What Is American Ethnic Literature?

Assignment Content

While the Harlem Renaissance created a blossoming of African American literature, the decades after World War II saw an explosion of ethnic literature. This literature came from numerous cultures, such as Native American, Asian American, African American, and Hispanic American. The authors wrote from their own traditions in response to what they saw as the mainstream of American literature and in response to one another.

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper in which you define American ethnic literature. Your paper should:

Incorporate works from at least three distinct literary traditions so your explanation is representative of the larger literary movement.
Using the works selected, describe how American ethnic literature is important and what factors influenced it. Answer the following questions in your analysis:
How is American ethnic literature influential on politics and education?
How does American ethnic literature respond to elements that it explicitly discusses, such as political inclusion and exclusion?
How does American ethnic literature respond to factors that are not discussed as explicitly, such as technological change?