Negotiating America : black experience in a white nation

Abstract

The papers that will be presented in this panel session will examine some distinctively African American issues which question and complicate the concepts of nationhood in America. Focusing on the plight of African Americans to be justly acknowledged as a significant part of the nation called America, the papers will examine, among others, the discourses of inclusion, exclusion, resistance, and negotiation - important political discourses in nation-building. A common thread that runs through all three papers in this session is their use of African American literature as a functional window to read the African American experience.