ENGL 254 - Birth of the American Nation: Texts and Contexts

4 HU, CD, WR
Second Semester. This course begins with the belief that a nation’s alleged “origin” is always suspect, revealing more about a nation’s contemporary ideological needs than historical “truth.” We will dismantle the well-worn narrative of Puritan origin by looking at adventure narratives from early French, Spanish, and British explorers / empire-builders / entrepreneurs, Native American oral/written texts, Puritan sermons, captivity narratives, and revolutionary / post-revolutionary texts to explore how nation and national identities have been formed and re-formed. American, Diversity, Pre-1700 OR 1700-1900 (not both).

Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisite: See headnote above. Enrollment limit: 30.
Ms. Takada

Credits: 4 hours