Theories of Ethnicity and 20th-Century Literature
ENGL 297
Fall 2007 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AFAM 297, AMST 298, LAST 298 |
How do communities of human beings shape their collective identities while creating distinctions between themselves and others? Who is included and who is excluded? This course will examine some of the major theoretical issues associated with the study of ethnicity in the United States, including nationalism, assimilation, the melting pot, immigration, diaspora, transnationalism, multilingualism, race, mixed-race identity, and cultural pluralism. Emphasis will be given to the role of power relations in producing ethnic identities, the question of consent versus descent in American life, and contemporary theories of multicultural citizenship. How does the study of minority and ethnic literatures contribute to our understanding of American cultures? What do ethnic writers tell us about cultural transformation and change, and how do they depict the clashes or resonances between different cultures? What literary strategies have these writers invented to represent themselves, create and question their own identities, and challenge the forms of dominant culture? |
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Essential Capabilities:
None |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK, W.E.B. DuBois (1903)
THE PROMISED LAND, Mary Antin (1912)
"La Guagua Áerea/The Airbus," Luis Rafael Sánchez (1976)
"The Boy Without a Flag," Abraham Rodriguez (1990)
SONG OF SOLOMON, and "Recitatif," (1983) Toni Morrison
THE VALLEY, ROLANDO HINOJOSA (1983)
HUNGER OF MEMORY (1982) and selections from BROWN (2003), Richard Rodriguez
TWILIGHT, LOS ANGELES, 1992 Anna Deveare Smith (1994)
CAUCASIA, Danzy Senna (1998)
A sourcebook will include short selections from the following theoretical and critical texts: "Democracy versus the Melting-Pot," Horace M. Kallen (1915); "Trans-National America," Randolph Bourne (1916); BEYOND ETHNICITY, Werner Sollors; RACIAL FORMATION IN THE UNITED STATES, Omi and Winant; COLOR CONSCIOUS, Anthony Appiah;
THE DIALOGIC IMAGINATION, Mikhail Bakhtin; RACE, NATION, CLASS: AMBIGUOUS IDENTITIES, Etienne Balibar & Immanuel Wallerstein; "Cultural Identity and Diaspora," "The Local and the Global: Globalization and Ethnicity," Stuart Hall; "The Postcolonial and the Postmodern," Homi K. Bhabha; MODERNITY AT LARGE, Arjun Appadurai; MULTICULTURAL CITIZENSHIP, Will Kymlicka; Charles Taylor, MULTICULTURALISM
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Examinations and Assignments:
Four short response papers (2-3 pgs.) and final paper (10 pgs.). |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course fulfills the Theory requirement for the English Major. |
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