Course Essentials

Course Deadlines

Monday, August 26th: The last day to drop the course for a full refund and no "W"

Tuesday, September 3rd: Last day to add the course, last day to drop without a "W"

Saturday, October 19th: The last day to drop the course with a "W" (withdrawal)

Saturday, November 9th: The last day to request the Pass/No Pass (P/NP) Grading Option

Course Description

Welcome to English/Ethnic Studies 238!

This course introduces students to a survey of Black literature, focusing on the early oral tradition, literature of slavery and freedom, the Harlem Renaissance, Modernism, the Black Arts Era, and the contemporary period. Students examine the literature as a reflection of Black experience in the world and the effects of the literature on American culture and politics. Reading selections consist of poetry, short stories, plays, novels, and nonfiction prose, including essays, letters, political tracts, autobiographies, speeches, and sermons. The authors we will engage with this semester include Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Jacobs, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Richard Wright, Gwendolyn Brooks, Amiri Baraka, Lucile Clifton, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, August Wilson, Saul Williams, Ntozake Schange, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Natasha Trethewey. We will analyze and discuss their works and write about them in critical essays.

Additionally, we will celebrate and honor the diverse contributions of Black authors. Students will study how these texts are situated in complex historical and cultural traditions and enter these conversations as empowered scholars. Given the pervasiveness of anti-blackness sentiments in our country and history of systemic racism and white supremacy, the course offers students a timely and in-depth literary, historical, and cultural analysis of the vastly rich contributions of African and African American authors.

My Advice for Success

In order to be successful in our online course, I have some suggestions:

Set your Canvas Notifications: Click on "Account" and then on "Notifications." Set the following items to "Notify immediately:" Announcement, Grading, Late Grading, and Submission Comment. This will ensure that you are kept up to date on all communications from me.
Log in Regularly: Log in to the course at least every other day. New modules open each Saturday and assignments are due the following Saturday and Sunday.
Set a Routine: I suggest viewing the weekly overview pages each Monday, completing the readings by Thursday of the week, and posting your initial reply to the Reading Activities on Friday or Saturday. Then, you should complete your peer replies on Saturday and Sunday, and, if you'd like, you can get an early start on the following week's reading on Saturday and Sunday as well.
Navigate the modules: To successfully navigate through the module content, my recommendation is to click on the week's Reading Activity and find the prompt questions. Then, as you flip through the pages in the module, you will encounter the content that you need in order to answer the questions. Click "Next" in the bottom right hand corner of each page. The tracker at the bottom of each page will indicate your progress in the week's module.
Watch the assignment prompt videos: For the Spotlight project and the Celebrations of Knowledge assignments, I offer the prompt instructions in both text and video forms. I suggest watching the videos, as I guide you through the text that's on the page and explain in greater detail. These videos should help to communicate the instructions clearly.
Center the learning process: By going gradeless in our course, I am communicating to students that I value the learning process over grades. This means that I'd like students to really dive into the weekly content and readings, sit with the authors' messages, and make meaningful connections to historical moments and the theoretical frameworks. By doing so, the skills you learn and the connections you make will not only help to crystalize the content in our course, but support you in your future classes as you apply course content in meaningful ways. Further, the content you learn in this class is applicable to the contexts that surround you in your daily life. You may find that, because you aren't distracted or stressed out by grades in our course, you are better able to apply the content to personal situations and current events.
Leverage your resources: I offer student visiting hours (office hours) to come and talk to me about your experiences in the course, to ask me questions, and to unpack readings and course content. You can either make an appointment or drop in during my scheduled hours, and if my scheduled times don't work with your schedule, I am happy to schedule an appointment outside those times. I also include links to our Cuyamaca student services, so please take advantage of the numerous FREE services, including tutoring, counseling (academic and personal), financial aid, and many more!

Course Goals

Course Outcomes

Upon completing this course successfully, the Student Learning Outcomes state that you should be able to:

Use literary terminology and basic critical theory to discuss, analyze, synthesize, and interpret Black literary works in various genres.
Write evidence-based literary analyses of Black literature demonstrating close reading and interpretive skills, logical reasoning, and argumentative strategies.
Analyze how Black literary texts portray struggle, resistance, social justice, solidarity, and/or liberation, and how the texts engage with anti-racist issues, practices, and movements to build a diverse, just, and equitable society.

Additional Learning Outcomes (for Prof. B's class specifically):

These come from Gholdy Muhammad's book Cultivating Genius.

Identity Formation: students will examine their personal identities as well as those who differ from them in order to situate themselves in scholarly conversations and leverage their cultural, historical, and ancestral capital as well as lived experiences
Skills: Students will develop writing, research, synthesis, critical thinking, rhetorical analysis, technology, and presentation skills
Intellect: Students will gain new knowledge outside of the English discipline by examining the history and interdisciplinary applications of their social issues
Criticality: Students will engage in the projects this term in order to challenge systems of oppression and create social change

Course Objectives

Upon completing this course successfully, the Student Learning Objectives state that you should be able to:

Analyze, interpret, and evaluate Black literary works within the social, political, historical, cultural and aesthetic contexts that have formed Black experiences in the United States.
Evaluate the literary and intellectual contributions Black writers have made to American culture, as well as the linguistic, historical, philosophical, social, political, and aesthetic impact of Black literature on American culture and society.
Apply literary theory (which may include Critical Race Theory, Critical Gender and Sexuality Theory, American Studies, New Historicism, Formalism, and Marxist Theory) to analyze the literature, with special focus on the lived experiences and social struggles of Black Americans.
Analyze and articulate concepts of ethnic studies, including but not limited to race and ethnicity, racialization, equity, ethno-centricism, white supremacy, self-determination, liberation, decolonization, and anti-racism.
Critically discuss the intersection of race and ethnicity, as expressed in the literature and in the lived experiences of Black writers, with other forms of difference affected by hierarchy and oppression, such as class, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, immigration status, ability, and/or age.
Describe how struggle, resistance, social justice, solidarity, and liberation, as expressed in the literature and experienced by Black communities in the United States, are relevant to current issues.
Analyze the ways in which Black literature and its authors have actively engaged with anti-racist issues, practices, and movements to build a diverse, just, and equitable society.

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