DRAFT Revised 1/13/2014
COML 166b Literacy, Language, and Culture
[ hum nw ]
Tuesdays and Fridays 11 a.m. – 12:20 p.m.
Shiffman 201
Professor Jane Hale
office: Shiffman 208
jhale@brandeis.edu
Office hours: Tuesdays and Fridays 10:30-11:00, 2:00-3:00
and by appointment
What is this course about?
As it becomes increasingly possible to travel and get in touch with people from all over the
globe, it’s easy to assume that we’re all becoming better communicators. A brief glance at the
news, however, tells a very different story. Why do misunderstanding, distrust, and fear
sometimes characterize relations among people from different cultures as they come into close
contact? What part does language play in all of this? Would everything be ok if, as we often
hear in the U.S., “everybody’d just learn English”? What’s the relationship between language
and power? Why does it sometimes seem that the more languages people know, the less
powerful is their socioeconomic situation? What are the implications of learning to read for the
first time in a language you don’t understand? Why do parents worry so much about which
language their children speak and how they speak it? Why do some children love books and
reading from an early age, while others see books as boring, hard, and irrelevant to their lives?
What’s the difference between a language and a dialect? Why are some children punished for
speaking their home language in school? What is oral literacy? What difference does it make if
a language dies out? How is language a powerful tool of imperialism? The current buzz-word in
global development circles is “cultural competency.” What does that mean? Is it a useful
concept? Why were Native American children sent away to boarding schools in the last century?
What different languages, cultures, and literacies are represented in our own classroom? Do
women and men have different histories or cultures of literacy? What’s the role of poets in
developing and sustaining language? When people migrate from one place to another, their
language experiences—both as groups and as individuals—vary greatly. Why? Is it ever really
possible to translate from one language to another?
These are the types of questions we’ll explore—in reading, writing, and discussion—in
“Literacy, Language, and Culture.” They are complex questions that don’t lend themselves to
easy, definite answers. We won’t find any! We will, however, learn to think and communicate
about them with a deeper understanding of their importance in people’s lives. We will also learn
to ask even more important questions. We’ll increase our own literacy—oral and written,
cultural and literary—in a supportive, respectful environment where linguistic and cultural
differences are welcomed and valued.
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Course texts to buy:
 Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Decolonising the Mind
 Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation
 Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions
Course texts on latte:
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New York Times, “How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk”
Elizabeth Little, Trip of the Tongue: Cross-Country Travels in Search of America’s
Languages, excerpts: Introduction: “New York City: American”; “Arizona: Navajo”;
Explanation of the term “Creole”; “Florida: Haitian Creole”; “New Mexico: Spanish”
New York Times: “Listening to (and Saving) the World’s Languages: The Lost Languages
Found in New York”; “City of Endangered Languages”; “Land of Lonely Tongues”
John Hershman, selected Navajo poems
Luci Tapahonso, selected Navajo poems
Patrick Sylvain, “Dyaman kreyòl/Diamond Creole”
Prosper Sylvain, “I Don’t Look Haitian”
Cynthia Ballenger, Teaching Other People’s Children
Yves Dejean, "Creole and Education in Haiti"; “15 Questions on Haitian Creole”
Frantz Fanon, “The Negro and Language” from Black Skin: White Masks
Sundiata, an Epic of Old MaI
Léon Gontran Damas, “Hoquet/Hiccups”
Lisa Delpit, The Skin That We Speak
Taisha Sturdivant, “Code Switching”
“Do You Speak American?” (on Ebonics)
Julia Alvarez, “Bilingual Sestina”
Gustavo Firmat, “Dedication”; “Bilingual Blues”; NPR interview “Two Languages, Many Voices”
Ha Jin, “Because I Will be Silenced”; Because We Dare Not be Ambitious”; “A Thirteen-year-old
Accuses His Teacher,” “Our Words”
Ha Jin, “The Spokesman and the Tribe”
Joshua Foer, “Utopian for Beginners”
Gish Jen, “Who’s Irish?”
Ground Rules:
We are a group and will work together all semester. Your attention, *attendance*, and active
participation are both encouraged and required. Listening carefully is a vital part of participation.
Please show your respect to the other class members by being on time. If anyone misses class or comes
in late, it will affect all of us, so please don’t! If you are sick or have another emergency, please email
me to let me know.
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Evaluation:
Participation and *attendance* will make up a significant portion of your learning, and therefore your
grade, in this course. Please do all your work on time. If for any reason you cannot read or write the
assignment on time, please let me know in advance of the day it is due. All unexcused absences or
late work will lower your grade. Here is how your work will be evaluated for your final grade:
Class participation (includes *attendance* and contributions to discussions;
it also includes your ability and willingness to listen to other students)
30%
Oral presentation
15%
In-class midterm exam
15%
Written homework (mostly on latte)
20%
Take-home final exam developed collaboratively in class
20%
Congolese Proverb:
*Those who are absent are always wrong.*
n.b.:
Please do all your own writing on your papers, being sure to attribute other people’s words and
ideas to them. If you have any questions in this regard, please ask me!
If you are a student with a documented disability at Brandeis University and if you wish to request
a reasonable accommodation for this class, please see me immediately. Of course, if I can help
anyone in any way, please don’t hesitate to ask me and I’ll do my best.
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CLASS SCHEDULE
Please do the homework for the day indicated.
Latte posts should be completed by noon of the day before they’re due
if you want them to be fully appreciated by all of us.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Jan. TU 14
Introduction to the class and to one another
_______________________________________________________________________________________
“The Languages of New York”:
FR 17
Take the survey called “How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk” on latte; bring your
results to class (if you’re not a native English speaker do it anyway--the results
could be interesting)
Read: “New York City: American” from Trip of the Tongue and
“Listening to (and Saving) the World’s Languages: The Lost Languages Found in NY”
and watch accompanying video: “City of Endangered Languages” and read
“Land of Lonely Tongues” and the comments following it
Write on latte and bring to class: your own comment on “Land of Lonely Tongues”
Be prepared for a debate in class; think about how we should frame the debate, i.e.,
what question to ask
_______________________________________________________________________________________
“Native Americans and Language”:
TU 21
Read: “Arizona: Navajo” from Trip of the Tongue
Luci Tapahonso’s Navajo poems
John Hershman’s Navajo poems
FR 24
Student presentation on Decolonising the Mind: __________________________
Read: Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s Decolonising the Mind, intro. + chapters 1-2
Write on latte: an observation about the relationship you see between the reading and
what you’ve learned about Native American languages; respond to at least two other
posts
_______________________________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________________________________
“Haitians: Creole, French and English”:
TU 28
Read: explanation of “Creole” and “Florida: Haitian Creole” from Trip of the Tongue
FR 31
Read: Yves Dejean’s "Creole and Education in Haiti" and “15 Questions on Haitian
Creole”
Patrick Sylvain’s poem “Dyaman kreyòl/Diamond Creole”
Prosper Sylvain’s poem “I Don’t Look Haitian” and the responses to it
Write on latte: your own response to either or both of the poems in the form of a
paragraph or even your own poem
Feb. TU 4
Student presentation on Teaching Other People’s Children: _____________________
Read: Cynthia Ballenger, Teaching Other People’s Children, pp. 1-6 and 15-30
_________________________________________________________________________________________
“Africans and Language”:
FR 7
Student presentation to introduce Nervous Conditions: ________________________
Read: Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, chapters 1-3
TU 11
Read: Nervous Conditions, chapters 4-7
Write on latte: What are the “nervous conditions” Dangarembga refers to in her title?
Respond to at least 2 other posts.
FR 14
Read: Nervous Conditions, chapters 8-10
Prepare: Choose a passage from the book (a sentence or paragraph) that seems
particularly meaningful to you—e.g., something that’s insightful, beautiful, funny,
well-written, paradoxical, or evocative of something you care about. Practice
reading it aloud and we’ll spend the class reading passages and explaining to one
another why we chose them.
February 17-21 : VACATION
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_______________________________________________________________________________________
TU 25
SPECIAL SESSION IN SLOSBERG RECITAL HALL (MUSIC BUILDING):
Trio Da Kali – Tradition-inspired Contemporary Malian Griot Music
Read: the description of this session posted on latte
Sundiata, an Epic of Old Mali (as much as you can reasonably finish)
Watch on youtube: Bill de Sam – Sogolon (rap song on Sundiata epic)
Kandia Kouyaté - Mandén Mansa (Haute qualité)
FR 28
in-class midterm exam
SATURDAY MARCH 1: World Music Concert: Trio Da Kali
8:00 in Slosberg Recital Hall
Preconcert talk at 7:00 pm
attendance not required, but you’ll be happy you went!!!
Mar. TU 4
Student presentation on “The Negro and Language” : ____________________
Read: Frantz Fanon, “The Negro and Language”
FR 7
Student presentation on “Hoquet/Hiccups” and/or Decolonising the Mind:
______________________________
Read: Léon Damas, “Hoquet” (if you read French) or the translation, “Hiccups”
and Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s Decolonising the Mind, chapters 3-4
Write on latte: Where do you see some of Fanon and Thiong’o’s ideas expressed
in the Damas poem? Respond to at least 2 other posts.
“Lost (and Found?) in Translation in the U.S.”
TU 11
Student presentation to introduce Lost in Translation:______________________
Read: Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation, Part I: Paradise
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FR 14
Student presentation on Lost in Translation:__________________________
Read: Lost in Translation, Part II: Exile and as much of Part III: The New World as
possible (it’s long)
Write on latte: What does Eva Hoffman mean by “lost in translation”? Have you
ever felt “lost in translation”? Respond to one other student’s post.
TU 18
Finish reading: Lost in Translation
Prepare: Choose a passage from the book (a sentence or paragraph) that seems
particularly meaningful to you—e.g., something that’s insightful, beautiful, funny, wellwritten, paradoxical, or evocative of something you care about. Practice reading it aloud
and we’ll spend the class reading passages and explaining to one another why we
chose our passages.
__________________________________________________________________________________
“African-Americans and Language”:
FR 21
Student presentation on The Skin That We Speak: ___________________________
Read: Lisa Delpit, The Skin That We Speak, Introduction + Ch. 1 pp. xii-13
TU 25
Student presentation on “Code Switching”: _______________________________
Read: “Code Switching” by Taisha Sturdivant
“Do You Speak American?” (on Ebonics)
__________________________________________________________________________________
“Spanish Bilingualism”:
FR 28
Student presentation on Spanish Bilingualism (on the texts or from any other point of
view you wish): _________________________________
Read: “New Mexico: Spanish” from Trip of the Tongue and
Julia Alvarez, “Bilingual Sestina”
Write on latte: A question that today’s readings bring up for you. Respond to at least 2
other students’ questions.
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Apr. TU 1
Student presentation on Gustavo Firmat: ___________________________________
Student presentation on Spanglish: _______________________________________
Read: Gustavo Firmat, “Dedication”; “Bilingual Blues”; NPR interview “Two
Languages, Many Voices”
Watch: Spanglish
__________________________________________________________________________________
“Chinese-Americans”:
FR 4
Student presentation on Ha Jin: _________________________________________
Read: Story on Ha Jin from Brandeis NOW
Ha Jin poems: “Because I Will be Silenced”; “Because We Dare Not be
Ambitious”; “A Thirteen-year-old Accuses His Teacher”; “Our Words”
Write on latte: a short poem or paragraph in response to something Ha Jin says
TU 8
Read: Ha Jin, “The Spokesman and the Tribe”
Write on latte: 2 questions you’d like to see on the final exam—make each question
require consideration of more than 2 of our class texts
FR 11
Read: Gish Jen, “Who’s Irish?”
April 15-22: VACATION
__________________________________________________________________________________________
FR 25
Distribution of take-home final exam
__________________________________________________________________________________________
“What is Your Culture?”
TU 29
Bring to class: an object (tangible or intangible) that represents your culture
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Friday May 2: submit final exam by email to <jhale@brandeis.edu> before noon
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