ENGL 247 - American Ethnic Literature

Credits: 5
A study of American literature by ethnic writers, including selections from Native American, African American, Latinx, Asian American, and immigrant writing. Students read individual texts closely, explore various literary critical and comparative approaches, situate texts in their historical and cultural contexts, and produce their own written interpretations.

Prerequisite: Eligible for ENGL 099 or instructor’s permission.

Satisfies Requirement: Humanities/Fine Arts/English and Diversity

Course Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this class will be able to:

Gain familiarity with various literary genres within American ethnic literature, including fiction, drama, poetry and memoir, along with related literary criticism.
Investigate the historical, cultural and political contexts within which literary works emerge and function.
Understand the evolving definitions, functions and struggles around race and ethnicity as expressed in the literature.
Explore the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexuality as these inform the literature.
Engage in close reading and critical thinking in relation to texts and contexts.
Develop a comparative understanding of the literature and experiences of different ethnic groups, including the relationship between ethnic literature and the traditional American canon.
Improve writing skills and gain greater confidence in producing literary criticism.
Demonstrate student responsibility by fulfilling requirements in a timely, engaged and serious manner.
Successfully complete written responses to literature.
Participate effectively, demonstrating critical reflection.

Program Outcomes
Students will demonstrate college-level reading skills by summarizing, analyzing, interpreting, synthesizing, and evaluating college texts; and develop an awareness of the approaches writers use for different audiences, genres, and rhetorical situations.

College-wide Outcomes

Critical Thinking - Critical thinking finds expression in all disciplines and everyday life. It is characterized by an ability to reflect upon thinking patterns, including the role of emotions on thoughts, and to rigorously assess the quality of thought through its work products. Critical thinkers routinely evaluate thinking processes and alter them, as necessary, to facilitate an improvement in their thinking and potentially foster certain dispositions or intellectual traits over time.