To teach multi-ethnic literature of the United States successfully, no matter what the age of the student, a teacher must be prepared to steer a very delicate course; for though it can be argued that American literature in general is laden with emotional charges for all of us, multi-ethnic literature ups the voltage considerably. Here, students are likely to be confronted with an array of worldviews that will challenge many of their social biases. Because of the inclusive nature of the course, they will also be confronted with issues related to their own ethnic past and present. Many might just as soon not face the ghosts and will fight the course every inch of the way; others will discover doorways to a richer personal myth as they confront the demons. For the past five years I've taught such a course at the university level and have found it to be a deeply satisfying teaching experience. In considering why this course works so well, why it is the appropriate beginning to a more intensive study of particular ethnic literatures, and how the presentation might be developed to further enrich its value to students, I've looked beyond literary theory to a field whose insights are particularly relevant to the subject matter. The field I refer to is depth psychology, especially the model first created by the Italian psychiatrist Roberto Assagioli in 1910. Although the connection between Assagioli's pioneering work in integrating the individual psyche and the study of American ethnic literature has not been elaborated-or even acknowledged-many of his major ideas offer an elegant and affirmative approach to understanding the role of ethnic groups in America and their potential to renew our national life. The relative lack of awareness of Assagioli's work as it applies to the study of ethnicity is not surprising given a more general ignorance of this psychology; whereas C.G. Jung's work has a wide following in the United States, Assagioli remains better known in Europe. However, the two men, separated in age by seventeen years, knew each other and corresponded cordially; and as with Jung's analytic psychology, Assagioli's psychosynthesis has been applied in the helping fields of psychotherapy, medicine, education, religion, and organizational de