Reading Race in the 21st Century

This course surveys multi-ethnic American literature by investigating processes of racial formation through literary representations produced in the 21st-century. We will study the continuities and divergences in contemporary Black, Indigenous, and Asian American literary productions from their historical iterations. What shifts have taken place in the multi-ethnic literary canon and tradition between the past to current centuries? How has the 21st century yielded new or alternate ways of telling familiar stories? What are the different forms and genres that BIPOC authors turn to in order to articulate social concerns? We will engage with themes such as the rise of genre fiction, changes to the literary marketplace, and the status of “national literature” in the global age. Authors may include: Colson Whitehead, Chang-rae Lee, Louise Erdrich, or Jhumpa Lahiri. (While ENAM0115 Introduction to Multi-Ethnic American Literature is not a prerequisite, it is encouraged.) 3hrs. sem. (REC)