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CS92PROD
A Nation of Immigrants?

WRCT 113
Spring 2019
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: ENGL 113
Certificates: South Asia Studies

America is a nation of immigrants. This ideological epithet has come to define the American experience as one of opportunity, advancement, and national incorporation. This course will interrogate the popularity of this story: How did the American experience become defined through an immigrant experience? What experiences does this narrative absorb and what experiences does it erase?

To answer these questions, we will practice close reading, critical thinking, and consistent writing in order to exhume narratives embedded in a variety of texts such as legal documents, political speeches, poetry, social movements, and short stories in order to explore how this particular American experience is constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed in the social and cultural imaginary. The first part of the course will historicize the narrative of "America as a nation of immigrants" and investigate how it developed throughout the 20th century. We will then consider what stories this national narrative mutes by exploring how contemporary writers take up, challenge, and change the story of America as a nation of immigrants.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA WRCT
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: None
Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74%

Last Updated on OCT-03-2024
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