English 239bc - Multi-Ethnic American Literature: Borders and Border Crossings

What terrain—physically, culturally, and emotionally—do American writers inhabit when they write about borders? How might thinking about borders, whether literal or metaphorical ones, complicate the way race, class, and gender inform matters of belonging and citizenship? Using literary and cultural analysis, this course explores what it means to be, become, or refuse to be “American.” Major course themes include ethnic subjects and the American Dream, internment and detainment, and the disputed ownership of land, resources, and persons. Texts studied will include fiction and poetry written by a broad range of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian American writers.