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<p>Dear all,</p>
<p>HACU 227: "Beyond the Melting Pot" (TTH 10:30-11:50) has plenty of space, fulfills distribution (CHL), and will be fun! We look at writing by immigrants, representations of immigrants in popular culture, and trace the complex metaphor of the "melting pot" in American culture. We focus mostly on the 1880-1935 period, but with lots of comparisons to today. For the final project, I highly encourage creative projects in the class. Below is the Hub description.</p>
<p>Try it out (and tell your friends)!</p>
<p>"This course seeks to uncover the roots of today's debates about immigration and American identity in the interactions between Jewish immigrants of the turn of the 20th century and other immigrant and ethno-racial communities in the United States in the context of popular culture and literature. We will begin with debates about race, ethnicity and immigration in the nineteenth century as they took shape in relation to a rapidly modernizing American cultural landscape. We will progress through the twentieth century with particular attention to popular film, theater, literature, music, and other cultural products, examining how they represent the dynamics of assimilation vs. pluralism, intermarriage and secularization, racial and ethnic representations and performance, cross-cultural alliances and ruptures. This is a relatively intensive reading and writing course. The semester will culminate in a large-scale independent project."</p>
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<pre>-- <br />Rachel Rubinstein
Associate Professor of American Literature and Jewish Studies
Dean of Academic Support and Advising
Hampshire College
893 West Street
Amherst MA 01002
413.559.5498</pre>
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