Overview

One of the many academic highlights of the Department of English at UNL is its philosophical commitment to the study of literatures of race and ethnicity. Our faculty, many of whom work in close coordination with the Institute for Ethnic Studies, include specialists in African, African-American, and Afro-Caribbean literatures; Latina/Latino and U.S. Latina/Latino literatures (especially Chicana/Chicano literature); Native American literatures (especially Great Plains tribal literature); and Asian literatures. The following lists of faculty and course offerings can only suggest the scholarship and the teaching enthusiasm & ethical commitment of these vibrant representatives of the UNL Department of English.

(Selected) Faculty: A Diversity of Teaching & Research Interests

• Kwakiutl L. Dreher–African American literature: including contemporary literature, autobiography, and mass marketed popular literature; Film and Visual Culture
  • [Kwakiutl's Ethnic Studies bio]
• Gwendolyn A. Foster–Women filmmakers; gender theory; postcolonial film; whiteness studies/ethnicity theory
• Tom Gannon–Native American literature: including Plains Indian literatures and Native eco/animal rights
  • [Tom's Ethnic Studies bio]
• Amy M. Goodburn–Multicultural pedagogies
• Maureen Honey–Multi-cultural 20th-century women writers: Harlem Renaissance; Women's & Ethnic Studies
• Frances W. Kaye–Native American literature, including Great Plains literature; Canadian literature
• Amelia María de la Luz Montes–Chicana/Chicano and U.S. Latina/Latino literature and theory
  • [Amelia's Ethnic Studies bio]
• Seanna Oakley–Afro-Caribbean literature (Francophone and Anglophone); comparative African Diasporic and European poetics
• Gregory E. Rutledge–African American literature and culture: including speculative fiction, literary history, the African-American epic aesthetic, folklore
  • [Gregory's Ethnic Studies bio]
• Gerald Shapiro–Jewish-American fiction
• Julia Schleck–Renaissance Travel Narratives to the Midldle East, Africa, and the AmeriArts & Sciences, with a focus on Anglo-Islamic relations
  • [email Julia]

(Selected) Course Offerings

• ENGL 101A: Writing from Literature: African American Literature
• ENGL 101B: Writing from Literature: Chicano Literature
• ENGL 101D: Writing from Literature: Native American Literature
• ENGL 102A: Composition and Literature: African American Literature
• ENGL 102B: Composition and Literature: Chicano Literature
• ENGL 102D: Composition and Literature: Native American Literature
• ENGL 244: African American Literature
• ENGL 244A: Introduction to African Literature
• ENGL 244B: Black Women Authors
• ENGL 244D: African-Caribbean Literature
• ENGL 244E: Early African American Literature
• ENGL 245B: Native American Literature
• ENGL 245D: Chicana and/or Chicano Literature
• ENGL 245J: Jewish-American Fiction
• ENGL 245K: Canadian Literature
• ENGL 245N: Native American Women Writers
• ENGL 282: Literature and Other Arts: Blacks in Film
• ENGL 285: Introduction to Comparative Literature
• ENGL 342A: Irish Literature
• ENGL 349: National Cinemas
• ENGL 405K/805K: Canadian Fiction
• ENGL 445/845: Ethnic Literature (incl. Latina/o Literature)
• ENGL 445B/845B: African-American Literature
• ENGL 445E/845E: Native American Literature
• ENGL 445K/845K: African, African American Literature
• ENGL 462A/862A: Ideas of Ethnicity in Medieval Literature
• ENGL 471A/871A: African American Literary Criticism
• ENGL 940: Seminar in African-American Literature
• ENGL 940A: African Literature in English
• ENGL 945: Seminar in Ethnic Literature

Academic Programs & Services

• The Institute for Ethnic Studies at UNL
  • African American & African Studies
  • Latino & Latin American Studies
  • Native American Studies
• Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services (OASIS)

Student Organizations

• Afrikan People's Union
• Black Graduate Student Association
• Mexican American Student Organization (MASA)
• University of Nebraska Inter-Tribal Exchange (U.N.I.T.E.)