Contemporary U.S. Ethnic Literature
This course introduces students to readings across the field of ethnic literature and culture in order to form their capacity to speak and think critically about race relations in the United States.
We will explore the complex constructions and inventions of race in America through the lens of literature and with the tools of critical thinking and shared conversation. Literary reading includes Asian American, African American, Native, Jewish, and Latino/a writings, such as Danzy Senna’s Caucasia, Sherman Alexie’s The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems, Keren Tei Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange, Art Spiegelman’s Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, and Octavia Butler’s Fledgling. There will be some examination of the treatment of race in contemporary film and television, including Eyes on the Prize II: The Keys to the Kingdom; and Smoke Signal. The course will also attend to the construction of whiteness using scholarly criticism and literary writing from Herman Melville and Ralph Ellison.
To guide our conversations about racialization and race relations, we will read essays concerning race theory, racial construction and authenticity, histories of raced subjects in America, the rise of ethnic studies, white ignorance and whiteness studies, the intersectionality of race with gender, sexual orientation, economic class, religion, and faith. Students will have the opportunity to explore their own experiences and their responses to the political uses of race in American civic life today. The course is writing intensive, with frequent responses papers, a portfolio of multi-media analysis, and more formal essay assignments including research.
Required Texts:
Hazel Rose Marcus and Paul M.L. Moya, Eds. Doing Race: 21 Essays for the 21st Century. W.W. Norton, 2010.
Danzy Senna. Caucasia. Riverhead/Penguin, 1999.
Sherman Alexie. The Business of Fancydancing. Hanging Loose Press, 1992.
Karen Tei Yamashita. Tropic of Orange. Coffee House Press, 1997.
Art Spiegelman. Maus: A Survivor's Tale, Parts I & II. Random House, 1992.
Claudia Rankine. Citizen: An American Lyric. Graywolf Press, 2014.
Octavia Butler. Fledgling. Grand Central, 2007.
Course Objectives
At the completion of this course, students should be able to:
Analyze and discuss the social and cultural construction of race in American history and in the contemporary United States;
Distinguish between concepts such as race, racialization, institutional racism, ethnicity, identity, assimilation, pluralism, the “Other,” ethnic cleansing, genocide, stereotype, white privilege, white ignorance, and so on;
Consider links between ethnicity, race, and other aspects of identity such as age, sex, gender, national origin, geographic background, and disability;
Recognize ways in which ethnic difference may (or may not) influence literary forms, devices, and narratives;
Respond to a variety of literary forms including short stories, novels, criticism, biography, graphic narratives/comics, poetry, lyrical prose, as well as music, visual culture, and film;
Interpret and analyze contemporary U.S. literature in light of racialized contexts and histories.
Compose a substantial literary analysis essay with reference to expert sources and contemporary reviews.
Grading
Response Papers (2pp each): 20%
Literary Analysis Essay (4-6pp): 20%
Portfolio (Creative response to 3 multi-media texts): 20%
Final Research Essay (8-10pp, plus Bibliography): 30%
Participation: 10%
Schedule
Fri, 9/11: Introductions
Tue, 9/15: Paula M. L. Moya, “Another Way to Be: Women of Color, Literature, and Myth,” in Doing Race: 483-508.
Handout (Available on Blackboard): Helena Maria Viramontes, “The Moths”
Fri, 9/18: Paula M. L. Moya & Hazel Rose Markus, “Doing Race: An Introduction,” in Doing Race: 1-102.
Response Paper #1
Tue, 9/22: Danzy Senna, Caucasia: 1-135.
Michele Elam, “The ‘Ethno-Ambiguo Hostility Syndrome’: Mixed Race, Identity, and Popular Culture,” in Doing Race, pp. 528-44.
Fri, 9/25: Caucasia: 135-208.
In-Class Viewing: Eyes on The Prize II
Tue, 9/29: Caucasia: 209-289.
Hazel Rose Markus, “Who Am I? Race, Ethnicity, and Identity,” in Doing Race: 359-390.
Response Paper #2
Fri, 10/2: Caucasia: 289-413.
Tue, 10/6: Sherman Alexie, The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems
Stephanie A. Fryberg and Alisha Watts, “We’re Honoring You, Dude: Myths, Mascots, and American Indians,” in Doing Race, pp. 458-80.
Fri, 10/9: Sheman Alexie, The Business of Fancydancing: Stories and Poems
Handout (Available on Blackboard): Natasha Trethewey, poems from Thrall.
Response Paper #3
Tue, 10/13: Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange: 1-95
Fri, 10/16: Tropic of Orange: 95-173
Tue, 10/20: Tropic of Orange: 173-241
Gordon H. Chang, “Eternally Foreign: Asian Americans, History, and Race,” in Doing Race: 216-33
Fri, 10/23: Tropic of Orange: 241-268
Albert M. Camarillo, “Going Back to Compton: Real Estate, Racial Politics, and Black-Brown Relations,” in Doing Race: 274-94.
Response Paper #4
Tue, 10/27: Whiteness
Peggy McIntosh, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack”
Charles W. Mills, “White Ignorance”
Toni Morrison, “Black Matters”
Fri, 10/30: Whiteness, Continued
Handouts (Available on Blackboard):
Matthew Frye Jacobson, “Introduction,” Whiteness of a Different Color Herman Melville, “The Whiteness of the Whale,” from Moby-Dick
Ralph Ellison, Excerpt from Invisible Man
Literary Analysis Essay Due
Tue, 11/3: Art Spiegelman, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, Part I: 1-95.
Aron Rodrigue, “The Jew as the Original ‘Other’: Difference, Antisemitism, and Race” in Doing Race: 187-98.
Fri, 11/6: Maus, I: 95-159.
Tue, 11/10: Maus, II: 1-75.
Norman M. Naimark, “A Thoroughly Modern Concept: Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide, and the State,” in Doing Race: 234-48.
Fri, 11/13: Maus, II: 75-136.
Tue, 11/17: Claudia Rankine, Citizen: 1-79
Response Paper #5
Fri, 11/20: Lawrence D. Bobo and Victor Thompson, “Racialized Mass Incarceration: Poverty, Prejudice, and Punishment,” in Doing Race: 322-355.
Jennifer L. Eberhardt, “Enduring Racial Associations: African Americans, Crime, and Animal Imagery,” in Doing Race: 439-57.
Tue, 11/24: Claudia Rankine, Citizen: 81-168.
Portfolio Due
Fri, 11/27: Thanksgiving Break, No Class
Tue, 12/1: Octavia Butler, Fledgling
Response Paper #6
Fri, 12/4: Fledgling
Tue, 12/8: Fledgling
George M. Frederickson, “Models of American Ethnic Relations,” in Doing Race: 123-135.
Fri, 12/11: Fledgling
Final Class: Date and Time TBA
Final Essay Due