ANGLO-AMERICAN LITERATURE 1

What Is an American? Wasps and Other Minorities

After a first introductory module, which will deal with central founding myths in the construction of American national identity, the course will focus on key issues for American culture such as gender, race and ethnic minorities' redefinition of national identity. We will reflect on the construction of US national identity from the American Revolution to the great immigratory waves of the late nineteenth century, to the 1960's Civil Rights Movements and the revisions/expansions of the notion of who/what is an American citizen triggered by the claiming for citizenship rights on the part of new subjects (women, African Americans, migrants). We will explore the increasing diversity of the United States after the Civil War, when a number of new subjects claimed their rights to political and cultural space. Literary texts as well as films, documentaries and popular culture will offer the students ground for the analysis and discussion of the currents redefinitions of American identity.