ENGL 197: |
Upper-Division Seminar
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Immigration Narratives |
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| Fall 2009 |
| Instructor: Carl Gutiérrez-Jones |
| Meets on: TR 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM SH 2617 |
| Prerequisites: Writing 2, 50, or 109; English 10; or upper-division standing |
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| This course cannot be repeated and is limited to upper-division English majors only. |
This seminar will explore novels, films and short stories that examine the experiences of Mexican immigrants to the United States, as well as the impacts that these immigrants have on the communities that they enter or create. We will also be discussing historical, sociological and anthropological materials regarding immigration that will be included in a course reader. The class will engage a variety of questions during the term, including: What literary techniques are most appropriate for conveying the world view of immigrants who seek invisibility as a survival strategy? To what degree do immigrants remain connected to their place of origin, creating a circuit of culture that transforms both their new and old homes, and what factors (including technology) have enabled this disruption of the older assimilation model? To what degree have artistic representations of immigrant experience contorted the immigrants’ lived reality in order to achieve certain ends (for example, building sympathy)? What artistic strategies have been created or reworked to better represent the unique aspects of the immigrants’ lives, or of the lives that the immigrants impact in the United States? To what degree is the immigrant experience defined by isolation, or by increasing social and political influence? What is unique about the way that fiction can address these issues, or, what comes into view in the fictive treatment that is not available in other modes of analysis? Students will be asked to write a research paper, as well as short assignments due at each class meeting. The course also includes a comprehensive final exam. Our authors will include: T.C. Boyle, Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros, Alejandro Morales, John Rechy, Helena Maria Viramontes and Joseph Wambaugh. |
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