HENB01354U English - Elective 1, topic 4: Contemporary American Society

This course examines the main themes in contemporary American Society in three ways: an explanatory overview, a focus on one ethnic enclave, and a deep look into youth culture. We will investigate the widely diverse organizations by which people communicate, live, love, hate, and get by with limited rewards or fabulous wealth. Description, analysis, and theory all have a place in our discussions of gender, class, and race/ethnicity in a broader context of what it means to be an “American.” Clearly, American society split openly after the election of 2016 exposed long-held discriminatory and highly populist beliefs over making America great again after years of “losing our country” to the Other. We will examine the polarization and unity that co-exist in a nation as big and boisterous as the United States.