Irish American Literature

This course will provide an introduction to Irish American literature from the 19th century to the present day, looking at a number of issues. Specific attention will be paid to constructions of race, gender, and sexuality and the texts examined here will be explored with questions relating to these in mind. Throughout the course, we will consider race relations in 19th and 20th century US culture, new scholarship on the Black and Green Atlantic and trace the problematics of Irish America's (self) construction of whiteness.