FYEC 129 - 130 - Melting Pot to Mosaic: Immigration, Race and Ethnicity - This course brings together readings from sociology, anthropology, history, and literature with cultural productions in the visual/performing arts to investigate histories of immigration and race relations in the U.S. American culture has long been celebrated for its openness to immigrant communities, creating a vision of the U.S. as a great "melting pot" of the world's cultural influences. Throughout our history, ethnic and minority communities have also struggled to maintain their distinct identities and cultural traditions, proposing the image of a rich cultural "mosaic" as an alternative metaphor for our cultural and racial diversity. In seeking to understand these tensions in our national identity, the course will investigate a range of topics, including among others: the history of anti-immigration policies, civil rights struggles, protest art and performance, the experiences of transnational migration, theories of assimilation, wartime impact on racial/ethnic communities, contemporary multiracial identity, and processes of globalization. In relation to these course themes, we will also analyze writers and artists who not only expose stereotypes and racial myths but also seek to fashion new identities and new narratives of community. Professor Julia Garrett, Department of English and Professor Debra Rodman, Department of Sociology/ Anthropology and Women's Studies. Four hours each semester. [Area of Knowledge requirements met: one literature course under the Art and Literature area and one sociology course under the Social Sciences area. Open to all students].