This course takes a transnational perspective towards the subject of “Home” and its cultural construction among immigrants, refugees, and displaced people: what does it mean to “be home” or displaced, how is it privileged and imagined, and how is it contested. Exploring a wide range of multiple media--literary texts, films, popular music and art—the class will closely articulate the aesthetic, linguistic and thematic conceptions of home—its borders, bodies, interior, doors, and bridges—that have generated historical claims, political identity, utopian contours, and conceptions of insiders and foreigner, and the corollary social understanding of human rights. Special attention will be paid to the constitutive role of literature—oral, textual, or visual—within different narratives.

Course Requirements:

In addition to weekly readings and short writing assignments, you are expected to submit a short midterm paper (3-4 pages) and final paper (7-8 pages).