**Provisional Syllabus**
New York University
Globalization and the Modern Novel in English
Freshman Honors Seminar
Goddard B01: Thursdays 12:30 – 3 pm
Spring 2015
Contact Information
Professor: Jeannie Im, Ph.D.
Email: ji213@nyu.edu
Office: 411 Lafayette Street, Room 412
Course Description
Over the last century, some of the most significant literature in English has been produced from former
British colonies such as Nigeria, South Africa, and India. This course explores key novels in English as
a window into important dimensions of contemporary globalization. Our novels will provide a virtual
literary map, ranging from the postcolonial African states in V. S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River and
Dinaw Mengestu’s The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, India in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People, and
South Africa in Nadine Gordimer’s The Pickup. We will also discuss how the United States figures in
these novels as an ambivalent cultural, political, and economic power, extending its influence around the
globe as well as attracting migrants and exiles. Our readings will be guided by scholarship on issues
such as migration and population displacement; urbanization and environmentalism; economic
development and political transition; and cosmopolitanism and citizenship. While literature provides the
foundation for the course, students are encouraged to develop final research papers relating to their
academic interests, such as economics, political science, international relations, or environmental studies.
Required Texts
Gordimer, Nadine. The Pickup. ISBN-10: 1250024048; ISBN-13: 978-1250024046
Mengestu, Dinaw. The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears. ISBN-10: 1594482853; ISBN-13: 978-1594482854
Naipaul, V. S. A Bend in the River. ISBN-10: 0679722025; ISBN-13: 978-0679722021
Sinha, Indra. Animal’s People. ISBN-10: 141657879X; ISBN-13: 978-1416578796
KINDLE VERSIONS OF THE NOVELS ARE UNACCEPTABLE. For academic and citation
purposes, you will need a hard copy of the book. The texts above are available at the bookstore. If you
order the books online, please use the ISBNs to identify the correct edition. You are expected to bring
the assigned reading to every class.
Other articles and stories will be available on our NYUClasses site. Please print out all pdf’s/docs and
bring them to class.
Course Requirements
Response Papers: Over the course of the first four weeks of the semester, students write two, 2-3 page
response papers: the first requires the student to consider the student’s personal, concrete experience of
globalization in relation to one of the assigned readings; the second requires the student to represent and
evaluate two different essays in relation to each other. These response papers not only prepare the
1/12/2015
1 of 5
student to consider issues for their final project, but also to build writing skills in citation usage, textual
representation, and conceptual analysis.
Oral Presentations: Students will give 5-minute presentations on select topics during weeks 11-13 of the
semester. The topics of these presentations must be approved by the instructor.
Research Project: students investigate a controversy related to the course material. Our course site
offers a list of suggested readings to jump-start research. The research project has five graded
components:
1. Initial Research: You will select one article from the suggested readings, and write a careful,
2-3 page assessment of the paper in relation to one of the novels on our assigned reading list.
2. Research Bibliography: You will select and research an important case or controversy, related
to the article you read for your initial research. You will create an annotated bibliography of at
least three sources that investigate different aspects of this case or controversy.
3. Paper Proposal: You will develop a research question based on your research so far, and write
a page explaining how your research helps you explore this question and its ramifications for
other, related issues.
4. Research Paper Draft 1: You will submit a 4-6 page draft of your final paper.
5. Research Paper Final Draft: You will submit a 6-8 page final draft of your paper.
Grade Distribution
Response Papers:
20%
Research Project:
80%
Research Project Breakdown:
Initial Research
5%
Controversy Research 10%
Paper Proposal
10%
Draft 1
15%
Final Draft
40%
Oral Presentation
10%
Attendance/Participation
10%
Guidelines for submission of written work
All assignments must be handed in as hard copies; electronic submissions will not be accepted. Type all
your work; handwritten work is not acceptable. Follow MLA formatting guidelines: your papers should
be in Times New Roman standard 12-point font, double-spaced, stapled, paginated, with 1-inch margins.
Students are encouraged to visit the NYU Writing Center for expert assistance with their assignments;
see www.nyu.edu/cas/ewp for more details.
Attendance
Students receive a letter grade for attendance and participation. It is important that you come to classes
prepared. Missed classes and tardiness will most likely have a negative effect on your grade. Three
absences of any kind may result in failure of the course.
Classroom Decorum
1/12/2015
2 of 5
The classroom is a place where the free exchange of ideas can occur in an atmosphere of mutual trust
and respect. Breaches of classroom decorum include non-performance of class obligations, disruptive or
disrespectful behavior, and prejudice on the basis of gender, race or sexual orientation. According to the
University policy on student conduct, “Behavior which…disrupts the educational activities…of the
University, is subject to review and possible penalty.” When you enter the classroom, please turn off all
cellphones. Tablets and/or laptops should not be used in class unless you discuss with me why you need
to use one.
Academic Integrity
Each student in this course is expected to abide by New York University’s Academic Integrity policies.
Plagiarism and other forms of cheating may result in an “F” for the course. For more information,
see NYU’s Academic Honesty Policy http://www.nyu.edu/about/policies-guidelinescompliance/policies-and-guidelines/academic-integrity-for-students-at-nyu.html.
1/12/2015
3 of 5
Schedule of Assignments
Week 1
Introduction
Kwame Anthony Appiah, “Cosmopolitan Contamination”
Week 2
The Age of Imperialism
**Writing Assignment 1 Due
Naipaul, V. S. A Bend in the River, pages ##.
Callinicos, Alex. "Globalization, Imperialism, and the Capitalist World System," pages 62-78
Week 3
Globalization, Capitalism, Modernity
Naipaul, pages ##.
James Ferguson, “Decomposing Modernity: History and Hierarchy after Development” (176-93)
Week 4
Globalization and Catastrophe
**Writing Assignment 2 Due
Sinha, Indra. Animal’s People, pages ##
Week 5
“Slow Violence”
Sinha, pages ##.
Nixon, Rob. “Slow Violence, Neoliberalism, and the Environmental Picaresque,” pages 45-60.
Week 6
Beyond Imagined Communities
**Initial Research Due
Sinha, pages ##
Week 7
Gender, Race, and the Subject of Globalization
Gordimer, Nadine. The Pickup, pages ##.
Maher, Kristen Hill. “Globalized Social Reproduction: Women Migrants and the Citizenship Gap”
(pages 131-51)
** SPRING BREAK**
Week 8
Affect and Affiliation
** Initial Research Due
Gordimer, The Pickup, pages ##.
Week 9
Decolonizing the Mind
Mengestu, Dinaw. The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears, pages ##.
N’gugi Thong’o, “Writing Against Neo-Colonialism,” pages 157-67
** Research Bibliography Due
Week 10
1/12/2015
Cosmopolitanism and Citizenship
4 of 5
**Paper Proposal Due
Mengestu, pages ##.
Week 11
Conjunctions I: Environment and Ecology
**Oral Presentations
Mengestu, pages ##.
Guha, Ramachandra. “The Southern Challenge” from Environmentalism: A Global History
Benkler, Yochai. "The Political Economy of Commons." Upgrade 4.3 (June 2003).
Week 12
Conjunctions II: Development and Inequality
**Oral Presentations
Castells, Manuel. "The Rise of the Fourth World"
Roy, Arundhati. Capitalism: A Ghost Story, excerpt.
Week 13
Conjunctions III: Migration and Cosmopolitanism
**Oral Presentations
Sassen, Saskia. "The Places and Spaces of the Global: An Expanded Analytic Terrain," pages 79-105
Exam Week:
**Final Draft of Research Paper + Portfolio Due
1/12/2015
5 of 5