Papers, Please: Crafting the Un/Documented Memoir

Harvard HMS

This generative creative writing course pairs close readings of un/documented immigrant memoirs with a biweekly workshop. Through works of Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Jose Antonio Vargas, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Cathy Park Hong, and others, students study how these writers build voice, structure, and authority under sociopolitical and bodily constraint. Immigration is a social determinant of health: undocumented and mixed-status families face severe physical, mental, and intergenerational health…