This workshop will emphasize an interdisciplinary approach to American Studies, examining selected texts of contemporary American writers as they express the changing social and political fabric of American society over the last twenty-five years. The workshop will examine the ethnic composition of the United States, and explore major societal issues raised by the literature of ethnicity. Participants will be scholars of American literature and of contemporary American culture, as well as practitioners such as writers and journalists interested in the contemporary American scene. In addition to in-depth discussion of the workshop theme, an additional electronic dimension will be added by exposing participants to the latest technology, including the use of e-mail and the World Wide Web as a means of conducting on-line searches to obtain materials for use in the American literature classroom and for research. Participants will carry on Internet dialogue with counterparts around the world to open discussion on the subject with a wider audience, thereby developing familiarity with electronic conferencing as well as establish new linkages and individual connections beyond the workshop group itself. Emphasis will be placed on the means by which access to the latest technology on the Internet can be utilized in the classroom.