Syllabus

English 801: Multicultural Literature Seminar

Professor Lee Ann Roripaugh
Fall Semester, 2004
Section #015, 7:00-9:45 p.m., Tuesdays, Arts & Sciences 106
Office Hours: 1:00-1:45 p.m., and 3:30-5:30 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays
Additional Office Hours Also Available by Appointment
Office: Dakota Hall #207
Office Phone: 677-5979
E-mail: lroripau@usd.edu
Mailbox: Dakota Hall #226

English 801 is a graduate-level seminar designed to provide you with an opportunity to engage with a diverse range of readings in multicultural literature, in conjunction with a broad sampling of current scholarly and theoretical/critical discourse surrounding multicultural literature. Readings for the course will include novels and essays by writers representing a variety of subject positions in terms of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. These primary texts will also be supplemented by extensive secondary sources by various scholars, theorists, and critics in order to introduce ideas and issues relating to multiculturalism, race theory, identity politics, post-colonialism, and queer theory. Hopefully, the secondary sources will ultimately open up the primary texts to a variety of reading strategies--creating a series of stimulating dialogues between secondary and primary texts and creating platforms for lively seminar discussions.

REQUIREMENTS:

A Seminar-Length Paper (20-25 pages)
A Thirty-Minute Class Presentation on Seminar Paper Topic
A Final Written Exam
Weekly Written Responses/Commentary (1-2 double-spaced, typewritten pages to Assigned Readings (Responses also
Posted to Course Blog)
Active and Thoughtful Participation in Class Discussions

GRADING:

40% Seminar-Length Paper (40 points)
20% Thirty-Minute Class Presentation on Seminar Paper Topic (20 points)
10% Final Written Exam (10 points)
20% Informal, Weekly Written Responses to Assigned Readings (20 points)
(Points Assigned to a Check Plus, Check, and Check Minus System;
Check Plus=2 points; Check=1.5 points; Check Minus=1 point)
10% Active and Thoughtful Participation in Class Discussions (10 points)

Your final grade will be based on a scale of 100 points possible.

TEXTS:

James Baldwin, Another Country
Lois-Ann Yamanaka, Blu’s Hanging
Junot Diaz, Drown
James Welch, The Heartsong of Charging Elk
Jeanette Winterson, The Powerbook

Additional essays, by multicultural writers, as well as selections from theoretical/critical works (including theorists/critics such as Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, Homi Bhabha, Traise Yamamoto, Sherry Turkle, and Judith Butler, among others) will be made available either through internet resources, library reserves, or Xerox handouts.

ABSENCES:

You will be allowed two unexcused absences, after which your grade will drop by 10% for every additional unexcused absence beyond these two.

CONFERENCES:

Please feel free to come and talk with me at any time during the semester about the readings, your paper/presentation, or the course in general. If my office hours aren’t convenient for you, I’d be happy to set up an outside appointment to meet with you. Also, please don’t hesitate to e-mail me or call me at home if you should have any questions about the class.

PLAGIARISM/ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT/INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY:

Because the entire educational process rests upon an atmosphere of academic honesty and trust, the College community must promote and protect the sanctity of such an environment at the University. To that end, the College of Arts and Sciences considers the following infractions as being inimical to the objectives of higher education:

Cheating is defined as intentionally using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise. (Student Conduct Code)

Plagiarism is defined as intentionally or knowingly representing the words or ideas of another as one's own in any academic exercise. (Student Conduct Code)

At the discretion of the instructor, a student caught cheating or plagiarizing may be:

(a) Given a zero for that assignment.
(b) Allowed to rewrite and resubmit the assignment for credit.
(c) Assigned a reduced grade for the course.
(d) Dropped from the course.
(e) Failed in the course.


NOTICE REGARDING DISABILITIES:

If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and Dr. Elaine Pearson, Director of the Office of Disability Services (Service Center 119, 677-6389) as early as possible in the semester.


TENTATIVE CLASS CALENDAR

Week 1 (Tuesday, August 31, 2004):

Introduction to Course

Week 2 (Tuesday, September 7, 2004):

Internet articles discussing aspects of multiculturalism.
Essays on identity by multicultural authors.

Week 3 (Tuesday, September 14, 2004):

Selections from Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks
Applicable essays on identity by multicultural authors.

Week 4 (Tuesday, September 21, 2004):

James Baldwin’s Another Country

Week 5 (Tuesday, September 28, 2004):

Selections from Traise Yamamoto’s Masking Selves, Making Subjects: Japanese American Women, Identity, and the Body.
Applicable essays on identity by multicultural authors.
Articles on Hawaii and Lois-Ann Yamanaka.

Week 6 (Tuesday, October 5, 2004):

Lois-Ann Yamanaka's Blu's Hanging

Week 7 (Tuesday, October 12, 2004):

Selections from Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks.
Applicable article(s) on globalization.
Applicable essays on identity by multicultural authors.

Week 8 (Tuesday, October 19, 2004):

Junot Diaz's Drown

Week 9 (Tuesday, October 26, 2004):

Selections from Edward Said’s Orientalism.
Homi Bhabha’s “The Other Question.”
Applicable essays on identity by multicultural authors.

Week 10 (November 2, 2004):

James Welch's Heartsong of Charging Elk
Seminar Paper Proposal Due!!

Week 11 (November 9, 2004):

Selections from Sherry Turkle’s Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet.
Selections from Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble.
Applicable essays on identity in cyberspace and post-identity.

Week 12 (November 16, 2004):

Class canceled -- Instructor out of town for a reading
Use week off from class and readings to work on rough draft of seminar paper!)

Week 13 (November 23, 2004):

Jeannette Winterson’s The Powerbook
Begin student seminar paper presentations.

Week 14 (November 30, 2004):

Seminar paper presentations.
Rough Draft of Seminar Paper Due!!

Week 15 (December 7, 2004):

Seminar paper presentations.

Week 16 (December 14, 2004):

Remaining seminar paper presentations.
Final Exam.

Seminar Paper Due Friday, December 18, 2004, 5:00 p.m.