Department of English

This course will deploy a cultural studies model to study the literature of diaspora in the Americas. In particular, we will consider the role that migration, voluntary and involuntary has played in shaping ethnic identity. We will also consider whether prevailing conceptions of "national" literatures are any longer adequate to study the literature of the Americas if they ever were. Our focus will be on the literature of African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, and Caribbeans and Caribbean-Americas. In addition to reading literary texts, students will read major cultural studies theoretical texts as well as some historical documents.