Παρουσίαση/Προβολή

(ENL486) -  Σταματίνα Δημακοπούλου

Περιγραφή Μαθήματος

The course takes as its point of departure the concepts of minority culture, ethnic identity and multiculturalism,  and focuses on three contemporary novels that offer intriguing representations of hyphenated and ethnic identities, cultural contexts and discourses. We will discuss how these writers invite us to rethink American culture in terms of diversity and hybridity through the ways in which they move beyond standardised representations of ‘minority’ identities in mainstream culture. We will first study Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine (1984) in the context of a Native American literary tradition, focusing on how Erdrich reflects on Native American identity and history while also probing the bounds imposed by kinship and belonging to a community. We will also reflect on how Erdrich presents tensions between community and selfhood, gender relations, integenerational conflicts, as well central themes of Native American literature, notably survival, memory and oblivion, alienation and marginalisation, assimilation and resistance. We will then move onto Karen Tei Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange (1997) to explore how Yamashita’s magic realism reflects on globalisation through cross-cultural encounters that occur in the interstices of a dominant Euroamerican culture. We will reflect on how Yamashita approaches hybridity, transnational, local contexts, migration and borders between nations and cultures. We will conclude with Teju Cole’s Open City (2011), and discuss the author’s perspectives on cosmopolitanism and mobility as well as on issues of class and race. We will also reflect on whether Cole’s novel gestures towards the blindspots of a post-national, post-racial world.

 

It is essential that you read the assigned readings before each class as well as recommended secondary resources and handouts. It is desirable if not essential that you become familiar with the contexts and frames of reference of these texts in order to approach them critically; you can access numerous links and resources on the e-class. During the term, keep up with updates on resources, additional material, bibliography, handouts, study questions, and session overviews. As this is an option course, it is desirable that you come to class prepared, and bring your questions and ideas. All seminar material can be accessed on the eclass.

 

Assessment:

Attending students can be assessed by coursework [optional]. There will be a final exam weighted at 100% at the end of the term.

 

Mark Breakdown (ATTENDING STUDENTS):

Mid-term Exam 1 and Revision (25%) [Week 7]

Essay /Individual Project (30%) (1.500 words) [submission date TBC]

Class Participation and Group Work (20%)

Mid-term Exam 2 (25%)

In the mid-term examinations you will be given a critical prompt and excerpts from the studied texts are expected to build an argument in an appropriate academic register and critical vocabulary. In your argument there should be evidence that you have studied the recommended secondary sources. 

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS : final exam weighted at 100% [you are expected to respond to the exam essay questions as per above instructions for attending students]

Ημερομηνία δημιουργίας

Σάββατο 28 Σεπτεμβρίου 2019