How does culture affect the worldviews and visions of writers, artists, storytellers, and filmmakers? How does place affect culture? We will explore these questions and connections through careful reading and analysis of literature, film, and art history which reflects a multicultural perspective. As students of diversity in American culture, we will examine the way in which place, and migration from place, shapes cultural production of texts and art, as well as how our connection to the natural world affects creativity.

Over the course of the year we will study works by a diverse group of writers, artists, and filmmakers, including African American, Native American, Asian American, European American, Chicano, Latino writers, and other cultures. We will take field trips to museums and cultural events. Guest speakers from diverse communities will share their perspectives about their practice as writers, artists, and scholars.  Workshops in writing, composition, poetry, and art will provide the opportunity to develop a creative practice and create art, poetry, and various forms of narrative. All students will work on improving their academic and writing skills so by the end of the program they can write and work towards publication.

Fall quarter, we will study works by a diverse group of American writers, artists, and filmmakers, beginning with Linda Hogan's novel, Power.  A multi-day field trip to the Makah Nation in Neah Bay, on the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula will allow us to study the artifacts from Ozette, a village on the Pacific Coast buried by a mud slide during the 17th century, some of whose artifacts carbon date from the 1500s. We will meet with contemporary artists, and cultural experts, from the Makah Nation and learn about their relationship to place. We will also study works by African American, Chicano, Jewish American, Armenian American, and Arab American writers and filmmakers.  Students will explore the role of art, film, literature, storytelling, and filmmaking as they begin their own artistic practice.  They will participate in workshops on creating narrative and visual art and will write weekly synthesis essays that reflect on texts and integrate the various materials we are studying.

Winter quarter, students will continue to explore creative works and anthologies by diverse writers, including texts by a variety of Asian Americans, European Americans, and other Native Nations and cultural groups.  We will also continuie our study of the works of diverse artists and filmmakers.  In addition to field trips and workshops on poetry and art, students will write two five-page expository essays and one ten-page research paper.  Students will continue to participate in creative workshops and complete two creative projects that grow out of our work over the past two quarters.  They will present their creative projects for their classmates and friends on campus.