Word Up! African American Literature, Theory, and Action
ENGL 328
Fall 2011
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
AFAM 328, AMST 329 |
Focusing upon the intersection between the written and spoken word, Word Up! invites students to think critically about the ways in which narratives of the African American experience reflect and provoke social, cultural, and political activism and transformation. We will delve deeply into a variety of 19th- and 20th-century primary texts through the multifaceted lenses of cultural and literary theory. We will also explore the respective power of oral, written, and performed texts and the ways in which these forms "speak" to one another. This interdisciplinary research seminar is designed to introduce students to certain methodologies, themes, critical perspectives, and questions of African American, literary, historical, and cultural studies to produce an original research paper. We will consider not only the ways in which these theoretical frameworks enhance our understanding of African American narratives and their articulation, but also the ways in which black words and stories expand applications of those frameworks. Themes will include race, gender, sexuality, identity formation and representation, resistance to oppression, agency, memory, narrative authority, orality, performativity, objectivity, and subjectivity. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Intercultural Literacy, Interpretation |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
A complete listing of the required readings for this new course will be available in August 2011, but will include:
David Walker, ONE CONTINUAL CRY
Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"
Langston Hughes, THE WEARY BLUES
Dael Orlandersmith, MONSTER
Amiri Baraka, BLUES PEOPLE
bell hooks, AIN'T I A WOMAN: BLACK WOMEN AND FEMINISM
The Last Poets, THIS IS MADNESS
Gil Scott-Heron, SMALL TALK AT 125TH AND LENOX
Alice Walker, IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHER'S GARDENS
Jermain Lamar Cole, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
Elizabeth Alexander, BLACK INTERIOR
E. Patrick Johnson, STRANGE FRUIT: A PERFORMANCE ABOUT IDENTITY POLITICS
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Examinations and Assignments:
One 4-page analytical essay
One 18-20 -page research paper |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course will satisfy the English Literatures of Difference requirement and the English Theory requirement. It will also contribute to the English Race and Ethnicity Concentration, American Literature Concentration, and Theory and Literary Forms Concentration. |
| Instructor(s): Woodard,Laurie Avant Times: .M..... 01:10PM-04:00PM; Location: CAAS LOUNG; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 3 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 5 | JR non-major: 4 | SO: 0 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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