| Part A: Ethnicity/Race in the United States
In the words of Etienne Balibar “[I]t is not race which is a biological or psychological human ‘memory’, but
it is racism which represents one of the most insistent forms of the historical memory of modern societies”.
(Race, Nation, class, 1991: 44 – 5). This course will explore the politics of ethnicity and race in the United
States and the dynamics of interethnic encounters in response to changing social, historical, political,
ideological and economic conditions. It will include close study of a selection of texts that illustrate and
interrogate the different ethnicities that constitute the United States.
Part B: Asian American Literature
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Asian America was constructed by U.S. immigration policies via
exclusion acts and quotas that relied upon racialist discourse. This module will examine literary
representations of Asian American identities in relation to questions of class, gender, ethnicity, generation,
and national origin that challenge the homogenisation of ethnic identities. Topics include immigration and
settlement patterns, nationalism, exclusionism, assimilation, diasporas and transnationalism. |
Administrative assistant: DILMAHOMED BOCUS Bibi Swaleha
Telephone: 4037400
Email: s.dilmahomed@uom.ac.mu |
