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By extending its borders to incorporate tropical lands and peoples through its neo-colonial adventures at the turn of the century, the U.S. nation-state created an "American Tropics" as part of its national identity. How does America imagine the tropics and, in turn, how do the tropics incorporate "America"? As colonized spaces, the islands of Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines also imagine and write "America," turning and distending America's borders upon itself. Reading literary, filmic and cultural texts from America's current and former colonies, we will ask how these works inform American culture and literary tradition. How do we begin to re-write and re-imagine "America" from these colonial outposts? How do we continue speaking about the 100-year-old American legacy in colonial sand, surf and sun in culturally diverse island chains from the Caribbean across the Isthmus and into the Pacific?
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2002
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459