W. E. B. DuBois

W. E. B. DuBois (1868–1963)

Michael K. Johnson

English 271: American Multicultural/Ethnic Literature, Fall 2004

Syllabus

Meets

1:25–2:15 MWF/Roberts 203

Course description

Required texts

  • Bless Me, Ultima (Rudolfo Anaya)
  • Yekl and The Imported Bridegroom (Abraham Cahan)
  • Woman Hollering Creek (Sandra Cisneros)
  • The Unknown Errors of Our Lives (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)
  • The Souls of Black Folk (Penguin edition) (W. E. B. Du Bois)
  • Unsettling America (eds. Gillan and Gillan)
  • The City in Which I Love You (Li-Young Lee)
  • Praisesong for the Widow (Paule Marshall)
  • Blue Horses Rush In (Luci Tapahanso)

Preliminary course syllabus

Date Reading
9/1 Introduction
9/3 Poems from Unsettling America: "Performing," 50; "When I Was Growing Up," 55–57; "Doreen," 57–59; "Behaving Like a Jew," 88–89; "The Mary Marelle Show," 89–94
9/6 Labor Day
9/8 Poems from Unsettling America: all poems under the "Naming" heading, 127–211
9/10 Poems from Unsettling America: all poems under the "Naming" heading, 127–211
9/13 Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk ("The Forethought"; Chapter 1, Chapter 9)
9/15 Du Bois (Chapters 3, 5, 6)
9/17 Du Bois (Chapter 12, Chapter 13)
9/20 Du Bois (Chapter 11, Chapter 14)
9/22 Cahan, Yekl and The Imported Bridegroom (93–162)
9/24 Cahan, Yekl and The Imported Bridegroom (1–89)
9/27 Videotape: Hester Street. Dir. Joan Micklin Silver. Perf. Carol Kane, Steven Keats. 1974.
9/29 Videotape: Hester Street. Dir. Joan Micklin Silver. Perf. Carol Kane, Steven Keats. 1974.
10/1 Class does not meet
10/4 Discuss Hester Street
10/6 Draft of essay #1 due for workshop
10/8 Essay #1 due
10/11 Class does not meet (celebrate indigenous cultures!)
10/13 Paule Marshall, Praisesong for the Widow, 7–145
10/15 Paule Marshall, Praisesong for the Widow, 146–256
10/18 Continue discussion of Paule Marshall, Praisesong for the Widow
10/20 "Llorana" (handout); video: American Family
10/22 American Family
10/25 Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima, 1–64
10/27 Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima, 65–176
10/29 Anaya, Bless Me, Ultima, 176–end
11/1 Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek, 1–56
11/3 Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek, 57–113
11/5 Cisneros, Woman Hollering Creek, 114–end
11/8 Tapahonso, Blue Horses Rush In, "Preface," ix–xv; "Shisoi," 3–4; "This is How They Were Placed for Us," 39–42
11/10 Li-Young Lee, The City in Which I Love You, "The Cleaving," 77–87
11/12 Tapahonso, Blue Horses Rush In, 5–38
11/15 Tapahonso, Blue Horses Rush In, 43–end
11/17 Draft due for workshop on essay #2
11/19 Essay #2 due; Li-Young Lee, The City in Which I Love You, 13–29
11/22 Li-Young Lee, The City in Which I Love You, 33–74
  Thanksgiving Break
11/29 Divakaruni, The Unknown Errors of Our Lives, 1–88
12/1 Divakaruni, The Unknown Errors of Our Lives, 89–165
12/3 Divakaruni, The Unknown Errors of Our Lives, 167–end
12/6 Selections from Unsettling America
12/8 Selections from Unsettling America
12/10 Selections from Unsettling America
Final Take-Home Final Exam due by noon, Tuesday, December 14