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The immigrant experience is a central feature of American life, literature and culture--as the saying goes, "American history is immigration." Because the United States is a relatively young nation, many Americans, even those "who came over on the Mayflower" often lay claim to immigrant status, and find important family ties in other nations and cultures. It is typical to find Americans talking of a Scots Presbyterian influence on one side of the family, an Italian Catholic influence on the other, or to refer to their identities as an amalgam of different, often competing, cultures. Certainly since the turn of the twentieth century, immigration became one of the most important forces in creating that stereotype known as the American character: hardy, pragmatic, optimistic, inventive, individualistic, resistant to rules. Between 1870-1920, 26 million immigrants arrived in the United States--50 times as many as had arrived in the previous 50 years. Most hailed from Eastern and Southern European countries like Poland, Bohemia, Slovenia, unlike earlier generations which came mainly from Western Europe. More recent waves of immigrants have come from almost every nation, and every continent in the world: Mexico, Korea, the Caribbean islands, Central and South America, Africa, are now dominant influences in the cuisine and culture of most large American cities. The course will cover writings that illuminate a variety of American immigrant lives: Irish-German-American, Mexican-American, Eastern European Jewish-American, Haitian-American, Dominican-American, Korean-American, Chinese-American Greek-American, and Arab-American experiences will be examined. Mary Antin, The Promised Land Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Junot Díaz, Drown Edwidge Danticat, The Dew Breaker Chang-Rae Lee, Native Speaker Richard Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez Ilan Stavans, Mr. Spic Goes to Washington Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does it Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America |
