Ethnic American Literature

Catalog description

This course focuses on stories from writers whose countries came in contact with American colonization. The course examines postcolonial themes in a historical context, and asks what it means to be a writer whose identity is formed by the diasporic flight of one's people. We begin with theorizing postcoloniality and move to a study of 20th century writing by Puerto Rican, Filipino, Vietnamese, and other ethnic American writers. Topics include the influences of English on vernacular literatures and the relationship of the postcolonial to contemporary politics and art.