This module offers a hemispheric approach to North America by focusing on the history and culture of two significant borderlands regions, the Canada-US border and the Mexico-US border, as well as providing a general introduction to border theory and comparative approaches to the borderlands. The module adopts a multi- and interdisciplinary approach to the border as a place, culture and concept and moves from the colonial period into the twenty-first century. We will analyse a diverse range of historical, literary and cultural texts (testimony, fiction, poetry, drama, film, television, art, architecture, music and performance) and engage a series of critical debates about the nature of cultural and ethnic encounter, race, nation and empire. The module challenges traditional approaches to the study of these two regions, including dominant narratives about colonial conquest, expansion of the frontier, identity formation and the nation-state. A study of these two regions positions North America as a transnational space characterised by a series of porous borders, contact zones and relations of power, conflict and exchange. Students are encouraged to engage critically with the theoretical frameworks and concepts used to understand the borderlands experience more broadly, for example, racialisation, hybridity, métissage/mestizaje, transculturation and transnationalism. Ultimately, how does the borderlands experience inform our understanding of the shifting parameters of race, culture, ethnicity and nation in North America?
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