Chabot College
Fall 2002
Replaced Fall 2010
Course Outline for English 33
HERSTORY: WOMEN'S AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WRITING
IN MULTICULTURAL AMERICA
Catalog Description:
33 - Herstory: Women’s Autobiographical Writing in Multicultural America
3 units
Chronicles the experience of U.S. women through readings in diaries, journals, and other
autobiographical writing from at least three of the following groups: African Americans, Asian
Americans, European Americans, Native Americans, and Latinas. Explores works by writers of
diverse backgrounds and experiences in an effort to understand the diversity of women’s voices,
especially in the 20th century. Strongly recommended: Eligibility for English 1A. 3 hours.
Prerequisite Skills:
None
Expected Outcomes for Students:
Upon completion of the course the student should be able to:
1. demonstrate familiarity with the self-expressed perspectives of the represented groups;
2. express an understanding of the considered works in relation to cultural and ethnic issues in the
history and society of the U.S.;
3. compare different approaches to diaries, journals and other kinds of autobiographical writing;
4. analyze the diversity of the works considered while identifying common themes (such as the
development of self, voice and mind) and components (such as race, culture, religion, class, age,
physical and mental disabilities, and lifestyle choices);
5. respond to writers’ personal experiences reflected in and validated by the literature.
Course Content:
1. Diaries, journals and other autobiographical writing of women, including at least two full-length works
2. Historical and thematic context for the diaries, journals, and other autobiographical writing and the
groups represented
3. Theoretical framework for analyzing gender and cultural diversity in women’s autobiographical writing
Methods of Presentation:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Lecture
Discussion
Group work
Student presentations
Multimedia
Guest lectures
Typical Assignments and Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
1. Typical Assignments
a. A project developing one or more of the diary/journal writing approaches considered in class;
this is to also reflect an understanding of the purpose and impact of the approaches selected.
b. A researched paper that focuses on a full-length work in one of the ethnic groups considered,
reflects familiarity with the writer's perspective, and expresses understanding of that work in
relation to cultural and ethnic issues in U.S. history and society.
Chabot College
Course Outline for English 33
Page 2
Fall 2002
2. Methods of Evaluating Student Progress
a. Formal, graded essays focusing on autobiographical writing
b. Reading–writing journal
c. A diary or journal project
d. An essay final exam
e. Participation in discussions and group work
f. An oral presentation
Textbook(s) (Typical):
Women’s Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind, Mary Field Belenky and
others, Basic Books, Inc. Publishers, 1986
Writing Women’s Lives: An Anthology of Autobiographical Narratives by Twentieth Century American
Women Writers, Susan Cahill, ed., Harper Collins Publishers, 1994
Written by Herself: Autobiographies of American Women: An Anthology, Jill Ker Conway, ed.,
Random House Publishers, 1992
A Life of One’s Own, Joanna Field, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers, 1981
The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of A Girlhood Among Ghosts, Maxine Hong Kingston, Random House
Publishers, 1977
The Diary of Anais Nin: Volume One, 1931-1934, Anais Nin, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers,
1966
Your Life as Story: Writing the “New” Autobiography, Tristine Rainer, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers,
1997
Special Student Materials:
None
dk 11/01/01
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