This course is one in a series called "writing about places" that explore the long tradition of writing about travel and places and changing attitudes toward crossing cultural borders. We will examine historical and cultural interactions/confrontations as portrayed by both insiders and outsiders, residents and visitors, colonizers and colonized--and from a variety of perspectives: fiction, literary journalism, travel accounts, histories. Writing assignments will include critical and analytical essays as well as encouraging students to examine their own experiences with places and cultural encounters. |