Coming to America: The West Indian Immigrant Novel

3 Credits.

At various points in the twentieth century, the United States saw large numbers of immigrants from the British West Indies. As these immigrants settled, they began to form communities and develop literature that reflected their experiences in their new home. With special attention to the novel, this course examines how this literature tackled the complicated relationship between race, immigration, and citizenship. To investigate this relationship, this course may examine novels like Claude McKay's Home to Harlem, Paule Marshall's Brown Girl, Brownstones, Elizabeth Nuñez's Beyond the Limbo Silence, and Caryl Phillips's Dancing in the Dark.