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Spring 2001 |
George Boulukos |
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English 432 |
Rice 8, (440) 775-8661 |
Description
For Europeans, "The New World" gave impetus to concepts of racial superiority and imperial mission, and yet it has provided the space in which to imagine new possibilities of liberty and democracy. For Americans, Europe has been the home of "culture," refinement, and, paradoxically, even of the possibility of racial justice. Africa, since at least the seventeenth century, with the devastation wrought by slavery and imperialism, has been the key third point in the Transatlantic Triangle.
The texts we examine will be defined by their interest in imagining a world across the Atlantic -- often as a way of critiquing the author's own society. We will begin with texts from the period of European colonialism, examining issues such as conquest, imperialism, & slavery; we will look carefully at the mutual imaginings of the United States and Europe in the 19th century, attending to the impact of questions of race and empire. Throughout the semester, we will attend to the transatlantic imaginings -- and responses to colonialist discourse -- of African-American and post-colonial writers. We will regularly supplement our literary readings with theoretical, historical and critical essays and cultural documents.
Goals
Because this is a senior seminar, we will begin with the assumption that participants are well-informed, intelligent, diligent, and careful readers; therefore, our primary goal will be to gain as much insight as we can into our texts and into the cultural significance of "the transatlantic literary imagination." However, we will also work to build a group dynamic that helps each of us make our best contribution; to further develop our skills as writers, researchers, analytical readers, and public speakers; and finally, to attain a fluency in using literature to build cultural history.
Requirements
Papers
NB: Drafts exchanged and critiqued in outside of class. Details below.
All papers must be typed, double-spaced, and printed legibly. Response papers will not be accepted late, because they are meant to help direct our conversation. Please plan ahead -- write your paper before at least a day it's due, so you aren't at the mercy of a printer that suddenly breaks down or some other similar catastrophe.
Response papers will be brief, but analytical, accounts of your reactions to a text. Rather than trying to cover all the readings for a given day, or an entire work, you should focus closely on a text. Some suggestions: show how the text relates to another text, or to a cultural/historical issue we have discussed; elaborate or refute a moral position set forth, or a critical interpretation offered; or develop the significance of a text to a contemporary debate or event. Please feel free to come to me for suggestions or to discuss ideas you're developing. On days that you have a response paper due, you should come prepared to open the class discussion.
Long papers will be on topics of special interest to you; we will develop them together during my office hours. Possible topics could include a comparison of a post-colonial text with a colonial text that engages similar issues or a thorough investigation of the cultural contexts of one of our readings.
Attendance & Participation:
In-class discussion and argument will fuel this course. Attendance and participation are therefore crucial, particularly given that we will be a very small group and only have one meeting each week. Two absences will adversely effect your grade; three or more unexcused absences will constitute grounds for a "No Entry." (Absences will be excused for documented sickness and family emergencies; if you are ill with the 'flu or another contagious disease, do us all a favor -- stay home and rest. But do let me know first.) Participation, including your response papers, group work, and contributions to class discussion, will be a major factor in your grade. Assignments should be completed before the beginning of class on the day they are listed. Missing a day on which you have a response paper or a presentation will result in a zero for the assignment, unless you have a documentedly dire medical or personal emergency. And remember, please don't be late.
Envisioning Africa
Cannibals & Businessmen
Fighting Slavery and Whiteness
Consuming Slaves
Slavery and the Woman Question
3/27 (BREAK)
Rebel Slaves
Across the Pond
Post-Co and African American Autobiographies of Travel
Writing Back to the Empire
Africa Now