ENGL 180H American Identities

THE FAMILY. This course will examine how migration and immigration shape changing ethnic, racial, class, gender, sexual, and national ideologies informing the concept of an “American Identity.” We will pay close attention to the concept of the family within the formations of multiple ethnic groups, including Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, Mexican Americans, and whites. We will examine the manifestations of these processes at key moments of domestic crises and international conflicts in U.S. history in a variety of literary and cultural texts, such as film, music, history, fiction, and scholarly works.

The aims of this course are to familiarize students to the complexities and contradictions embedded in the concept of American Identities. In particular, we will question and analyze essentialist notions and processes of identity formation and we will take a comparative approach focusing on how identities are shaped with and against other ethnic, racial, national, gender, and classed groups in the struggles for economic, social, and political dominance.

Hall reading for week 2