2014-2015 Academic Catalog

May 05, 2024

2014-2015 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ENG 165 - American Ethnic Writers

This course surveys significant contributions made by ethnic authors to the development of American literature over the course of the twentieth century. Our objective is to gain a greater understanding of the history and range of ethnic writing that comprises the ever-evolving American literary canon. As such, the course will move chronologically through the century to mark the crucial emergences of exemplary writers from major ethnic groups: African Americans, Jewish Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino/as. We will employ a comparative approach to examine the similarities and differences among the groups’ aesthetic and political goals, particularly in their treatments of the reigning themes of ethnic writing: emigration and immigration; slavery and internal colonization; acculturation and assimilation; alienation and marginalization; and racism and discrimination. Critical emphasis will be on how writers from the margins vitally critique and shape the American literary mainstream. Fulfills the Historical Sequence requirement (A-2) for the English major.

Prerequisites: VE Prerequisite

Anticipated Terms Offered: Every other year