Pedagogy Oct 2010

Page and Screen

David S. Goldstein

Abstract

Courses on ethnic American literature can unintentionally reinscribe students' preconceptions and stereotypes about ethnic American subgroups or create the false impression that each ethnic group is homogeneous. A student with limited experience with people of color might think she now understands an ethnic group after reading an ethnic American novel, for example. By using fiction and non-fiction film, teachers can destabilize students' oversimplified views of ethnic groups and of the concepts of race and ethnicity themselves. The course described here started with Toni Morrison's short story, “Recitatif,” which ingeniously leads readers to examine their own racial preconceptions. Then, novels (Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich, Sent for You Yesterday by John Wideman, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, and Mona in the Promised Land by Gish Jen) are paired with films to demonstrate that greater diversity exists within any ethnic group than between any two. Students also engage a few key articles about canon formation so they can understand ethnic literature in the context of American literary traditions. By the end of the course, students have a healthy uncertainty regarding race and ethnicity, their oversimplifications having been undermined by their work with diverse texts.

Journal
Pedagogy
Published
2010-10-01
DOI
10.1215/15314200-2010-008
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
race and writing literary studies
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References (15)

  1. Alexie, Sherman. 1994. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.
  2. Cisneros, Sandra. 1985, 1991. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage.
  3. Erdrich, Louise. 1993. Love Medicine. New York: HarperCollins.
  4. Girls Like Us. 1997. Dir. Tina Di Felicitiantonio and Jane C. Weaver. Independent Television Service.
  5. Jen, Gish. 1996. Mona in the Promised Land. New York: Knopf.
Show all 15 →
  1. Kolb, Harold H., Jr. 1990. “Defining the Canon.” In Redefining American Literary History, ed. A. LaVonne Brow…
  2. Lauter, Paul. 1990. “The Literatures of America: A Comparative Discipline.” In Redefining American Literary H…
  3. Lowe, John. 2000. “Multicultural Literature in the United States: Advent and Process.” U.S. Society and Value…
  4. Morrison, Toni. 1983. “Recitatif.” In Confirmation: An Anthology of African-American Women, ed. Amiri Baraka …
  5. Once upon a Time... When We Were Colored. 1995. Dir. Tim Reid. BET Pictures.
  6. Rashomon. 1950. Dir. Akira Kurosawa. Perf. Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, and Masayuki Mori. Daiei.
  7. Separate Lives, Broken Dreams. 1994. Dir. Jennie F. Lew. KPIX-TV and Chinese American Citizens Alliance.
  8. Smoke Signals. 1998. Dir. Chris Eyre. Screenplay Sherman Alexie. ShadowCatcher Entertainment.
  9. TuSmith, Bonnie. 1993. All My Relatives: Community in Contemporary Ethnic American Literatures. Ann Arbor: Un…
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  10. Wideman, John Edgar. 1997. Sent for You Yesterday. New York: Houghton Mifflin.
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