Ethnicity/Memory/Identity

Contemporary Multi-Ethnic American Literature

 
English 4760, Spring 2007: MW 7-8:15p LA 102
Instructor: Dr. John Charles Goshert
Office: LA 121t  Hours: TR 1:30-3:00 and by appointment
Phone: 863-6288  email: gosherjo@uvsc.edu

Course Overview

This section of English 4760 deals with the relationship between ethnicity, memory, and identity as viewed through a set of recent literature by American authors.  In these works we will encounter a relatively wide range of ethnic groups, along with concerns of various national, gender, and sexual constituencies.   No work, however, either in this course or another, can sufficiently encompass the variety of possible expressions by any one group.  Thus, our reading list should not be read either as representative or exhaustive; instead, the course offers an opportunity to look at individual works in various historical, ethnic, and literary contexts.  In addition to literary works, we will look at contemporary critical work about multi-ethnic literature and culture.

 
Over the semester, students will have the opportunity to:

1.  engage with a set of literary works, including novel, short story, poetry, and drama (and perhaps some film) focusing on  issues facing various ethnic groups in the United States;

2.  be introduced to some basic moves in multiethnic literary and cultural criticism in order to build a critical apparatus for the study of literary works;

3.  produce a research-guided term paper to culminate the course.

 
Assignments include periodic response papers, a take-home midterm exam, a term project (which will include a significant research component), and—of course—attendance and active participation in class.

Required Reading—to be purchased

Ishmael Reed.  Flight To Canada. (1976)  Scribner  ISBN: 0684847507
Maryse Condé.  I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem. (1986)  Ballantine ISBN: 0345384202
Fae Myenne Ng.  Bone. (1993)  Harper Perennial  ISBN: 006097592x
Peter Bacho.  Dark Blue Suit. (1997)  University of Washington ISBN: 0295976373
Junot Diaz.  Drown. (1997) Riverhead  ISBN: 1573226068
Sarah Schulman.  Shimmer. (1998)  Perennial  ISBN: 0380797658
Sherman Alexie.  Ten Little Indians. (2003)  Grove  ISBN: 080214117X

Required Reading—to be printed from http://uvsc.edu/eres

Ashraf Rushdy.  “Ishmael Reed’s Neo-HooDoo Slave Narrative.”  Narrative 2.2 (1994): 112-36.

David Palumbo-Liu.  “Introduction.”  The Ethnic Canon 1-27.

David Leiwei Li. excerpt from Imagining the Nation 134-39.

Donald Goellnicht.  “Of Bones and Suicide.”  Modern Fiction Studies 46.2 (2000): 300-30.

Sarah Schulman.  “When We Were Very Young.”  My American History 125-48.

---.  “Selling AIDS and Other Consequences.”  Stagestruck 101-30.

Arab-American Fiction: “A Frame for the Sky” by Randa Jarrar, “Oh, Lebanon” by Evelyn Shakir, “The Coal Bin”

by D.H. Melhem, and “Airport” by Pauline Kaldas.  Dinarzad’s Children.  Kaldas and Mattawa, eds.

Ward Churchill.  “Indians R Us.”  Acts of Rebellion 223-44.

Prerequisite Skills

Using reading skills and strategies of argument learned in courses such as Engl. 2600 and 2010, students are expected, from the opening of the course, to be prepared to actively, critically read literary texts, and to respond orally and through writing.  This course will add to those skills and strategies through lecture, class discussion, and engagement with current critical approaches of responding to literature.

Response Paper Guidelines

 
2-3 page response papers are due periodically, beginning January 24th.  While this paper is, primarily, an expression of your opinion, you should nonetheless develop a cogent, well-written argument.  The best responses take on a specific topic from lecture, class discussions, presentations (or, of course, from your own reading alone), which is then worked out in some critical/analytic detail.  Avoid trying to fit an entire week’s reading—an entire novel or other extended text—into your response, since this leaves you with such a broad scope that any detailed examination is rather difficult.

Avoid summarizing the text and, instead, argue for a particular position, for a particular “reading.”  Your treatment of whatever topic you choose will be enhanced not only by a strong thesis, but also by your incorporation of specific material from the texts (both literary and critical); that is, present details, such as dialogue or other citations.  This is in keeping with that old adage of “showing” rather than “telling” as you work out your argument/position.

Consider also addressing questions you have about the reading—perhaps centered on a scene, event, character, etc.  How do specific questions or parts of the novel/essay/poem inform the significance of the whole?  You may also think about developing connections between works—how do formal characteristics, topics, characters, etc. resonate across our focus period, across gender and/or ethnic boundaries?  How are those characteristics treated differently and why?

Plan to put your growing critical apparatus into practice.  Develop the research and response strategies which will be required for success on your term project.  Articulate your agreement or dissention with critical responses we read, or pursue critical readings on your own which will allow you to enter into an informed conversation on literary, cultural, and theoretical concepts.

The final response paper, a narrative self-and-course evaluation, is due with the final project.

Read a sample response paper from January 2007 

Grade Distribution/Notes

Response papers: 30%
Take-Home Midterm: 20%
Final Project: 30%
Attendance/Participation: 20%

• If you have any disability that may impair your ability to successfully complete this course, please contact the Accessibility Services Department located in WB 146. Academic Accommodations are granted for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by the Accessibility Services Department. Accessibility Services Department telephone 801‑863‑8747; TDD 801‑221‑0908.
• Plagiarism will result in failure of the course and the possibility of administrative action.
• Attendance is required.  You should plan to attend and be prepared for each class meeting.
• All written work will follow MLA style guidelines; late work will not be accepted.
• This is a class focused on developing strategies of critical thinking, analysis, and writing.  Course materials are determined by standards of academic inquiry and a commitment to the exchange of ideas; materials will not be “rated G” or censored in any way.
• Per UVSC policies: “Each student is expected to take an active role in the learning process by meeting course requirements as specified in written syllabi” (VII.A).  Thus, the course syllabus comprises a contract between instructor and students, who will be held to its terms and expectations, for “The right to receive academic credit and/or academic degrees when all specified requirements and course work have been satisfied” (V.L).  In other words, the student has the right to receive credit for work that meets or exceeds satisfactory performance; however, the student also has the right to fail based on those same conditions of performance.
• It is not only your right, but also your responsibility to ask questions, to raise challenges, to discuss readings, and to otherwise participate in the class as it unfolds over the semester.
• Students will activate their UVSC email accounts or notify the instructor of alternate email address.
• The course website (http://research.uvsc.edu/goshert/uvsc476b.html) will direct students toward additional resources for research, documentation, and bibliographic conventions.  Sample student papers will also be archived, as available, throughout the semester.

January

Mon 8    Course introduction

 
Wed 10  Flight to Canada 1-65

 
Mon 15  No class

 
Wed 17  Flight 66-151

 
Mon 22  Complete Flight to Canada

                Rushdy (reserve)

 
Wed 24  I, Tituba 1-36

                Response paper #1 due

 
Mon 29  I, Tituba 37-130

 
Wed 31  Complete I, Tituba

February

Mon 5    Palumbo-Liu (reserve)

 
Wed 7    Bone 1-61

 
Mon 12  Bone 62-133

 
Wed 14  Complete Bone

                Response paper #2 due

 
Mon 19  No class

 
Wed 21  Li (reserve)

Goellnicht (reserve)

 
Mon 26  Dark Blue Suit 1-80

 
Wed 28  Complete Dark Blue Suit

March

Mon 5    Drown 1-65

 
Wed 7    Drown  66-140

                Midterm preparation

                Response paper #3 due

 
Mon 12 Complete Drown 

Midterm exam assigned

 
Wed 14  No class

 
Mon 19  Midterm exam due (LA 121T at class time)

                Extended Office Hours (for term project ideas, etc.)

 
Wed 21  No class (out of town conference)

Begin Shimmer 1-61

 
Mon 26  Shimmer 62-141

Final opportunity to submit term project proposal (optional)

 
Wed 28  Shimmer 142-216

 

April     

Mon 2    Complete Shimmer

 
Wed 4    Schulman, “When We Were Very Young” and “Selling AIDS” (reserve)

                Response paper #4 due

 
Mon 9    Arab American fiction: Jarrar and Shakir (reserve)

 
Wed 11  Arab American fiction: Melhem and Kaldas (reserve)

 
Mon 16  Alexie: “Search Engine,” “Lawyer’s League,” “Do Not Go Gentle,” and “What

You Pawn”

 
Wed 18  Alexie: “What Ever Happened”

                Churchill (reserve)

                Response paper #5 due

 
Mon 21  Final exam period—term projects due at class time

                Response paper #6 due