Race and Ethnicity in American Culture

This course presents a comparative study of the culture and writings of major ethnic groups in the US. Students will be exposed to the cultural expression and the processes of identity formation for various groups, including Latino/as, Native Americans, African Americans and Italian-, Irish-, and Asian Americans. Students will study key texts in the field. Topics may include theories of assimilation, integration, and colonization, conceptual models such as "whiteness," and the "melting pot," and historical responses to immigration, such as ethnocide, eugenics, and repatriation, as backdrop to the complex roles played by race and ethnicity in the US.