Prof. Dr. Josef Raab
Nordamerikastudien
http://www.uni-due.de/amerikanistik
Office hour: Mon., 2:30-3:30 p.m.
Office: R12 S04 H11, Phone: 183-3412
E-mail: Josef.Raab@uni-due.de
Race and Ethnicity in 20th- and 21st-Century
American Literature
Course Description
In this course we will recapitulate the historical developments that have taken place in terms of
“race” and ethnicity in the U.S. during the 20th and 21st century. The Harlem Renaissance, the Civil
Rights Movement, the Chicano Movement, 9/11, and the presidency of Barack Obama will be of
special interest to us as backgrounds for examining ways in which American writers have engaged
with ethnic identity and race relations.
Requirements
• All participants: regular attendance and completion of all reading assignments.
• For “Literary Studies Seminar” credit or “Studienleistung” credit in Module VI or G/Ga or for 4
ECTS ERASMUS points or for “Kulturwirt” credit: Take the final examination on Feb. 5 and write
two short essays of one to two pages each. For your two essays, choose two of our three central texts:
Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Human Stain, or The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time
Indian. Write a short essay on any aspect of the novel(s) you picked. Your essay needs a thesis and
it should not summarize the plot. Your essay is due the day we start discussing the work about which
you wrote. You may use secondary sources, but you do not need to. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE from
the Internet or from other sources! If you use any sources, name them. Substantiate your argument
with quotations and please give exact page numbers for the quotations you use.
• For additional “Schriftliche Hausarbeit” Studienbuch credit in Module VI (LPO 2003 and B.A. PO
2006) or for Module VI “Modulabschlussarbeit” B.A. (PO 2012) or for an additional 4 ECTS
ERASMUS points: Write a 10- to 12-page research paper (due in R12 S04 H14 on March 17).
• For M.A. Module XVII or Module AmSt3 credit: Fulfill the requirements for Module VI seminar
credit plus choose one of the works at the bottom of this syllabus and write a six- to ten-page research
essay on race and ethnicity in that particular work (using at least three secondary sources). Essays are
due in class on January 8.
• “Modulabschlussprüfung”: Lehramt B.A. students can sign up for their oral “Modulabschlussprüfung” with Ms. Bußhoff (R12 V03 D05); Anglophone Studies B.A. students (PO 2012) write a
research paper for one of their Module VI courses as their “Modulabschlussarbeit” (if you write it in
this class, it is due March 17, 2014); for M.A. students the final exam of this class plus the other
assignments are treated as part of their cumulative “Modulabschlussprüfung” for AmSt3.
Your participation in class discussion will enter into your seminar grade.
Research papers should use the MLA style for quotations and other formal aspects; consult my
guidelines at
http://www.uni-due.de/amerikanistik/writing_research_papers.shtml
for details. Include your e-mail address on the paper's title page and indicate your degree program
(“Studiengang”). You will be informed by e-mail once you can pick up your graded work.
Course Readings
Students are asked to purchase:
• Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (Harper Perennial Modern
Classics, ISBN-10: 0060838671, ISBN-13: 978-0060838676),
• Philipp Roth, The Human Stain (Vintage, ISBN-10: 9780099282198 ISBN-13: 9780099282198),
• Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian (Andersen, ISBN-10:
1842708449, ISBN-13: 978-1842708446).
Additional texts will be compiled in a reader, which will be available from the copy shop at
Reckhammerweg 4 by October 24.
Course Outline
October 23: Introduction
Introduction
Race and Ethnicity in American History, Culture, and Literature
October 30: The Early Twentieth Century
Werner Sollors, “Ethnicity and Race”
Sui Sin Far, “In the Land of the Free”
Mary Antin, selections from The Promised Land
November 6: NO CLASS. Please use the time to read the longer texts for this class and/or to
write one of your short essays.
November 13: Two African-American Outlooks
Andrew R. Heinze, “The Ciritcal Period: Ethnic Emergence and Reaction, 1901-1929”
Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery (chs. 1-3, 14)
W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (chs. 1-3)
November 20: The Harlem Renaissance
Alain Locke, “The New Negro”
Claude McKay, “If We Must Die,” “Africa,” “America”
Langston Hughes, “I Too,” “Harlem,” “The Blues I’m Playing”
November 27: Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
December 4: Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Thomas A. Guglielmo and Earl Lewis, “Changing Racial Meanings: Race and Ethnicity in the United
States, 1930-1964”
December 11: The Civil Rights Movement and the American Indian Movement
Martin Luther King, “I Have a Dream”
Octavia Butler, “Bloodchild”
N. Scott Momaday, selections from The Way to Rainy Mountain
Timothy J. Meagher, “Racial and Ethnic Relations in America, 1965-2000”
December 18: The Chicano Movement and U.S. Latinas/os
Clara E. Rodríguez, “Latinos in the U.S. Race Structure”
Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, “I Am Joaquin”
Selections from Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
Selections from Ana Castillo, The Guardians
January 8: Philip Roth
Philip Roth, The Human Stain
January 15: Philip Roth
Philip Roth, The Human Stain
Jennifer Glaser, “The Jew in the Canon: Reading Race and Literary History in Philip Roth’s The
Human Stain”
Jan. 22: Post-9/11 Islamophobia
Selections from Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem?
David A. Hollinger, “Obama, the Instability of the Color Lines, and the Promise of a Postethnic
Future”
Jan. 29: The Post-Indian Approach
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
Feb. 5: The Post-Indian Approach; Final Exam
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian
Final examination (1 hour)
Master’s students in Module XVII or Module AmSt3 are asked to pick one of these works and to
write a six- to ten-page essay on race and ethnicity in that work, using at least three secondary
sources. Essays are due in class on January 8, 2014.
Jean Toomer, Cane
Bernard Malamud, The Assistant
Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony
Luis Valdez, Zoot Suit
August Wilson, Fences
Chang-Rae Lee, Native Speaker
Ana Castillo, The Guardians