Ethno-Racial Identity Configurations

Ethno–Racial Identity Configurations in American Narratives.
Cross–Cultural Encounters
Instructor: Dana Mihăilescu ([e-mail])
This course investigates different stances of ethno-racial identity configurations and cross-cultural encounters in
American literature throughout time, focusing on the relations between collective and individual memory and trauma, mainstream and minority tensions, as well as ethno-racial and ethical dilemmas. The course looks at identity as a contextually based-fluid category, the result of spaces of negotiation. By examining moments of struggle and power imbalance in the relation between mainstream and minority groups, the course also explores the fundamental role of literature in mourning and historical
reparation.
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Theories of identity, assimilation, and ethnic writing in the U.S. [melting pot, 100% Americanism, cultural pluralism, multiculturalism, affiliation / post-ethnicity; transcultural autoethnography, cultural zone]
David A. Biale. “The Melting Pot and Beyond.” Best Contemporary Jewish Writing. Ed. Michael Lerner. San
Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2001. 8–14.
Mary Louise Pratt. “Criticism in the Contact Zone.” Imperial Eyes. Travel Writing and Transculturation. New
York: Routledge, 1992. 1–12.
Matthew Frye Jacobson. “Introduction. The Fabrication of Race.” Whiteness of a Different Color. European
Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998. 1–12.
Case studies: Art Spiegelman, “The Eye-Ball”; Toni Morrison, Nobel Lecture, 1993
Week 3: Ethno-racial Identity Configurations and the Work of Memory. Theoretical Considerations
Types of memory: Mieke Bal. “Introduction.” Acts of Memory. Cultural Recall in the Present. Eds. Mieke Bal,
Jonathan Crewe and Leo Spitzer. Hanover: Dartmouth College University Press of New England, 1999. VII–
XVII.
Postmemory and “points of memory”: Marianne Hirsch. “Surviving Images: Holocaust Photographs and the
Work of Postmemory.” The Yale Journal of Criticism 14.1 (2001): 5–37.
Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer. “The Witness in the Archive: Holocaust Studies/Memory Studies.”
Memory Studies 2.2 (May 2009): 151–170.
Multidirectional memory: Michael Rothberg. “Introduction: Theorizing Multidirectional Memory in a
Transnational Age.” Multidirectional Memory. Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization.
Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009. 1–12.
Memory and the color line: W.E.B. Du Bois. “The Negro and the Warsaw Ghetto” (1952)
Week 4: Performing Identities and Beyond: Power Fields, Norms and Ethical Openings of Acknowledged
Precariousness. Theoretical considerations
Michel Foucault. “Morality and Practice of the Self.” History of Sexuality Volume 2: The Use of Pleasure.
1984. Transl. Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage Books, 1990. 25–32.
Judith Butler. “Precarious Life.” Precarious Life. The Powers of Mourning and Violence. London: Verso,
2004. 128–151.
Leigh Gilmore. “”What Was I?”: Literary Witness and the Testimonial Archive.” Profession (The Modern
Language Association of America 2011): 77–84.
Catherine Rottenberg. “Performing Americanness.” Performing Americanness. Hanover: Dartmouth College
Press, 2008. 1–15.
Week 5: Jewishness and American Mainstream Identity Configurations: Late 19th – early 20th century:
Schreier, Barbara. “Becoming American: Jewish Women Immigrants 1880–1920.” History Today (March
1994): 25–31.
Video: Making an American Citizen (1912)
Anzia Yezierska. Bread Givers (1925)
Week 6 Jewishness and American Mainstream Identity Configurations: Mid-twentieth century:
Delmore Schwartz. “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities”; “America! America!”

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Week 7: African Americans and Mainstream Identity Configurations [Black on Black]
Richard Wright. “Bright and Morning Star” / “Fire and Cloud” from Uncle Tom’s Children (1938)
Theoretical/Personal essay: Adrian Piper.
“Passing for White, Passing for Black.” The Visual Culture Reader.
Ed. N Mirzo. London: Routledge, 1998. 546–555.
Adrian Piper. “I Am the Locus no.2.” Performance Work, 1975.
Weeks 8: African Americans and Mainstream Identity Configurations [White on Black/Black on Black]
Theoretical, personal essay: Norman Podhoretz. “My Negro Problem–And Ours.” The New York Intellectuals
Reader. Ed. Neill Jumonville. New York: Routledge, 2007. 327–340.
Bernard Malamud. “Black is My Favorite Color.” 1963. American Mix. The Minority Experience in America.
Eds. Morris Freedman and Carolyn Banks. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1972. 186–193.
Aaron McGruder. The Boondocks (1999–2012) [www.gocomics.com/boondocks]
Week 9: Native Americans / Chicanos and Mainstream Identity Configurations
[Native] Oliver La Farge. “The Happy Indian Laughter.” 1955. American Mix. The Minority Experience in
America. Eds. Morris Freedman and Carolyn Banks. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1972. 35–45. [Native Americans]
[Chicana] Sandra Cisneros. “Woman Hollering Creek.” Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories. New
York: Vintage Books, 1991.
Response paper due this week.
Week 10: Contemporary Configurations of Ethnic Identities: Asian-White
Encounters
Screening: White Light, Black Rain. The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
John Berger. “Hiroshima.” The Sense of Sight. New York: Pantheon, 1985. 287–295.
Week 11: Contemporary Configurations of Ethnic Identities: Japanese American/Chinese American
Identities
Chiori Miyagawa. “America Dreaming” (1994) in Global Foreigners. An Anthology of Plays. Eds. Carol
Martin and Saviana Stanescu. New York: Seagull Books, 2006. 261–288.
Gish Jen. “Who’s Irish?”
Week 12: Contemporary Configurations of Ethnic Identities: Eastern European – U.S. Encounters
Norman Manea. “Proust’s Tea.” October Eight O’Clock. London: Quartet Books, 1992. 35–41.
Svetlana Boym. Hydrant Immigrants [Visual Project]. Web. <http://www.svetlanaboym.com/diaspora.htm>.
Svetlana Boym. “Immigrant Souvenirs.” The Future of Nostalgia. NY: Basic Books, 2001. 251–258; 327–336.
[Further Reading: Norman Manea. “Romania.” On Clowns. The Dictator and the Artist. London: Faber and
Faber, 1994. 3–32.]
Week 13: Contemporary Configurations of Ethnic Identities: Eastern European – U.S.
Encounters
Aleksandar Hemon. The Lazarus Project (2008) – novel available at Room 4
Draft of the essay due this week. The essay is due within a week.
Requirements and grade assessment:
Students are expected to constantly take part in class discussions and to read the texts on a weekly basis. You are to make one presentation on a specific topic from the literary or theoretical texts included in the reading list and to write a 2-page response paper and a 3–5 page essay. The response paper will consist of a question about the specific construction of ethnic identity configurations in one of the literary texts discussed in class and your answer and comments on this margin. The essay will be based on a topic of your choice from one of the literary texts in the reading list [you can either choose one or several passages and comment upon them or investigate a theme related to ethno-racial identity configurations as rendered in a literary text] (MLA citation style, 12 Times New Roman, double spacing). Plagiarism will be penalized by failure on the assignment and course. Grade breakdown:
Class participation: 20% of final grade
Oral presentation: 30% of final grade
Written papers: 50% of final grade
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