ENG 232-01 - Traditions of Ethnic American Literature (Spring)

4 credits

States of War: Conflict and Citizenship in Ethnic American Literature. In this survey course we will examine how American identity is made and remade in times of war, often by reanimating the discourse of American exceptionalism. Entangled in the nation’s long and continuing history of war, the writers and texts organized under Ethnic American literature represent an indispensible archive for exploring questions about American identity and democratic ideals of freedom and equality. We will read key texts in Ethnic American literature - by writers such as Jessica Hagedorn, John Okada, Simon J. Ortiz, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Maxine Hong Kingston, Yusef Komunyakaa, Anna Deveare Smith, and Sherman Alexie, amongst others - that directly or indirectly respond to the historical, political, and cultural processes leading up to and following in the aftermath of twentieth-century American wars, from U.S. colonialism and the American-Philippines War to the post-9/11 Global War on Terror. Exploring greater questions of aesthetics and politics, we will attempt to understand and appreciate how artists work with, alongside, and against recognizable national narratives such as American exceptionalism, multiculturalism, and freedom.

Prerequisite: ENG 120 or ENG 121 for majors; for non majors, ENG 120 or ENG 121 or any course in the study of literature in another language department.
Instructor: Phan