Rappin’ on Racial Dualism – by Ashleigh P. Nugent. This article employs ‘Racial Dualism’ as a lens through which to explore the racial significance of American rap music from the 1990s onwards. Specific reference is made to the rappers Chuck D, Ice Cube, Yo-Yo and Eminem. These artists candidly discuss race and racism and shed light on the divisions that constitute racial dualism. In drawing attention to racial dualism, these rappers have arguably allowed some ‘fusion’ to develop.
Why Teach American Studies in a CIS Country? – by Carol Orme-Johnson. Carol is currently a Peace Corps Volunteer assigned to Azerbaijan State Agricultural University, where she taught an American Studies class last fall.
Why all the marsupials? – An Interview with Jonathan Lethem Conducted by James Peacock. Jonathan Allen Lethem is a novelist whose work is a genre-bendingh mixture of detective and science fiction. In 2005 Jonathan Allen Lethem received a MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called “genius grant.” This interview with James Peacock took place on 25 May 2009 in Brooklyn.
Teaching Motherhood, Madness and Murder: The Challenges of Choosing Modern American Literary Texts – by Dr. Raja Khaleel Al-Khalili, Assistant Professor, Department of English, Hashemite University, Jordan. Many of the classical texts of American literature by women writers present a negative image of women as inferiors in a patriarchal society. This prevents a problem for instructors wishing to choose texts as a liberating experience for both teachers and students.
Jack Kerouac © Tom Palumbo
Autobiographical Fictions: Ethnicity and Identity in Jack Kerouac’s Satori in Paris – by Eftychia Mikelli. Eftychia Mikelli holds a PhD from the Department of English Studies at Durham University, where she is currently employed as a postdoctoral teaching assistant. Her article aims to explore the fictional aspects of identity formation in Jack Kerouac’s Satori in Paris, departing from previous autobiographical readings of the novel. Drawing upon Derrida’s deconstructive theories, it will explore the ways in which the narrator’s attempts to establish a coherent ethnic identity are undermined by instability and hybridization.
American Studies Resource Centre 