"The Other America:" Reading America Through the Lens of Multi-Cultural Literature

"The Other America:" Reading America Through the Lens of Multi-Cultural Literature is a Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies class taught by McKinley Melton.

Course Description
With a nation as diverse as America, diverse perspectives are bound to play a significant role in shaping the national identity, if the existence of such an identity is even possible. This course will consider how writers have engaged the concept of national identity, all the while ensuring that their individual cultural identities are not lost in the mix. Throughout the semester, we will not only engage literature by writers who have recently arrived to this "nation of immigrants," but also writers whose families have lived in America for generations, but nevertheless maintain important connections to the original "homeland" of their ancestors. How do these writers engage concepts such as "The American Dream" and the many other ideals that supposedly form the foundation of the American social, political, and economic structure? As we consider the short fiction, poetry, and novels produced by these writers, we will attempt to answer these questions, with the understanding that we cannot come to terms with America without first recognizing the significance of the way the nation has been represented by the many people who call it theirs. This course meets Division I Distribution requirements.

Learning Goals

 * Reading
 * Writing
 * Presenting
 * Multi-Cultural