California University to Offer Course on Selena Quintanilla

We just celebrated what would have been her 48th birthday, and on this particular day, a professor in California made a surprising announcement. Professor of Journalism and Media Studies, Nathian Rodriguez, said that he would be teaching JMS 496 Selena & Latinx Media Representation. Let’s pause of a second and allow you to take in that information. For those not paying attention: there’s a college course precisely on Selena Quintanilla!! The course will be taught in the Spring semester in 2020 at San Diego State University and will be taught by Rodriguez.

“This is so exciting and personal to me!” Rodriguez said on Facebook while discussing his reasons for creating this course. “I grew up with Selena. I learned how to dance to Selena. I learned how to speak Spanish through her songs! She also showed me that there is not one specific way to be Latinx, Tejano, or Mexicano. Spanish wasn’t my first language either, and as a fellow Tejano, Selena helped me connect with both my Mexican heritage and my Tejano/American home. I love her!”

https://twitter.com/whoismarymar/status/1118351242294521858

As much as we all love her, you may be wondering what this class is all about because for we honestly thought it would be a class on Tejano dance and fashion. Rodriguez explained in detail what the course would be about.

“In collaboration with the SDSU School of Journalism & Media Studies (JMS) and the Digital Humanities Initiative at SDSU, I have created JMS 496 Selena & Latinx Media Representation,” he said. “The course explores and deconstructs the socio-cultural mediated representations of intersectional Latinx identities by analyzing the music, career, and influence of Selena. The course also accentuates her influence on Latinx media, media personalities, audience reception, and niche marketing.”

Our next question, how do we sign up? Your chances of getting into this course are by being enrolled at San Diego State! Maybe we can just show up? Whether we show up or not, we are so thrilled that a new generation of college students will be able to learn about Selena in such a scholarly way. She’s so deserving of that can of recognition too.

“Selena was such an inspiration to so many Latinx individuals around the world, and continues to be today,” Rodriguez said in a press release according to mysanantinio.com, “Her music, fashion, and iconography have influenced every facet of pop culture, transcending the entertainment world and influencing socio-cultural spaces worldwide,”I grew up listening to Selena and wanted to create a course that highlighted her impact on not just Latinx culture, but pop culture in an international scope.”