This course explores the negotiation of sociocultural selfhood across
a range of international settings. It
approaches this broad issue in a very specific way.
Each week, a body of ethnographic writing as well as international
literary works -- a novel, short stories, poems, a memoir --  are
explored for what they might reveal about the constitution and
negotiation of social identity within a given social scene.  Among the
regions represented in the course are Africa, Europe, the Caribbean,
and the United States.  Among the experiences represented are those of
women and ethnic minorities living under politically repressive
regimes; immigration in its various guises; and individual and
collective efforts to come to terms with the legacy of colonialism,
war, and other forms of violence. The potential and limitations of
ethnography and literature (as "opposed" to, for instance, orality) as
means by which to understand the sociocultural self are considered
throughout the course. As a final project each student produces either
an ethnographic work or body of fiction focused on a key issue raised
in the course.