How do immigrants learn to become American? How does living an ethnic identity vary for different groups? When does ethnicity become a chosen identity or an unwanted label? How do we learn to value some aspects of ethnicity but not others? What are markers of ethnicity? How do language, food, music, family and community work to provide authenticity to the American immigrant experience? What happens to ethnicity with assimilation to the American way of life? Can ethnicity combat the tidal social expectations to conform to the dominant culture? Using a variety of written materials including novels that explore the ethnic identity of different groups, this course raises questions about how ethnicity and American identity are connected. Note: This course fulfills the Race & Diversity (GD) requirement for students under GenEd and Studies in Race (RS) for students under Core.
Duplicate Credit Warning: Students may take only one of the following courses for credit; all other instances will be deducted from their credit totals: Sociology 0835, 0935, 1476, 1496, R064, X064.