Prof. Noelle Morrissette
Department of English
namorris@uncg.edu
Office: 3135 MHRA
Office Hours: TR 11-12:15
and by appointment
Spring 2014
ENG 735:
Studies in African American Literature:
African American Narrative and Narrative Theory
T 18:30-21:20, MHRA 1304
Course description:
A survey of African American literature from eighteenth-century slave narratives to
contemporary novels by Reed, Morrison, and Everett, paired with the study of critical
and theoretical approaches to African American narrative. From the inception of African
American literature as text, its readers and writers have raised critical issues of origin,
ownership, voice, and racial/cultural authenticity. Formal literary-critical and
interdisciplinary cultural-theoretical models have attempted to acknowledge these
issues, and yet, taken together, they represent the disciplinary and discursive tensions
of African American literature and its study. This course will focus on the critical
problems and possibilities emerging over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first
century from different models of scholarship applied to African American texts. We will
study multiple approaches to African American literature and literary practices, which
may include sound and performance studies, psychoanalysis and trauma theory, literacy
and reading cultures, and gender and sexuality studies. Texts will be read through major
periods of African American experience and literary production.
Required Texts:
Slave Narratives (ed. William Andrews). Library of America. (Douglass, Bibb, Brown,
Jacobs, Craft) isbn 9781931082112
Hannah Crafts, The Bondswoman’s Narrative isbn 9780446690294
Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave
(http://docsouth.unc.edu/fpn/northup/northup.html)
Pauline Hopkins, Of One Blood (Bb)
Johnson, Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man isbn 9781593082895 (Barnes & Noble
Classics)
Larsen, Passing isbn 9780141180250 (Penguin) OR isbn 9780393979169 (Norton)
Morrison, Sula and Beloved (Plume Editions with Morrison’s forwards)
Reed, Mumbo Jumbo isbn 9780684824772
2
Everett, Erasure isbn 9780786888153
All other required readings available on Blackboard.
Note: students must bring a hard copy of these readings to class on the day they are
discussed.
Alice Walker, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”
Amiri Baraka, “The Revolutionary Tradition in Afro-American Literature”
Kenneth Warren, “Historicizing African American Literature,” from What Was African
American Literature?
Robert Stepto, From Behind the Veil: A Theory of Afro-American Narrative
William Andrews, “The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography: Toward the
Definition of a Genre”
Karen Sànchez-Eppler, “Bodily Bonds: The Intersecting Rhetorics of Feminism and
Abolition”
Claudia Tate, “Allegories of Black Female Desire”
William Andrews, “The Novelization of Voice in Early Afro-American Narrative”
Marjorie Garber, Vested Interests
Diana Paulin, “The Futurity of Miscegenation”
Daphne Brooks, “Divas,” from Bodies in Dissent
Mark Goble, “Phonographs”
Noelle Morrissette, “Biography of the Race: Musical Comedy and the Modern
Soundscape of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man”
Farah Jasmine Griffin, “When Malindy Sings: A Meditation on Black Women’s Vocality”
Hazel Carby, “The Politics of Women’s Blues”
Angela Davis, “Mama’s Got the Blues”
Ralph Ellison, “Blues People”
Amiri Baraka, “Swing: From Verb to Noun,” Blues People
Nathaniel Mackey, “Other: From Noun to Verb,” Discrepant Engagement
Anne duCille, “The Bourgeois, Wedding Bell Blues of Jessie Fauset and Nella Larsen”
Judith Butler, “Passing, Queering: Nella Larsen’s Psychoanalytic Challenge”
Karla FC Holloway, “Who’s the Daddy?”
Reed, “The Neo Hoo Doo Manifesto”
Barbara Smith, “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism”;
Deborah McDowell, “New Directions for Black Feminist Criticism”
Barbara Christian, “The Race for Theory”
Michael Awkward, “Appropriative Gestures”
Anne duCille, “The Occult of True Black Womanhood”
Laura Flynn Doyle, “‘To Get to a Place’: Intercorporeality in Beloved”
Course Objectives (Learning Outcomes):
Based on the description above, this course is structured to produce the following
learning outcomes:
3
1. Deepen students’ knowledge and appreciation of African American literary
history through the careful analysis of representative texts and authors. Students
will improve their understanding of the personal, cultural, and political
experiences of African Americans as it is reflected in the literature of the period
(19th to 21st century).
2. Improve students’ knowledge and use of appropriate critical terminology used in
the analysis of literary texts. This terminology will improve students’ ability to
analyze and appreciate the formal and aesthetic qualities of literature and
deepen their understanding of creative processes.
3. Enhance students’ skills in oral and written expression of critical thinking.
Students will practice thinking critically about both the literature they study and
the interpretations they produce by questioning the key assumptions operating
in the literary texts they read and those that inform their own interpretations of
those texts. Students will develop their own hypotheses, theories, and
interpretations of the literature they read. Students will improve their ability to
frame questions, analyze specific images, symbols, passages, and scenes, and to
present interpretations of literary work in both oral and written formats. In
written communication, particular attention will be paid to writing clear, concise
sentences and paragraphs, structuring original analyses and arguments in a clear
and compelling way, and documenting arguments effectively through the use of
outside sources.
4. Introduce students to ongoing and key critical debates about literature, race, and
gender in the fields of black studies and gender and sexuality studies. This means
that students must present research-oriented work (oral and written) that
incorporates their own original thinking in relationship to an established critical
and theoretical corpus of thought.
Pedagogical Method:
This course emphasizes discussion-based teaching, in which student participation
animates the direction of the class material. Discussion will focus on facilitating a shared
exploration of the meaning of the assigned texts through rigorous analysis of the text
itself, consideration of it in relation to other authors, genre, periods, and theory
surveyed in our readings. Students are expected to make these connections and foster
discussion by addressing questions and comments to their classmates and by active
listening.
Course Schedule (subject to change as per instructor):
January 14, 2014
Week One: Origins: theorizing beginnings of African American literature
Alice Walker, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”
Amiri Baraka, “The Revolutionary Tradition in Afro-American Literature”
4
Kenneth Warren, “Historicizing African American Literature,” from What Was African
American Literature?
January 21, 2014
Week Two: Freedom’s Tropes: The Narratives of Frederick Douglass, Solomon
Northup, William Wells Brown, Henry Bibb
Robert Stepto, From Behind the Veil: A Theory of Afro-American Narrative
William Andrews, “The First Century of Afro-American Autobiography: Toward the
Definition of a Genre”
January 28, 2014
Week Three: Mothering the Black Text: Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave
Girl
Karen Sànchez-Eppler, “Bodily Bonds: The Intersecting Rhetorics of Feminism and
Abolition”
Claudia Tate, “Allegories of Black Female Desire”
William Andrews, “The Novelization of Voice in Early Afro-American Narrative”
February 4, 2014
Week Four: Performances of Race and Gender in William and Ellen Craft’s Running a
Thousand Miles for Freedom
Marjorie Garber, Vested Interests
February 11, 2014
Week Five: The Bondswoman’s Narrative
In search of Hannah Crafts: Essays on Hannah Crafts,
New York Times article on author’s discovery
February 18, 2014
Week Six: Miscegenation and Performativity: Pauline Hopkins, Of One Blood
Diana Paulin, “The Futurity of Miscegenation”
Daphne Brooks, “Divas,” from Bodies in Dissent
February 25, 2014
Week Seven: The Sounds of African American Literature: James Weldon Johnson,
Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Mark Goble, “Phonographs”
Noelle Morrissette, “Biography of the Race: Musical Comedy and the Modern
Soundscape of The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man”
March 4, 2014
Week Eight: Blues women
Farah Jasmine Griffin, “When Malindy Sings: A Meditation on Black Women’s Vocality”
Hazel Carby, “The Politics of Women’s Blues”
5
Angela Davis, “Mama’s Got the Blues”
Ralph Ellison, “Blues People”
Amiri Baraka, “Swing: From Verb to Noun,” Blues People
Nathaniel Mackey, “Other: From Noun to Verb,” Discrepant Engagement
(Rainey, Smith, Hunter, Taylor)
Saturday, March 8 – Sunday March 16, 2014: Spring Break
March 18, 2014
Week Nine: Black Bourgeois Blues: Nella Larsen’s Passing
Anne duCille, “The Bourgeois, Wedding Bell Blues of Jessie Fauset and Nella Larsen”
Judith Butler, “Passing, Queering: Nella Larsen’s Psychoanalytic Challenge”
Karla FC Holloway, “Who’s the Daddy?”
March 25, 2014
Week Ten:
Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo
Reed, “The Neo Hoo Doo Manifesto”
April 1, 2014
Week Eleven: Black feminism and Black feminist criticism: Toni Morrison’s Sula
Barbara Smith, “Toward a Black Feminist Criticism”; Deborah McDowell, “New
Directions for Black Feminist Criticism”; Barbara Christian, “The Race for Theory”;
Michael Awkward, “Appropriative Gestures”; Anne duCille, “The Occult of True Black
Womanhood”
April 8, 2014:
Week Twelve: Bordering on the Body: Toni Morrison, Beloved
Laura Flynn Doyle, “‘To Get to a Place’: Intercorporeality in Beloved”
April 15, 2014:
Week Thirteen: Independent Work
Week Fourteen: April 22, 2014: What was African American Literature?
Warren, “What was African American Literature?” Redux: Percival Everett, Erasure
Final class meeting.
Outline of Course Policy and Requirements:
Students will write an abstract for presentation, deliver a presentation on a research
topic, write an annotated bibliography of a selected research topic, and write a research
paper in the format of a journal article. Active weekly attendance and participation are
required, including in-class writing and discussion.
Course Requirements (please see below for description):
6
Participation (includes peer review of work-in-progress research essay) 10%
Class Presentation (oral component and written component, 10% each) 20%
Annotated Bibliography 25%
Prospectus for Research Essay 15%
Research Essay 30%
What you should know about plagiarism:
It is incumbent upon you, as a scholar, both to document the borrowings you make from
the work of others and to report more general indebtedness to the people and books
(and lectures, internet sources, et cetera) you have consulted in the course of preparing
your papers. Plagiarism consists of intentionally misrepresenting someone else’s work,
words, or insights as your own. Like any other form of intellectual dishonesty, plagiarism
is a serious offense in an academic community. A paper that shows evidence of
plagiarism will receive a failing grade of “F” and will lead to a failing grade of “F” for the
entire course term. Every case of plagiarism will be reported to the University Honor
Committee for disciplinary action, which may range from further reprimand to expulsion
from UNCG.
Students are expected to adhere to the University Academic Honor Policy. See below.
Dean of Students Office:
The Dean of Students office oversees academic integrity at the university.
sa.uncg.edu/dean
On this webpage you will find the Academic Integrity Policy, which all students are
required to uphold for this class and in the entirety of their studies at UNCG. Students
are required to report violations to the policy to the appropriate instructor and the
Dean of Students. Students who do not understand the academic integrity policy and/
or its application to a particular assignment are responsible for raising such questions
with their faculty member.
Students are required to provide and sign the Academic Integrity Pledge on all exams
and papers submitted in this class. The instructor will not grade your work until the
signed statement is submitted. The instructor will not accept your work unless it is
accompanied by the Academic Integrity Pledge. Any work submitted without the pledge
will be returned and will be considered late.
Academic Integrity Pledge:
I HAVE ABIDED BY THE UNCG Academic Integrity Policy ON THIS ASSIGNMENT.
Student’s Signature ___________________________________ Date ______
7
Learning disabilities:
If you wish to receive accommodations for a learning disability, you must formally work
with the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services, formerly ODS:
ods.uncg.edu
Writing Center:
If you need additional help in writing your formal papers for this class, please consider
visiting the University Writing Center. The WC offers online advising as well as face-toface tutorials:
writingcenter.uncg.edu
Late work:
The course moves at a rapid pace, so all work must be completed on time. Late work will
lower your final grade. Late written assignments will be penalized by one letter grade
per day, with a maximum of two calendar days. After two days, you may not submit
your work for a grade and you will receive a zero for the assignment.
If you miss your presentation, you will automatically receive a failing grade for the
assignment. If you fail to provide a handout for your presentation at the time it is
given, you will receive a failing grade for the entire presentation.
Classroom deportment:
Our classroom is a space that fosters and supports respect and collaboration. Do not
interrupt class with private conversations, note-passing, or late arrival to class. Cell
phones, PDAs and Blackberries must be turned off at all times. Use of computers is not
permitted without prior permission from instructor.
Office Hours:
Every week I will be available in my office for consultation. Office hours are your
opportunity to talk to me about the reading and writing process and the ideas that you
develop on an individual basis. If you cannot make my office hours, you may schedule an
appointment with me for another time.
 Attendance and Participation:
Regular attendance and active participation is required. Attendance at all classes is
required. Latecomers will be counted as absent. I will accept valid doctor’s notes only as
excuses for absences. If you miss two classes, I will inform your academic advisor of your
unsatisfactory standing in the class and your final grade will be lowered by one full letter
grade per absence, starting with the second absence. If you miss three or more classes,
you receive a failing grade for the course.
You must keep up with the readings in order to fulfill your obligation as a member of
the class and a participant in the ongoing discussion. Your participation will be graded
8
on the basis of the on-time completion of reading assignments. Our class is a seminar,
not a lecture: your participation in classroom discussions is not only welcomed—it is
required. I expect thoughtful comments and questions and active listening.
Your attendance and participation grade will include your peer review of a
classmate’s work-in-progress research essay and may also include spontaneous in-class
writing, at the discretion of the instructor.
 Class Presentation:
Each week, one student will be responsible for that class meeting’s discussion of the
assigned texts for the duration of one half of the class period. In addition to preparing
the assigned reading in order to facilitate discussion, students will conduct preliminary
(not exhaustive) research and select a few relevant angles (critical, biographical,
historical, political, et cetera) to introduce to the class. This additional material should
include the citation of three or more secondary critical texts in brief form as they shape
key debates about the subject matter of the assigned reading. Do not provide
photocopies of the articles for the class. Instead, you should present the major concepts
and analysis of each article and provide their full citation on your handout (see below,
under written work). The oral presentation will be assessed on the basis of clear
introduction of ideas and effective facilitation of class discussion through the questions
you pose to the class.
 Written work:
Presentation Handout (1-2 pp.):
Students are responsible for devising and distributing a handout that grounds
their additional research and “bullet point” questions about the assigned reading and
the critical/theoretical questions it raises. An outline of main points, excerpts of
controversial or challenging passages, will help facilitate discussion. Be sure to direct
students to passages in the text for analysis. Ask them to make connections to previous
discussions and texts. Students may introduce additional relevant material as discussion
prompts, such as passages from other writers, from an assigned author’s other works, a
current event that operates as an anecdote, et cetera.
Students are encouraged to conduct preliminary research in journals,
monographs, and databases to prepare the handout, and to cite these materials fully
and properly on the handout. Students may wish to annotate these critical/ theoretical
works. Annotation requires succinct summary on the importance of the article/book
chapter/ monograph in the ongoing critical/theoretical discussion(s) that your research
engages.
Prospectus for Research Essay (2pp):
Students are responsible for identifying and designing a topic of interest for their
research paper. The prospectus should identify preliminary topic, questions, and
directions of pursuit for the development of the unfolding discussion. The prospectus
should identify a primary literary text and relevant secondary material studied in class
that has addressed an aspect of the author’s chosen topic. Student’s line of
9
critical/theoretical pursuit should identify the original line of query he/she is introducing
in this context.
Annotated Bibliography (8-10 works; approximately 2-3 pp.):
Students are responsible for submitting an annotated bibliography that indicates
focused research on their chosen topic for the research paper. The bibliography will
identify several key works that the author intends to use in his/her argument.
Annotation requires succinct summary on the importance of the article/book chapter/
monograph in ongoing critical/theoretical discussions.
Research Essay (20 pp):
Your essay will present your interpretation of a literary text through the practice
of close reading—that is, using the primary text (most often in direct quotation) to
reinforce, elucidate, and develop your assertions. The essay’s original argument should
be defined by linking it to a larger critical issue that we have discussed over the course
of the semester (for example, but not limited to, masculinity, feminism, black queer
studies). Crucially important, your essay must demonstrate breadth of research in the
critical issue you identify. A successful essay will position the author’s original critical
argument in relationship to theory and criticism addressing the topic and/ or text you
have chosen to analyze. Your research essay must have a “Works Cited” page and must
adhere to the MLA-style paper format requirements. For all questions of citation,
consult the MLA Handbook, available in Reference at the UNCG Jackson Library.
OR- Teacher’s option: “Untold Stories: Teaching the Harlem Renaissance/ the Slave
Narrative/ African American texts”
1. Identify your concentration in the level of teaching certification you will receive
(e.g., middle school, high school, elementary school).
2. Visit the Teaching Resource Center, located on the third floor of the School of
Education Building. Identify a textbook geared towards your teaching level. (Cite
this text in your Works Cited.)
3. Locate, describe, and critique the representation of African American writers, or
the lack of African American writers, in your selected textbook.
4. Utilizing one of the many secondary works of this class theorizing African
American literature and culture (for example, but not limited to, Robert Stepto,
Angela Davis, Cheryl Wall, Daphne Brooks), design a topics-oriented plan of
study of a Harlem Renaissance/ African American text and the period of the text
overall.
5. Identify a writer and his or her texts, other media you would incorporate, and
provide discussion and writing assignments as part of your essay/ submission.
6. Define challenges to representing this history. Explain how you would
incorporate this “unit” into your students’ plan of study overall.