English R1B

Reading and Composition: Immigrant Form

Other Readings and Media

"Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Dictee

Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy

Ram�n P�rez, Diary of an Undocumented Immigrant

Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies

Diana Hacker, Rules for Writers, 5th edition

Required Course Reader "

Description

Immigrant form will serve as our forum for developing research and investigative skills. We will read a set of texts by and about immigrants in the United States in the context of post-1965 immigration, ultimately focusing on immigrant form in the post-9/11 era. Texts will consist of a variety of different genres, including poetry, fiction, short stories, histories, critical analysis, as well as newspaper and other media accounts. Our work will be organized around the following questions: How can we define the parameters of immigrant form? What form does the figure of the immigrant take across different genres? What do interracial or interethnic comparisons of immigrant form reveal? What work does immigrant form do in a given textual or historical context? How can we understand immigrant form in relation to other formations, particularly nationalism, nativism, and the war on terror? This course is designed to enable you to develop writing and critical thinking skills learned in the R1A course. There will be an additional focus on developing a research project, organizing and conducting research, reading and understanding sources, and writing a research paper. The first half of the semester will be devoted to exercises in argumentation and exposition, several short writing assignments, as well as self-editing and peer revision. In the second half of the semester, you will propose a question to investigate and develop a research prospectus and annotated bibliography. Your work will culminate in an oral presentation and a final essay of approximately ten pages.