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Academic Year 2005/2006
Theories of Ethnicity and 20th Century Literature
ENGL 297 FA
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 U.S., including: nationalism, assimilation, mimicry, 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, DuBois' formulation of "double consciousness," 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 in order to represent themselves, create and question their own identities, and challenge
the forms of dominant culture?
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
TRIPMASTER MONKEY, Maxine Hong Kingston (1987)
CROSSING THE RIVER, Caryl Phillips
(1993)
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; ORIENTALISM, Edward Said; "Can the Subaltern Speak?" Gayatri Spivak; "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
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
One short paper (6-7 pp.) and one longer final paper (10-13 pp.); class presentation.
COURSE FORMAT:
Lecture/Discussion
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL
Grading Mode:
Graded
Prerequisites:
NONE
SECTION 01
- Instructor(s): González,Bill Johnson
- Times: ...W... 07:00PM-09:50PM; Location: FISK305;
- Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 19)
- SR. major: 3 Jr. major: 3
- SR. non-major: 2 Jr. non-major: 1 SO: X FR: X
Special Attributes:
Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-30-2006
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