Introduction to Ethnic American Literature course

1. What is Ethnic Literature?

2. What does “ethnic” mean?
“of or relating to large groups
of people classed according to
common racial, national,
tribal, religious, linguistic, or
cultural origin or background.”
(Webster’s Dictionary)

3. Ethnic classifications
Hispanics or Latinos are being
classed according to language
(Spanish) more so than “race.”
African-Americans are being classed
according to race.
Asian-Americans are classed
according to race, but often also
subdivided according to national
origin.

4. Ethnic classifications
White Americans are usually
considered ethnic only in terms of
strong national or religious
identifications i.e. Italian, Jewish
Native Americans are usually
classified by tribe, but sometimes by
race as indigenous or native peoples

5. Ethnic Classifications
There can also be regional
identifications--New Yorkers,
Californians, locals
Both regional and national
identifications can be strengthened by
moving away from the group--when
they are dominant they are often
taken for granted.

6. Ethnic identifications
Linguistic, and cultural identifications
are weakened through exposure to a
dominant alternative culture as
members of ethnic groups become
assimilated.
The following poem by Pat Mora
describes this process:

7. Immigrants
Wrap their babies in the American flag,
feed them mashed hot dogs and apple pie,
name them Bill and Daisy,
buy them blonde dolls that blink blue
eyes or a football and tiny cleats
before the baby can even walk,
speak to them in thick English
hallo, babee, hallo

8. Immigrants
whisper in Spanish or Polish
when the babies sleep, whisper
in a dark parent bed, that dark
parent fear, “Will they like
our boy, our girl, our fine american
boy, our fine american girl?”

9. What is Literature?
Imaginative Writing
Stories, novels
Autobiography
poems, song lyrics, chants
plays
Films
We will include novels, stories,
poems, film and a play

10. So what is ethnic literature?
Literature in which the protagonists
or, in the case of poetry, the
speakers, are conscious of being
members of a group of people
sharing a common and distinctive
racial, national, religious, linguistic, or
cultural heritage.
I define it by subject matter rather
than the ethnic background of the
author.

11. Who writes “ethnic” lit?
Members of ethnic groups can write
literature that is not “ethnic”
People who are not part of a specific
ethnic group can write ethnic
literature about that group but this
may raise difficult questions about
authenticity.
For the most part I try to choose
works written by “insiders.”

12. Generic characteristics of ethnic
literature
Recurrent themes (list
follows)
Hybridization
mixture of styles and
genres
mixture of traditions
from different cultures
Presence of a culture
bearer-older character
who passes on
traditions and wisdom
Consciousness of a
double audience-
insiders from own
culture and outsiders
from dominant culture
multi-lingual
incorporation of
visions, dreams or
other supernatural
elements

13. Themes of ethnic literature
Experiences of
prejudice,
discrimination, or
racism
generational
conflicts--
particularly
between immigrant
parents and their
American-born
children or
grandchildren,
nostalgia for or
struggle to recover
a lost ethnic
identity,
pride in and
celebration of one’s
heritage versus
shame and
discomfort at being
different,

14. Themes of ethnic literature
The feeling of being caught between
two worlds.
Conflicts between “American” values
and “ethnic” values,
The conflict and convergence of
differing ethnic traditions.

15. Native roots and hybridity
We will start with two novels that deal
with both native American spirituality
and traditions and the experience of
hybridity.
The Plague of Doves Louise Erdich
The Hummingbird’s Daughter Luis
Urrea
The first is set in the United States and
the other is set in Mexico.

16. Poems and a film
We will also read poems by Native
Americans and by Latinos before
beginning each novel
We will watch the film Smoke Signals
And we will see a play UchinaAloha

17. The African American Heritage
We will continue with Song of Solomon by
Toni Morrison (20th
century novel about a
young man driven to explore his family’s
past)
We will also watch the play (on film) The
Piano Lesson by August Wilson in which a
family in the 1930’s copes with the legacy
of slavery
We will conclude this section with African
American poems

18. Becoming American
Next we will read two novels in the sub-
category of American ethnic literature
called immigrant literature
Typical American by Gish Jen
Jasmine by Bharati Mukherjee
Both novels are written by Asian American
women (of Chinese and East Indian
ancestry respectively)
We will have classes focused on Asian
American poems and poems on the
immigrant experience more generally