/lit/ - Literature

Course Introduction
Due to its history of immigration and emphasis on individuality, the USA is more overtly and self-consciously diverse than many other parts of the world. Even so, there is still a sense of mainstream culture, be it national, regional, religious, or popular, however complex and provisional. While this mainstream culture provides a sense of identity for many, it does not appeal to everyone, and a myriad of subcultures flourish. With digitally networked technologies constituting a ubiquitous part of life for many Americans, explicitly or implicitly, the bar for access to many of these groups has lowered. This does not mean, however, that all of these subcultures are broadly accepted, as many of them are deeply misunderstood by outsiders. This misunderstanding has lead to friction, fear, and bullying just to name a few of the problems faced by group members, particularly in certain regions (as Mary Gray explored in her book Out in the Country). The technologies of the digital age have drastically changed the way many of these groups appear to both insiders and outsiders, and have contributed to the formation of new groups. This course aims to shed light on these activities, both to increase our understanding of them on their own terms but also to increase our understanding of culture writ large. In the process, we often find that the marginal is not as new or alien as it may first appear.