> CULT 860/ENGL 681: Xenophobia/Xenophilia
> Instructor:  Debra Shutica, Department of English
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> Xenophobia is a familiar word. It serves as a label for the fear experienced when we encounter the foreign, as well as the explanation for the practices of rejection and aggression grown from fear.  But along with fear of the foreign, people have also been swept away with the love of the foreign�foreign foods, artifacts, clothing, sports religions and philosophies.  We will work with texts that concern specific encounters between cultures including travel reports, literary text, excerpts from ethnographies, political manifestos, tourism brochures, and film.
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> We will begin to isolate which behaviors and practices are particularly prone to excite fear and/or love, and examine how and why the two differ.  We will also read studies that try to explain prejudice, stereotyping, and related processes that shed light on our topic.  Xenophobia and xenophilia are global phenomena, and hence we will draw on examples from the following geographic areas: Europe (Germany and the UK), North America (U.S.: Prince William and Arlington Counties and Mexico: San Miguel de Allende and Ajijic), and South Africa.
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> Assignments will include weekly readings, a term project, and a group examination and analysis of ethnographic materials from a U.S. hotspot of xenophobia and cultural conflict.
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Rana C. FitzGerald Graduate Coordinator Department of History and Art 
History George Mason University Robinson Hall B 354 Tel: 703-993-1248 
Fax: 703-993-1251 http://historyarthistory.gmu.edu/