The Immigrant Memoir

In this seminar, we will explore memoirs focused on the writing of memories about immigrant experiences in the United States. The memoirs we cover will detail subjective understandings of immigration revealing how immigrants navigate cultural, social, economic, and political challenges. The course will be an advanced seminar in immigrant history and experience in the United States as we investigate the contexts of migration of each story. We will discuss the power and the pitfalls interpreting memoir writing as social critique. The course will cover a variety of conventions within the genre of immigrant memoirs. In addition to studying book-length memoirs, we will approach how authors use poetry, short story, film, and graphic novels to tell personal stories. Students will also write memoirs in a variety of styles. This course is part of the Public Humanities Labs Initiative administered by the Axinn Center for the Humanities./