays, poetry and autobiographies, to focusing on the experience of growing up Latino/Latina. The course explores the continuous creation and recreation of a ?Latino/a identity? from the 1940s until the present. We examine the ways that generational expectations have shaped new racial, gendered and class-based identities and experiences of Latinos and Latinas in different historical periods in U.S. society.