| Course ID: | ENGL(AFAM) 4884. 3 hours. Repeatable for maximum 6 hours credit. |
| Course Title: | Contemporary African American Writing |
Course
Description: | Exploration of recent attempts to characterize and document a
wide variety of African American experiences. Consideration of
accounts for the integral role they play in what we know of
black life in the United States and also in the diaspora. Close
attention will be paid to the qualities of "voice" (form, genre,
and address) contemporary black writers create as part of their
exploration of experience. |
| Oasis Title: | 21st Century Black Writers |
| Prerequisite: | Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course) |
Semester Course
Offered: | Offered every year. |
| Grading System: | A-F (Traditional) |
|
| Course Objectives: | This course will push all students to reflect upon the rich
complexity and importance of African American experience and
culture to life in the United States. It will emphasize the
endless variousness among and between generational, regional,
historical, and personal points of view in ways that leave
the "same old" go beyond (while addressing) the stereotypes.
Because the course uses multiple genres (fiction, non-fiction,
poetry, essay, photographs), another objective is to build
techniques of reading and thinking that match these different
approaches. |
| Topical Outline: | Sample syllabus:
Required books:
Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, Harlem is Nowhere
Dinaw Metgensu, All Our Names
Kiese Laymon, How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America
Chimamanda Adichie, Americanah
Claudia Rankine, Citizen
Jen Marlowe and Martina Davis-Correia (with Troy Anthony Davis),
I Am Troy Davis
Teju Cole Every Day is for the Thief
Hilton Als, White Girls
Course grades will be comprised of four equally weighted parts:
Attendance/participation
Submission 1
Submission 2
Final portfolio
Details in class.
Course schedule
Week 1: (January 5-7-9): course introductions
Week 2: (January 12-14-16): Harlem is Nowhere
Week 3: (January *-21-**-23): Harlem is Nowhere (Lordi Handout)
*no class / King Day
**extra meeting: Thursday, January 22nd
(Details TBA)
Week 4: (January 26-28-30): All Our Names
Week 5: (February 2-4-6): All Our Names
Week 6: (February 9-11-13): How to Slowly Kill Yourself and
Others in America
*no class meeting: Friday, February 13
Week 7: (February 16-18-20): Americanah
*submission 1 due
Week 8: (February 23-25-27): Americanah
Week 9: (March 2-4-6): Americanah
Week 10: (March 9 - 13): [spring break]
Week 11: (March 16. 18, 20): Citizen
Week 12: (March 23-25-27): I Am Troy Davis
Week 13: (March 30, April 1-3): I Am Troy Davis
*submission 2 due
Week 14: (April 6-8-10): Every Day is for the Thief
Week 15: (April 13-15-17): White Girls
Week 16: (April 20-22-24): White Girls
*Final portfolios due: Monday, May 4 (by 3 pm: 111 Park Hall)
*Note: The actual course will doubtless depart from this
schedule. Students will be responsible for keeping track of
changes as they’re announced in class. |