239017 Reimagining the American Hemisphere: US-Latin@ Writing (S) (SoSe 2011)

Geographically, America encompasses the Caribbean, Central America, North America and South America. Although America is a complex web of nations, peoples, regions, literatures, cultures, and languages, it is still, more often than not, identified with a single nation, i.e. the United States of America. In a time when America continues to epitomize a rhetorical ambiguity that is unprecedented worldwide, this course examines the ways Latin@ writing which inevitably exceeds the boundaries of the U.S.A., complicates the idea of ‘America’ and what it means to be an ‘American’ in the American hemisphere. By reading works by among others, Mexican American, Cuban American, Chican@, Puerto Rican mainlander, and Dominican American authors this seminar will equally try to find out if there is a way or ways to establish the very ‘thing’ that is truly American about the U.S.A. and the American continent. Questions that will engage this seminar are: Who confers Americannes to Americans? Who bestows Latinidad on Latin@s? What color/physiognomy/religion is the color/physiognomy/religion of the American hemisphere?