Narrative Arcs of Immigration

In this course we will look at representations of the migrant experience in America. What does it mean to leave everything behind on the chance that you or your children might build better lives? What is lost and what is gained in that gamble? How do migrants make sense of their achievement and how is that leap in itself an achievement, regardless of outcome. We will address these questions through three primary texts: Richard Rodriguez’s Hunger of Memory, Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, and Abraham Verghese’s My Own Country: A Doctor’s Story. This course counts as elective credit toward the ENAM major.