ENGL A152H: Race, Culture, and Identify in Literature Honors

Course Outline of Record
Item	Value
Curriculum Committee Approval Date	12/02/2020
Top Code	150300 - Comparative Literature
Units	3 Total Units
Hours	54 Total Hours (Lecture Hours 54)
Total Outside of Class Hours	0
Course Credit Status	Credit: Degree Applicable (D)
Material Fee	No
Basic Skills	Not Basic Skills (N)
Repeatable	No
Grading Policy	Standard Letter (S), Pass/No Pass (B)
Associate Arts Local General Education (GE)	OC Humanities - AA (OC1)
Associate Science Local General Education (GE)	OCC Humanities - AS (OSC2)
California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC)	Cal-GETC 3B Humanities (3B)
Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC)	IGETC 3B Humanities (3B)
California State University General Education Breadth (CSU GE-Breadth)	CSU C2 Humanities (C2)

Course Description

Read, analyze, and write on texts by American writers, immigrant writers, and other writers that explore ethnicity, race, culture, sexuality, or ideology. Explore the historical, cultural, philosophical, and aesthetic implications of representative works. Formulate and produce written analyses of assigned works. Enrollment Limitation: ENGL A152; students who complete ENGL A152H may not enroll in or receive credit for ENGL A152. ADVISORY: ENGL C1000. Transfer Credit: CSU; UC.

Course Level Student Learning Outcome(s)

Identify significant influences of history, philosophy, religion, sexuality, ideology, and aesthetics, on race, culture, and identity in literary representations
.

Course Objectives

1. Demonstrate an understanding and familiarity of major concepts, discourses and theoretical approaches relating to race, culture, and identity in literature.
2. Analyze and interpret significant literary texts representing pertinent and relevant themes of race, culture, and identity in literature.
3. Relate textual representations of race, culture, and identity in literature to their historical, philosophical, social, political, and/or aesthetic contexts.
4. Examine the influence of different gender, economic, cultural, racial, and/or ethnic groups on literature.
5. Appreciate how a work of literature can address, expand, and argue political and social issues such as race, culture, and identity in literature.
6. Demonstrate an understanding of the above through appropriate academic discourse and conventions of literary analysis.
7. Demonstrate comprehension of the above through class discussion, written exams, and essays using appropriate citation form.

Lecture Content

Influential, significant, and/or non-canonical texts and authors relevant to discussions about race, culture, and identity in literature. Works may be derived from native-born American writers, immigrants, and other writers discussing relevant issues of race, culture, and identity. 1) Issues of Race a) Theoretical Approaches to Race i) Examples may include excerpts or passages from the following kinds of texts: The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary Criticism (Henry Louis Gates, Jr); Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination (Toni Morrison); The Souls of Black Folk (W.E.B. DuBois)—the concept of double-consciousness; Aint I A Woman: Black Women and Feminism (bell hooks); This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color (Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua); Woman, Native, Other (Trinh T. Minh-ha); Gayatri Spivak, etc. b) Intersectionality - Critical Race Theory c) Political, cultural, and social movements relating to race in the 20th/21st century d) Historical context regarding issues of race in America e) Construction of racist stereotypes in literature f) Post-colonial theory and the concept of the Other g) Economic underpinnings of racial discrimination 2) Issues of Culture a) Ethnic and Multi-ethnic Backgrounds: fictional, non-fictional, and theoretical. Examine texts for both structure/aesthetics as well as thematic concerns and social concerns. Representational works may be from the following groupings, among others: i) s p; Native American texts: Representative fiction, non-fiction, and poetry from writers such as Sherman Alexie, Louise Erdrich, Leslie Marmon Silko, etc.). ii) African American texts: Representative fiction, poetry, and non-fiction from authors such as James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, August Wilson, Langston Hughes, Ralph Ellison, Nella Larsen, Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie, Zora Neal Hurston, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Frederick Douglas, etc. iii) Asian American texts: narratives, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction that express the immigrant experience or expose Orientalism in intercultural interactions; writers such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Julie Otsuka, Gish Jen, Jhumpa Lahiri, Ruth Ozeki, etc. iv) Middle Eastern American texts: writers such as Edward Said, Leila Ahmed, Azar Nafisi, Firoozeh Dumas, Diane Abu-Jaber etc. v) Latino/a American texts: writers such as Junot Diaz, Sandra Cisneros, Salvador Plascencia, Rudolfo Anaya, Julia Alvarez, etc. b) Religious Background: fictional, non-fictional, and theoretical. Examine texts for both structure/aesthetics as well as thematic concerns i) Examining creation myths (eg. Native American creation stories versus The Book Of Genesis) for common ground ii) Religion and Immigrant Populations iii) Muslim experiences in America: The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid); Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner); Mohja Kahf; Randa Jarrar, etc. iv) Jewish American experience: Allen Ginsberg, Michael Chabon, Art Speigleman (Maus); Elie Wiesel; etc. c) Cultural Resistance, Assimilation, Hybridity i) Resistance: the rejection of a dominant culture in favor of a native, personal, or nonconformist culture i i) Assimilation: the loss of unique features of a culture in favor of a dominant cultural force iii) Hybridity: new forms developing through cross-cultural exchange, influencing changes in the dominant culture as well as other cultural forms iv) Representative texts from writers of various backgrounds who examine these cultural influences in their fiction, non-fiction, and theoretical texts. 3) Issues of Identity a) Exploring the intersection of race, culture, gender, sexuality, and/or ideology and their effects on forming a stable identity b) Sexuality i) Explorations of masculinity and femininity that explore the intersection of race, culture, ideology, and/or sexuality ii) LGBTQ narratives that explore the intersection of race, culture, ideology, and/or gender iii) Stereotypes about sexual identity and their cultural formations iv) Representative works may include writers such as James Baldwin (Giovannis Room), Langston Hughes, Octavia Butler, Nella Larsen (Passing), Jeanne Cordova (When We Were Outlaws), David Henry Hwang, etc. c) The construction of the Self against dominant narratives of selfhood i) Coming of age stories depicting a crisis of identity within a non-mainstream setting ii) First- and second-generation immigrant experiences that negotiate identity iii) The formation of labels versus self-definition (examples such as Hispanic, Latino/a, La Raza, Chicano/a, etc.) d) Exploration of ancestral origins in light of cultural resistance, assimilation, and/or hybridity e) nb Examinations of friendships, romance, desire, and/or love across identity boundaries

Method(s) of Instruction

Lecture (02)
DE Live Online Lecture (02S)

Instructional Techniques

Instructional techniques involve some or all of the following: lecture/discussion, in-class writing prompts, close reading, group work, panel discussions, debates, response papers, quizzes, and collaborative research presentations.

Reading Assignments

A minimum of four hours per week reading, analyzing, and annotating representative works addressing questions of race, culture and identity.

Writing Assignments

Write a minimum of 3000 words (15 pages, 12 pt. double spaced typed) about race, culture, and identity in literature: (a) a minimum of 2000 words (10 pages) of the writing must be in the form of analytical essays, (b) the other writings may be in the form of tests requiring primarily short and/or long essay responses, journal writings, creative modeling of the literature, written notes outlining oral presentations, written scripts for film/video presentations, or other types of writings that demonstrate an understanding of the literature.

Out-of-class Assignments

A minimum of between four-six hours each week on writing assignments including (but not limited to) essays, summaries, reading responses, research essays using secondary sources, and take home exams.

Demonstration of Critical Thinking

Examinations, written analysis of literary works, in-class discussions of assigned reading.

Required Writing, Problem Solving, Skills Demonstration

Eligible Disciplines

English: Masters degree in English, literature, comparative literature, or composition OR bachelors degree in any of the above AND masters degree in linguistics, TESL, speech, education with a specialization in reading, creative writing, or journalism OR the equivalent. Masters degree required.

Textbooks Resources

1. Required Gates, Henry Louis, editor, et. al. The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, Third Edition ed. W. W. Norton Company, 2014 2. Required Morrison, Toni. Beloved, ed. Vintage, 2012 3. Required Diaz, Junot. This is How You Lose Her, ed. Riverhead Books, 2013 4. Required Moraga, Cherrie Anzaldua, Gloria. This Bridge Called My back; Writings by Radical Women of Color, 4th ed. State University of New York Press, 2015 5. Required Erdrich, Louise. The Round House, ed. Harper, 2013 6. Required Otsuka, Julie. The Buddha in the Attic, ed. Anchor, 2012 7. Required Hwang, David Henry. Chinglish, ed. Theater Communications Group, 2012 8. Required Baldwin, James. Giovannis Room, ed. Vintage, 2013

Academic Catalogs