Scholars have defined genre as “a constellation of recognizable forms”; “a set of constitutive conventions and codes”; and “a loose affectively-invested zone of expectations about the narrative shape a situation will take.” A writer chooses a genre to engage with a fixed set of parameters--which, in turn, cues readers about what to expect. This course will examine the uses of genre as a narrative mediator of racial experience in the US. Popular genres like mystery, adventure, horror, sci-fi, and romance may seem contrary to the grounded sensibilities of narrative realism. But genre has long offered a useful inroad for writers attempting to cut across difference, whether by working in genres associated with particular groups (the passing novel, the North American “Indian tale”) or by using popular forms to relate what might otherwise seem remote. This course will introduce you to the history of genres in US literature with special attention to stories of racial difference or embedded racial logics. We will look at the recent mainstreaming of genre in prestigious literary fiction and debate the continued relevance of genre distinctions in the present. Primary readings may include Piri Thomas’s Down These Mean Streets, Chang-Rae Lee’s Native Speaker, Tom Lin’s The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, Stephen Graham Jones’s The Only Good Indians; and short stories by Pauline Hopkins, Hisaye Yamamoto, Ted Chiang, and Lindsay Wong. The class will also introduce students to more in-depth readings on theoretical approaches to genre study and recent debates about the “genre turn.”