A critical engagement with the challenges that race and gender create for identity, especially as one attempts to integrate into an American cultural space. We explore how writers locate experience within geographic and cultural contexts, and consider theories that address fundamental issues and problems of identity. Discussions explore how race, ethnicity, gender, and class intersect to characterize writers' experiences in America. Focus communities may include: Caribbean diaspora authors; LGBTQ authors; African American authors; immigrant authors; indigenous voices. [Prerequisite: ENG 100B OR ENG 101]