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How do displaced people turn their experiences into stories? What can narratives of displacement teach us about the formation of individual and collective memory, the construction of personhood, and the placeness of diaspora, at once real and imagined? In this seminar, we examine the facts, fables, and fictions of displacement to and from the United States as constructed in literature, film, visual art, popular media, and personal accounts. Our investigations may include Chinese labor on the transcontinental railroad; Germans fleeing fascism in Los Angeles; Black Americans’ self-exile; forced displacement after Hurricane Katrina; Latin American immigration; and migration patterns in Silicon Valley. Working though these events, we will map differences and commonalities in modes of displacement and analyze the structure and quality of their narratives. Theoretical texts will orient and deepen our investigations; these may include works by Homi Bhabha, Richard Wright, Mike Davis, Cherríe Moraga, Fred Moten, Louise Pratt, Theodor Adorno. Student assignments will present opportunities for informal and formal writing and small group collaborations.