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Major Themes in American Ethnic
Literatures
Syllabus for
Winter 2004
The Role of the Past in the
Present
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Professor: Alicia Kent, PhD Office:
326 French Hall Phone: 762-3285 Email: |
Office hours: T, R, and gladly by appointment Class: T,
R Class e-mail address:
Eng374@list.flint.umich.edu |
Course
Description:
This course explores
multiethnic American literatures in several genres (novels, poetry, film,
autobiography, essays) with a focus on contemporary American
writers. While we will touch on a variety
of themes in multiethnic American literatures, the course is organized around
an over-arching theme of “The Role of the Past in the Present.” In our semester-long journey across the
multicultural landscape of American culture, we will interrogate the
relationship of personal, ethnic, and national histories in shaping the present
and the future. Questions we will
explore include: What is one’s relationship to one’s ancestors, to
one’s history, to one’s ethnicity? What
is the connection between the personal past and the national past to the
present? How does a nation remember its
past, its struggles and joys, its traumas and successes, its wrongs and its
victories? How can we build a national
community across differences? How can we create connections in an increasingly
diverse
The goals of this
course are two-fold: to further develop your skills of literary analysis and to
expand your critical thinking about race and ethnicity in American society and
beyond. As an upper-level
Required
Course Texts:
All books are also available on reserve at the UM-Flint
Thompson Library for 3-hour checkout.
Beacon Press; ISBN: 0807083054
3. Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
Vintage Books; ISBN: 0679721886
Publisher: Pantheon Books; ISBN: 0679748407
Course
http://reserves.lib.umflint.edu/ password: 1234
You must have a UM-Flint username and password to access this website.
Course
Requirements:
You must complete all of these
requirements to receive a passing grade in this course. If you do not complete one of these
requirements (such as failure to hand in a paper or failure to meet the
attendance requirements), you cannot pass the course. For your own protection, you should keep a
copy of everything you turn in to me. In
an emergency, you may e-mail me your paper as an attached file if you are not
able to hand in a hard copy by the paper deadline; the e-mail and attached file
must be sent to me by the paper deadline.
·
Attendance. Your
attendance is required. If you
accumulate more than three absences, your participation grade will be lowered
one-half grade (5 points) for every subsequent absence. If you accumulate eight absences, you
will fail the course (except in cases where you and I make alternative
arrangements because of extenuating circumstances). I do
not make distinctions between excused or unexcused absences—all absences count. Please let me know during the first two weeks
of classes if you must miss a class for religious observance, important
scheduled events that conflict with class, or other unavoidable reasons for
missing class. If you miss class, please
get notes from another student and then come talk to me about the material
you’ve missed. Out of respect for your
classmates, please come to class on time.
If tardiness to class (more than 10 minutes) becomes a persistent
problem, I will count lateness as absences.
·
Participation. This
class emphasizes discussion and interaction with course issues. It also includes a significant amount of
reading. You are expected to come to class
having read all the readings assigned for that day and prepared to discuss the
material. You must bring the day’s
reading assignment to class. You will
need an e-mail account that you can access on a regular basis. You are expected to post e-mail comments to
the class e-mail list and respond to your classmates’ e-mails
periodically. E-mail contributions count
for a portion of your participation grade.
Participation could also include occasional quizzes on the assigned
reading, short response papers due at the beginning of class, in-class writing
assignments, attending extra-curricular events, and bringing artifacts of
popular culture to class to analyze.
Some of these activities will be required; others will be optional.
·
Leading
Small-Group Discussions:
Periodically during the semester, the class meeting will be devoted to
small-group discussions. You will be
responsible for bringing in discussion questions and sustaining the discussion
with your group during the class period.
You will then be responsible for offering an online summary of the
discussion for the class following the class meeting. A sign up for leading discussion will be
handed out early in the semester.
·
Ethnic
Autobiography: Early in the semester, you will hand in a
short autobiographical essay (2-3 pages) that explores your ethnic
identity. Questions you might explore
include: When did you become aware of your ethnicity? What has your family communicated to you
about your ethnic identity? What is your
relationship to your past? to your ancestors? to your ethnic heritage? Then, at the end of the semester, you will
revise this essay and hand it in as your final paper. This revised version of your autobiographical
essay will be longer (5-7 pages) and will incorporate courses concepts and
themes raised by the course readings in order to interrogate the role of your
past in your present.
·
Two
Literary Analysis Papers: These 5- to 7-page papers, based on one or
two of the course texts, will focus on a topic of your choosing. I will hand out some ideas for topics and
more detailed guidelines during the course of the semester, but you are
encouraged to choose a topic of your own creation. These are NOT research papers and should
focus on analysis of the literature we are reading.
Grading:
Participation (includes email) 20
%
Leading Discussion 10
%
Ethnic Autobiography 20
%
Paper 1 25
%
Paper 2 25
%
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Note: I use a 100-point grading scale for all assignments: |
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87-89 B+ |
77-79 C+ |
67-69 D+ |
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93-100 A |
83-86 B |
73-76 C |
63-66 D |
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90-92 A- |
80-82 B- |
70-72 C- |
60-62 D- |
59 and below E |
Deadlines:
All assignments are
due at the beginning of class on the due date and must be typed. I take deadlines very seriously. No extensions will be given except in the rarest
of circumstances. Late papers will be
docked by a half-grade (5 points) for each day late.
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Note these
deadlines now: |
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Assignment
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Due
Date
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Syllabus
Response |
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Friday, January
10 |
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Ethnic
Autobiography (2-3 pages) |
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Thursday, January 15 |
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Paper 1 (5-7
pages) |
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Tuesday, February 17 |
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Revised Ethnic
Autobiography (5-7 pages) |
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Thursday, March 11 |
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Paper 2 (5-7
pages) |
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Thursday, April
22 by |
Accessibility:
One of my goals is to make the course and the
classroom as accessible as possible for all students. Please come talk to me if you have any
concerns about accessibility. The Office
of Disability Services is also an excellent resource for students with disabilities,
and I will work closely with you and Disability Services to address all
needs. Disability Services is located at
264 University Center, and the phone number is 762-3456.
Writing Help:
The
http://www.flint.umich.edu/Departments/writingcenter/
Plagiarism
and Academic Honesty:
The University's Academic Honesty Policy
prohibits cheating, fabrication of work, facilitating academic dishonesty, and
plagiarism. Plagiarism includes the purchase
of academic work from others, copying material directly from another source
without attributing it to that source, using the ideas of another person
without giving that person credit (even if you are not using a direct quote and
have put the concepts into your own words, you must cite your source). Please talk with me if you are unclear or
have concerns about plagiarism.
Other
Concerns:
If you have any special concerns you wish to
discuss (e.g., you are a returning adult student; you have a disability that
requires accommodation;
I look forward to working with you this
semester!
Course
Schedule
WEEK 1: January 6, 8
Introduction
T Handout in Class: Langston Hughes, “Theme for
R ERes: Alice Walker, “Everyday Use” (short story)
** Friday, January 10: Syllabus response to
me due on e-mail **
WEEK 2: January 13, 15
What is
Race and Ethnicity?
T In-Class Video: Understanding Race
ERes:
Ishmael Reed, “
ERes: Ronald Takaki, “A Different Mirror”
Recommended: ERes: Peggy McIntosh, “The Invisible Knapsack of White Privilege”
R ERes: Anna Lee Walters, “The Warriors”
(short story)
ERes: Amy Tan, “A
Pair of Tickets” (short story)
ERes: Giovanna
Capone, “In Answer to Their Questions”
ERes: Lorne Dee
Cervantes, “Heritage”
ERes: Linda Hogan,
“Heritage”
Begin Octavia
Butler, Kindred to p. 65, be sure to
read the “Prologue”
**
Thursday, January 15: Short Ethnic Autobiography Due **
WEEK 3: January 20, 22
Monday, January 19:
Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday
T Continue Octavia Butler, Kindred to p. 188
R Finish Octavia Butler, Kindred, be sure to read the “Epilogue”
WEEK 4: January 27, 29
T Begin
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
to 53 (“No Name Woman” and “White Tigers”)
ERes:
Jimmy Santiago Baca, “Green
ERes: Marilyn Chin, “We Are Americans Now”
ERes: Pat Mora, “Immigrants”
ERes: Pat Mora, “Elena”
ERes: Yvonne Sapia, “Grandmother, a
ERes: Janice Mirikitani, “Doreen”
ERes: Safiya Henderson-Homes, “Failure of an Invention”
ERes: Arthur L. Clements, “Why I Don’t Speak Italian”
ERes: Nellie Wong, “For an Asian Woman Who Says My Poetry Gives Her a Stomachache” and “When I Was Growing Up”
ERes: Toi Derricotte, “Blackbottom”
ERes: Helen Barolini, “Having the Wrong Name for Mr. Wright”
ERes: Lisa Suhair Majaj, “Recognized Futures”
R Continue
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
to 109 (“Shaman”)
WEEK 5: February 3, 5
T Continue
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
to 160 (“At the
R Finish
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior
ERes: Dwight Okita, “Notes for a Poem on Being Asian American”
ERes: Nellie Wong, “From a Heart of Rice Straw”
WEEK 6: February 10, 12
T ERes: Naomi Shihab Nye, “Blood”
ERes: Naomi Shihab Nye, “To Any Would-Be Terrorists” and “Darling”
ERes: Lyn Lifshin, “I Remember
ERes: Louis Simpson, “A Story about Chicken Soup”
ERes: Maya Angelou, “Still I Rise”
ERes: Chitra
Divakaruni, “Indian Movie,
R In-Class Video:
WEEK 7: February 17, 19
T In-Class
Video:
**
Tuesday, February 17: Paper 1 Due **
R ERes: Peter Blue Cloud, “The Old Man’s Lazy”
ERes: Susan Clements, “The Reservation”
Begin Janet
Campbell Hale, Bloodlines: Odyssey of a
Native Daughter (“Circling Raven: An Introduction”)
WEEK 8: February 24, 26
T Continue Janet Campbell Hale, Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter to 106
R Finish Janet Campbell Hale, Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter
ERes: Nikki Giovanni, “Nikka-Rosa”
ERes: Joy Harjo, “I Give You Back”
**Friday, February 27: Last Day to drop classes **
Winter
Break: February 28-March 7
WEEK 9: March 9, 11
T ERes: Michael S. Glaser, “Changing the Address Books”
ERes: Amiri Baraka, “Ka ‘Ba”
ERes: Amiri Baraka, “Funk Lore”
ERes: Ntozake Shange, “From Okra to Greens”
ERes: Ishmael Reed, “Jacket Notes”
ERes: Poets.org exhibit, “The Bond of Living
Things: Poems of Ancestry”
http://www.poets.org/exh/Exhibit.cfm?45442B7C000C02
“How I Got That
Name" Marilyn Chin
“Freeway 280”
Lorna Dee Cervantes
“Cutting Greens”
Lucille Clifton
“Deer Dancer”
Joy Harjo
“Red Poppy”
Tess Gallagher
“I'm A Fool To
Love You” Cornelius Eady
“Inventing
Father In Las Vegas” Lynn Emanuel
“The Idea of
Ancestry” Etheridge Knight
“The Dancing”
Gerald Stern
“My Father's
Geography” Afaa M. Weaver
R ERes: Toni Morrison, “A Bench in the Road”
ERes: Peter Blue Cloud, “
ERes: Yusef Komunyakaa, “Facing It”
In-Class Video: Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
**
Thursday, March 11: Revised Ethnic
Autobiography Due (5-7 pages) **
WEEK 10: March 16, 18
T ERes: Jimmy Santiago Baca, “Immigrants
in Our Own Land”
ERes:
Gina Valdes, “
ERes: Bernice Zamora, “On Living in Aztlan”
**SMALL GROUP DISCUSSIONS ON POETRY**
Ron Sneller
Damaine Green
Amanda Wolfe
Josh
Presnell
R Begin Sheila Ortiz Taylor, Coachella to 51
WEEK 11: March 23, 25
T Continue Sheila Ortiz Taylor, Coachella to 149
R Finish Sheila Ortiz Taylor, Coachella
ERes: Audre Lorde, “Power”
**SMALL GROUP DISCUSSIONS ON POETRY**
Michelle McGee
Jenny Lumsden
Nicole Gilmour
Michelle McDowell
WEEK 12: March 30, April 1
T Begin Art Spiegelman, Maus: My Father Bleeds History to 93
R Finish
Art Spiegelman, Maus: My Father Bleeds
History
WEEK 13: April 6, 8
T Art
Spiegelman, Maus II: And Here My Troubles
Began
R Art
Spiegelman, Maus II: And Here My Troubles
Began to 101
ERes: Greg Shapiro, “Tattoo”
**SMALL
GROUP DISCUSSIONS ON POETRY**
Jen Putnam
Jenny Lumsden
Julie Hockensmith
Bob Webster
WEEK 14: April 13, 15
ERes: Joy Harjo, “A Postcolonial Tale”
ERes: Wing Tek Lum, “Chinese Hot Pot”
ERes: Tato Laviera, “AmeRican”
ERes: Langston Hughes, “Let
**
Paper 2 Due Thursday, April 22 by
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