Independent Study

Catalog description

Our sense of cultural identity is in flux and under construction, subject to the play of history and difference. Through documentaries, videos and readings of American Indian myths, stories from the Latin American Boom, and vernacular African- American tales, students uncover layered histories of American destinies and their possible role in defining a more inclusive sense of American culture. Students analyze how stories and counter-stories teach and delight; how gender is constructed through cautionary or celebratory tales and how diverse spiritual and erotic values are encoded. Students locate, in stories, the struggle against inhuman violence motivated by greed and fear. Students explore the American Indian presence in Los Angeles, in a powwow, museum visit and guest interview.