Graduate Curriculum Committee Course Proposal Form
for Courses Numbered 5000 and Higher
Note: Before completing this form, please carefully read the accompanying instructions.
Submission guidelines are posted to the GCC Web site: http://www.ecu.edu/cs-acad/gcc/index.cfm
1. Course prefix and number:
ENGL 6375
2. Date:
11/13/2012
3. Requested action:
X
New Course
Revision of Active Course
Revision & Unbanking of a Banked Course
Renumbering of an Existing Course from
from
to
#
Required
#
Elective
4. Method(s) of delivery (check all boxes that apply for both current/proposed and expected
future delivery methods within the next three years):
Current or
Proposed Delivery
Method(s):
On-campus (face to face)
X
Distance Course (face to face off campus)
Expected
Future Delivery
Method(s):
X
X
Online (delivery of 50% or more of the instruction is offered online)
5. Justification. Identify the committee or group (e.g., Graduate faculty of the Department of
English) that conducted the assessment of curriculum and student learning. Explain why the
unit wishes to offer or revise the course. Include specific results from the unit assessment that
led to the development or modification of the course. If applicable, cite any accrediting
agency/ies and reference the specific standard/s.
Based on an assessment of the knowledge and skills required in mastery of multicultural
and transnational literatures, this course will contribute centrally to the M.A. in English
concentration in Multicultural and Transnational Literatures, as well as the Certificate
Program in Multicultural Literature, where it will fill gaping holes in the programs.
Middle Eastern Literature has become a focal point in multicultural studies, postcolonial
theory, and “Orientalism.” The responds to our programs’ focus on “world literatures
from local, regional, national, transnational, and global perspectives,” and to its stated
mission: to approach an understanding and appreciation of literatures in an
interdisciplinary study of historical, political, artistic, geographic, and environmental
contexts.
It responds directly to the university’s mission statement, “preparing our students to
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
compete and succeed in the global economy and multicultural society.”
For the past three years, this course has been offered annually, at full enrollment each
time, as English 7365: Selected Topics, as well as regular directed reading and
independent research courses.
The Graduate Committee approved this course on November 26, 2012 and the English
Graduate Faculty approved this course on December 3, 2012.
6. Course description exactly as it should appear in the next catalog:
6375. Middle Eastern Literature (3) Examines Middle Eastern literature, in English,
with a focus on recent and transnational texts.
7. If this is a course revision, briefly describe the requested change:
8. Course credit:
Lecture Hours
3
3
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
Lab
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Studio
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Practicum
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Internship
Weekly
OR
Per Term
Credit Hours
s.h.
Other (e.g., independent study) Please explain.
Total Credit Hours
9. Anticipated annual student enrollment:
s.h.
3
15
10. Changes in degree hours of your programs:
Degree(s)/Program(s)
Changes in Degree Hours
11. Affected degrees or academic programs, other than your programs:
Degree(s)/Program(s)
Changes in Degree Hours
12. Overlapping or duplication with affected units or programs:
X Not applicable
Documentation of notification to the affected academic degree programs is
attached.
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s.h.
s.h.
13. Council for Teacher Education (CTE) approval (for courses affecting teacher education):
X Not applicable
Applicable and CTE has given their approval.
14. University Service-Learning Committee (USLC) approval:
X Not applicable
Applicable and USLC has given their approval.
15. Statements of support:
a. Staff
X Current staff is adequate
Additional staff is needed (describe needs in the box below):
b. Facilities
X Current facilities are adequate
Additional facilities are needed (describe needs in the box below):
c. Library
X
Initial library resources are adequate
Initial resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief explanation and an
estimate for the cost of acquisition of required initial resources):
d. Unit computer resources
X
Unit computer resources are adequate
Additional unit computer resources are needed (in the box below, give a brief
explanation and an estimate for the cost of acquisition):
e. ITCS resources
X
ITCS resources are not needed
The following ITCS resources are needed (put a check beside each need):
Mainframe computer system
Statistical services
Network connections
Computer lab for students
Software
Approval from the Director of ITCS attached
16. Course information (see: Graduate Curriculum and Program Development Manual for
instructions):
a. Textbook(s) and/or readings: author(s), name, publication date, publisher, and
city/state/country. Include ISBN (when applicable).
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012
Al-Shavkh, Hanan. Women of Sand and Myrrh. New York: Anchor, 1992. ISBN
9780385423588.
Barghouti, Mourid. I Saw Ramallah. New York: Vintage, 2003. ISBN 9781400032662.
Barks, Coleman. Trs. Rumi: Selected Poems. Everyman’s Library, 2006. ISBN
9780307263520.
Faqir, Fadia. Pillars of Salt. Interlink Publishing Group, 1998. ISBN 1566562538.
Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Harvest, 2008. ISBN 9780156034029.
Hosseini, Khaled. A Thousand Splendid Suns. New York: Riverhead, 2008. ISBN
159448385X.
Jayyusi, Salma. Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology ed. Columbia, 1991. ISBN
0231052731.
Mahfouz, Naguib. Arabian Nights. Maine: Anchor, 1998. ISBN 9780385469012.
Said, Edward. Orientalism. 1st ed. New York: Vintage, 1979. ISBN: 039474067X.
Sofer, Dalia. The Septembers of Shiraz. New York: Ecco, 2007. ISBN 9780061130403.
b. Course objectives for the course (student – centered, behavioral focus)
If this is a 5000-level course that is populated by undergraduate and graduate students,
there must be differentiation in the learning objectives expected.
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
Recognize, understand, and apply the terms and concepts in important
theoretical approaches to the literature, including Said’s work on Orientalism.
Recognize historical allusions to events in modern Middle Eastern history.
Articulate problems associated with immigration and assimilation, as they are
fictionalized and memorialized in the literature.
Respond critically to the most celebrated writers in the region.
Identify principal motifs the recur in the literary works: search for identity, the
connection between faith and cultural identity, conflict with “western” ideology
Conduct research on Middle Eastern writers, practices, literary and cultural
theory; and be able to convert that research in full-length works of scholarship.
c. Course topic outline
The list of topics should reflect the stated objectives.
Calendar
Week One
Introductions. Identifying the region, its historicity, its cultural uniqueness, its literary
culture.
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Discussion: Where did the term Middle Eastern come from? Who are the Arabs?
Is Middle Eastern Literature postcolonial literature, and if so what does that mean?
What role does the Koran play in interpreting Middle Eastern Literature? Of what
ethnic origin are the principal writers that we associate with this literature?
Week Two
Discussion: Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. How would you classify this
work generically? How does the author manipulate point of view? What does the
book teach us about Jihad and imaginary cultural constructions of the West and Middle
East? Where do your sympathies lie as a reader?
Week Three
Discussion: Edward Said’s Orientalism Why has Said’s work so dominated critical
discussion of the art and literature of the Middle East? How would you characterize
the critical response to Said: how have his proponents used this theories? On what
basis have his opponents attacked his work? What do we take from Said as readers of
the literature? Bibliographic Essay Due.
Week Four
Discussion: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Much of the popular
literature coming from the region comes from writers who have migrated: Reading
Lolita in Tehran and Kite Runner, for example. How does the reader respond both to
the ethnic origin of the writer and to the writer’s status as a “refugee”? How do these
factors affect reception? Does this work affect your political views about the Taliban
and international responsibility for women’s rights and human rights in the region?
Week Five
Discussion: Arabian Nights and Days by Naguib Mahfouz. To what extent and in what
ways are contemporary authors revising their own cultural traditions and literary pasts?
Week Six
Discussion: Rumi’s poetry. What has Rumi’s poetry been appropriated by a huge
readership in the 21st century west? What does his poetry mean in this context?
Explicate representative poem.
Week Seven
Discussion: Write two brief, informal explications of poems from Modern Arabic
Poetry.
Week Eight
Discussion: I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti . Why does Palestine--its history
and geopolitics--hold such a central place in the ideology and imagination of
contemporary authors?
Week Nine
Proposals for critical papers. Book Reviews Due
Week Ten
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Discussion: Pillars of Salt by Fadia Faqir. How does gender and geography interplay?
Week Eleven
Discussion: The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer. How does this novel work as
protest lit? How does it construct the relationship between the individual and the state?
Week Twelve
Discussion: Women of Sand and Myrrh by Hanan Al-Shavkh. How do some writers
seek to “reclaim” Islam? Can we generalize about the relationship between the writers
we’ve studied and their faith?
Week Thirteen: Rough Drafts Due (posted for discussion)
Week Fourteen: Final Drafts Due
d. List of course assignments, weighting of each assignment, and grading/evaluation system
for determining a grade
Assignments and Grading:
Collaborative inquiry/discussion: 30%
Bibliographic Essay: 5-page bibliographic essay on the theories of Said and his
respondents. 15%
Book review: 4-page review of a new literary work not covered in the course. 15%
Two drafts of a full-length critical paper: Write a full-length critical paper on a topic
to be determined in consultation with the instructor. The revised paper might be the
basis of a thesis chapter or conference talk. 20% plus 20%
Grading Scale
90-100= A
80-89 = B
70-79 = C
69 or below = F
Approved by GCC April 2012; posted summer of 2012