Critical Family History: Narratives of Identity and Difference

This course examines family history as a site for understanding identity, power, and social difference in American society. Focusing in particular on the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality, we approach the family as an archive through which we might write alternative histories to the ones that dominate the national historical consciousness. To do this, we examine memoirs, oral histories, and first-person documentaries as historical texts that can be used to foreground marginalized historical voices. Students will then be asked to apply course readings and theories to their own family histories as a means of better understanding issues of identity and difference.