English 373-002
Introduction to Ethnic Minority Literature: Hurston, Walker, Morrison & Naylor
Instr: Cam Tatham
Office: Curtin 392, 229-3504
e-mail: ctatham@uwm.edu
Office hours: T,R, 11-12 and by appointment
Course Information: M-F, 12:30-3:45 CRT 368
Course Description
Required Reading:
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Toni Morrison, Beloved
Gloria Naylor, Mama Day
Course Requirements:
- Regular attendance (no more than 2 cuts allowed without grade penalty).
- Keeping up with the reading and participation in discussion.
- Daily posting to a Discussion Forum, in which you express your own reactions to the issues raised in the texts and class discussion, as well as responding to the postings of your classmates. In your conversations with your classmates, online and in the classroom, try always to be courteous, supportive, challenging and respectful.
- Daily writing in a Reading Journal - you will be expected to write 1-2 single-spaced pages each day, in which you express your own reactions to the texts and classes and relate the issues raised to your own experience. (Note: you may use your writings in the Reading Journal also as postings to the Discussion Forum.) You will not be judged on your opinions but rather on the quality of your writing and on evidence of genuine engagement with the issues raised in the texts and classes. Try to be as specific as possible - that is, refer to specific characters and scenes, use quotes from the texts to clarify and support your reactions. Be sure to date your entries and number your pages. You may hand in your journal for feedback at any time, but you must hand it in on Jan. 8th and 17th.
Course Description:
In this course, we will be examining four of the best novels by four of the finest writers in African American literature. Both Walker and Morrison have won Pulitzer Prizes, Morrison has received the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Naylor is widely recognized as one of the most exciting young black women writers on the current scene. All three have acknowledged the profound influence of Hurston on their writing. We will discuss the individual texts in considerable depth, as well as exploring the considerable material related to these authors available on the internet. There will be no formal papers and no exams, but you will do a considerable amount of informal writing in your Reading Journal and you will be expected to engage forcefully in what I expect to be vigorous and productive in-class and online conversations.
Note: This course counts for GER-Humanities and Cultural Diversity credit; it also satisfies the English major requirements for courses in women writers and minority literature.
