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Course Addition/Course Change Form
This form should be used to add a new course or update an existing course.
This information will be used to update the course catalog.
Name of person completing form: Len von Morze
Date: 4/7/13
College File # (to be added after Dean’s approval):
SECTION A – COURSE INFORMATION
Please complete the following:
Course Addition
Distribution
Course Change
Diversity / Int’l Mgmt
Reactivate
Course**
Seminar (FYS / IS)
*Course Credits 3
If changing,
previous credits:
UC Non-Credit
Course?
Quantitative Reasoning
UC Program:
UC CEUs/PDPs:
#CEUs
#PDPs
*Department
*Course Number:
*Variable Course
Credit:
English
245
If changing,
previous number:
*Term in which this will
take effect:
*Short Course Title:
(Max 30 characters)
Global Voices
*Long Course Title:
(Max 100 characters)
Global Voices
Spring
2014
Yes
*Minimum Credits:
3
*Maximum Credits:
3
No
If changing, previous
title:
Course Description:
This course provides a critical introduction to literature written in what has become arguably the globe’s primary
language of commerce, government, law, and education. The course examines fiction writers, playwrights, and
poets from locations outside England and North America who have claimed the English language as their own and
used it with energy and creative verve. Readings will survey works in English from Africa, Asia, and Australia,
among other places, with attention to their heterogeneity and complexity. Key topics include identity, nationalism,
gender, feminisms, memory, conflict, exile, nostalgia, postcoloniality, and citizenship.
If changing, previous
description:
Requisites (Please List All):
If changes are being requested to co/prerequisites, please explain:
Course Number
Course Number
Pre
Co
AND
Pre
Co
AND
Pre
Co
AND
Pre
Co
AND
Pre
Co
OR
Pre
Co
Rationale for the Proposal:
With their diversity of cultures and ethnicities, interwoven political histories, and multiplicity of literary
perspectives, global literatures in English demand a nuanced examination of their literary productions.
Students will be invited to take a critical approach to the rise of English as a global language.
Other Information:
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Course Addition/Course Change Form
Course Offering Details (Please complete all of the following):
*Course College (Academic Group):
College of Liberal Arts
*Course Department/Program (Subject)
English
*Academic Career
UGRD
GRAD
Is Course Cross Listed?
Yes
No
NON-CREDIT
If Course is Cross Listed, Complete the following:
*Course College (Academic Group):
No Cross-Listing
*Course Department (Subject)
Please note: cross listed courses should carry the same number in
each cross listing department if at all possible.
*Course Number (Catalog Number)
*Cross Listed Career
UGRD
GRAD
NON-CREDIT
If course is cross-listed in more than two departments, please list additional departments and course numbers here:
SECTION B – COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Course Requirements (Undergraduate Courses):
*Does this course fulfill a General Education Requirement?
If Yes, please indicate the specific General Education Requirement.
If this course is being submitted for Distribution, choose an area.
If this course is being submitted for Diversity, choose an area.
Yes
No
Distribution
World Cultures (WC)
International Focus
*Is this course a College of Management International Mgmt course?
Yes
No
*Does this course fulfill a Major Requirement?
Yes
No
Note! If this is a NEW
course, a separate
request must be
submitted for entry into
Diversity, Quantitative
Reasoning, or
Distribution categories.
English.
If Yes, in what Major?
This course may count as an
elective toward the 33 credits
required for the major, subject to
the following preexisting rule: no
more than one 200-level course
may count toward the major
(except the three courses
required of all majors, which are
200, 201, and 202). The rule is
already in effect, so no changes
need be made here to the way
WISER treats this course.
Course Requirements (Graduate Courses):
Is this course a
Requirement?
Elective?
Is this course for a
Doctoral program?
Master’s program?
Graduate Certificate?
CAGS?
What student population will be served by this course?
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% Undergrad
% Master’s
% Certificate
% Doctoral
Other Course Information (Undergraduate and Graduate Courses):
Is this course intended to be offered on-line?
Yes
No
If yes, please consider the relevant
Supplementary Information (see addendum)
Has this course been offered as a Special Topics course?
Yes
No
If yes, when?
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SECTION C – OTHER COURSE INFORMATION
Course Components
(Please Check all that Apply):
Hours/Week?
Component
Primary?
Lecture
Yes
Indicate the grading status of each
component:
Default Grading Basis
(Please Check ONE ONLY):
No
Graded?
Yes
No
Graded
Yes
No
Graded?
Yes
No
Pass/Fail Only
Discussion
Yes
No
Graded?
Yes
No
Non Graded
Indep Study
Yes
No
Graded?
Yes
No
Audit
Field Studies
Yes
No
Graded?
Yes
No
Multi-Term (“Y”)
Yes
No
Sat/UnSat
Laboratory
Grad Research
Yes
No
Graded?
Clinical
Yes
No
Graded?
Yes
No
Competency
Practicum
Yes
No
Graded?
Yes
No
Credit/No Credit
Seminar
Yes
No
Graded?
Yes
No
Student Option
Yes
No
Other ___________
Yes
No
Special Topics
Yes
No
Graded?
Studio
Yes
No
Graded?
Course Repeat Details
Is Course Repeatable for Credit?
Yes
No
Is a student allowed to enroll multiple times in a single
term?
Yes
No
Please Note: If a course
is repeatable for credit,
it cannot have
Distribution status.
Total Units Allowed (If Course can be Repeated for Credit)
Total Completions Allowed (If Course can be Repeated for
Credit)
For Registrar’s Use Only
Course ID:
Course Entered By:
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ENGL 245: Global Voices
ONE FORM INFORMATION
FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE DISTRIBUTION SUBCOMMITTEE
SECTION 5
PROPOSED DISTRIBUTION II AREA: WORLD CULTURES
1. Provide a rationale for inclusion in the proposed distribution area. How does the content of the
course fit the definition and criteria of the proposed distribution area? (See the “Distribution Area
Descriptions and Criteria for Course Content”, the Tan Document.)
This course develops students’ awareness of the linguistic consequences of Western, and particularly
English, domination of the globe. Drawing on the linguistic, social, and cognitive contexts of
literature, this course looks critically at “global English” from a comparative perspective. Students are
asked to look writers from many different nations who are working in English.
2. Indicate whether students will have the opportunity to write a paper suitable for the
Writing Proficiency Requirement Portfolio (an analytical paper of at least five pages dealing with two
or more texts). If this is the case, please also include that information in your course description and
syllabus.
Yes, this class requires that students write several short journal responses and two longer essays that
incorporate a wealth of diverse sources; each assignment asks the student to discuss a piece of artistic or
literary production within the context of secondary material pulled from historical, philosophical, or
sociological documents. Either of the two papers, for example, would be a suitable submission for the
Writing Proficiency Requirement Portfolio. See attached syllabus and sample assignments for more
information.
3. Indicate which of the GenEd Capabilities will be covered in your course (at least two must be
incorporated as an integral part of the course): Verbal Reasoning (Critical Thinking), Quantitative
Reasoning, Critical Reading and Analysis, Effective Communication (Writing and/or Speaking), Use of
Technology to Further Learning, Collaborative Work. Provide details on how the capabilities will be
incorporated into the course.
The course fosters Effective Communication (Writing and/or Speaking), Critical Reading and
Analysis, and Verbal Reasoning.
Effective Communication is integrated into the course through weekly journal-writing assignments.
Effective Communication and Critical Reading and Analysis will be fostered through the two longer
papers.
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4. Discuss the pedagogical methods, assignments, or class activities that will be used to ensure coverage
of the area criteria and foster the attainment of the GenEd capabilities specified above. Also, please
indicate how you will assess student progress and performance in meeting the goals of the course.
Pedagogical methods include lectures and section discussions. Discussion sections help to teach
collaborative work. Take-home assignments foster capabilities in critical reading and analysis as well as
effective communication.
Assessment criteria are laid in the syllabus.
5. Syllabus: please include a paragraph near the beginning of the syllabus that tells
students what the goals of the course are and which distribution area and capabilities the
course covers. (We recommend including some form of the Area Definition as a
“boilerplate” introduction to the distribution area.)
Please see the attached.
6. Provide a set of sample assignments, indicating which GenEd capabilities they are
designed to address.
Please see the assignments which follow the syllabus.
__________________________________________________________________________________
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ENGLISH 252: GLOBAL VOICES
Instructors: Professors Rajini Srikanth and Professor Matthew Brown
Time: MWF, 12:00-12:50
Course meeting details: Lectures meet on MW at 12:00; discussion sections on F at 12:00
Office hours: MW, 1:00-3:00, or by appointment
Office location: 006 Wheatley Building (6 Floor)
E-mail: Rajini.Srikanth@umb.edu; Matthew.Brown@umb.edu
Office phone: (617) 287-6726
“In the geography of human history, no culture is an island.”
-Amitav Ghosh, In an Antique Land
th
The small island nation of England once dominated the globe through its far-flung empire. English
colonialism prevailed in different parts of the world, and the British Empire reached its peak in the midto-late 19 century. As a result, people in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, India, Burma, Hong
Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Trinidad, Jamaica, Wales, and Scotland, to name a few of the
places that were part of this vast colonial domain, learned to speak, read, and write English and became
very adept at using the language in powerful and creative ways. “The sun never sets on the British
Empire,” one admiring newspaper wrote in 1821—and so the English language flourished! Today, there
are many places in the world where English is the primary language of commerce, government, law, and
education. Fiction writers, playwrights, and poets from these locations claim the English language as
their own and use it with energy and creative verve.
th
As distances contract and far-flung places become increasingly interconnected, we need new ways of
thinking about the planet we inhabit and our place in it—this course, “Global Voices,” attempts to do
just this by studying a wide variety of global literatures in English. Global literatures in English—
literature written in English from Africa, Asia, and Australia, among other places—are remarkable for
their heterogeneity and complexity. With their diversity of cultures and ethnicities, interwoven political
histories, and multiplicity of literary perspectives, global literatures in English demand a nuanced
examination of their literary productions, and so, in this course, we will examine the very contours of
how we perceive and understand literature on a global scale. We will engage a selection of novels, short
stories, essays, and films from several nations, including South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, India,
Bagladesh, Austrailia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the Caribbean; our writers and filmmakers
include men and women of varying cultural backgrounds, political opinions, and aesthetic inclinations.
Against a backdrop of relevant historical and philosophical detail, we will read novels, short stories,
memoirs, and essays and explore their treatment of such themes as identity, nationalism, gender,
feminisms, memory, conflict, exile, nostalgia, postcoloniality, and citizenship.
Course Skills
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The study of global literatures in English emphasizes active and open-ended interpretation, in which
the reader investigates the literary text and questions its possible political, cultural, and aesthetic
meanings. This process of literary analysis emphasizes reading—and re-reading—closely and
carefully. By examining literature for its content (the ideas it expresses) and its form (the shape it takes)
and its cultural and historical backgrounds, the reader formulates a unique interpretation of the text.
This process invites students to become conceptual thinkers, able to explore abstract ideas, create and
develop interpretations, collect meaningful evidence, and express clear opinions. This process also
invites students to engage in cultural investigation, questioning how and why a specific literary text
captures the culture that created it.
In this course, you will engage in:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Close Reading
Analytical and Reflective Writing
Open-ended Interpretation and Debate
Conceptual Analysis (exploring the conceptual ideas expressed by the literary text)
Formal Analysis (exploring the literary elements that structure the text)
Cultural/Contextual Analysis (exploring the historical and cultural contexts of the text)
Philosophical Analysis (exploring the philosophical contexts of the text)
Course Texts
1) Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid; Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 0-374-525-102
2) Concert of Voices (second edition), edited by Victory J. Ramraj; Broadview, 978-1-55111-977-9
3) One World: A Global Anthology of Short Stories, edited by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jhumpa
Lahiri; New Internationalist, 978-1906523138
4) Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, R.K. Narayan; Penguin Modern Classics, 978-0-1-4118621-4
5) Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M. Coetzee; Penguin Ink, 978-0-1-4311-692-9
6) White Teeth, Zadie Smith; Vintage, 978-0-3-757-0386-7
_______________________________________________________________________________
II. COURSE GENERAL EDUCATION DESIGNATIONS
“Global Voices” is aligned with the goals of the WORLD CULTURES (WC) General Education
requirement. It asks you to develop an informed appreciation of literature as an expression of diverse
cultures. The course will explore how cultures use literature to structure knowledge. We will explore
how different cultures engage in literary production and ask questions such as how does a culture
express itself through words, images, stories, and essays?
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This course is also designed in accordance with the INTERNATIONAL DIVERSITY General
Education requirement. It asks you to explore how literature is generated by a diverse range of
international cultures, expressing a diverse range of national and transnational opinions. This course
grapples with issues of racial, gender, class, and cultural diversity. It explores how different patterns of
thought are expressed in literature and how the development of cultures, including the interactions
among different social groups, is expressed in literature.
For ENGLISH MAJORS, this course can count as a 200-level elective course towards the English
major. Note that English majors are allowed only one 200-level elective. This course will introduce
you to some of the methodologies of literary investigation—most notably, the study of world
literature—which will prove useful in future English courses.
_______________________________________________________________________________
III. COURSE STRUCTURE
Course Assignments
1. Essay #1
2. Mid-term Exam
3. Essay #2
4. Section Work (includes Journal Writing and Class Participation)
5. Final Exam
15%
20%
20%
20%
25%
Course Wiki-site
The course syllabus, assignments, and selected readings will be posted on our course Wiki-site.
--Our course Wiki-site is: TBA
Course Lectures: Conceptual Thinking and Note-taking
Held on a MWF schedule, this course will meet in a lecture format twice a week and a discussion format
once a week. The lecture will provide the conceptual foundation of the course: the major ideas, themes,
analyses, questions, and historical and cultural information. The course is structured to encourage you
to take notes as you follow the lecture. Lecture attendance and note-taking are essential to writing
successful midterm and final exams.
Course Sections: Discussion and Journal Writing
Class participation will take place in your discussion section. You must attend discussion class prepared
to participate in class conversation by reading all of the assigned material due that week and completing
the weekly journal writing assignment. In section, you will engage in open-ended discussion—here is
your opportunity to express your opinions on the class readings, clarify and debate the ideas from
lecture, and learn from your peers. There will be many discussion-starting exercises employed in
section, including reading aloud from your journal writing.
Your active participation in these discussions is essential. Active participation means many different
things, all of which are necessary to the success of a discussion section. Some participation is verbal:
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volunteering the insights you have developed through the weekly journal-writing assignments, citing
passages from the text relevant to an ongoing discussion, introducing new wrinkles on an argument,
posing questions about the week’s lectures and texts, reading a passage aloud when the instructor asks
you to do so—these are just a few of the verbal forms of participation that contribute to an ongoing
conversation. Other forms of participation are no less indispensable to a successful discussion section:
listening intently to the section instructor and to your classmates, quietly signaling your support for
others as they speak, and looking actively engaged in the class are all valid forms of participation. It is to
be expected that participants in section will, at different times, do all of these things: that those students
who tend to be shy take the occasion to speak when asked to volunteer insights from their journal
writings for the week, to offer their answers when asked about a quiz question, or to perform passages
aloud when the instructor asks; and that those students who tend to be more loquacious also actively
listen to others, and respect the uses of silence, which can be a time for others to gather their thoughts.
Essays that analyze more than one text effectively may be eligible for the Writing Proficiency Portfolio
required of most undergraduates.
_____________________________________________________________________________
IV. COURSE POLICIES
Lecture and Section Attendance
Your attendance is crucial to your success as well as the success of the course as a whole. Attendance
will be taken at both the lectures and the discussion sections by your TA. If you have seven absences
(more than two weeks of course time) by the Withdrawal Deadline you will be asked to drop the course.
More than seven absences will result in an “F” in the course. Note that two late-arrivals to class count
as an absence. If you plan to miss class, please discuss it in advance with your TA. If you have an
unexpected absence, please send a courtesy email to your TA. If you miss class, you are responsible for
finding out what you missed by asking a classmate.
At the end of the semester, your final grade will be lowered based on attendance; after four
absences, every absence will lower your final grade by one half grade.
Lecture and Discussion Preparation
You must bring the assigned readings to both lecture and discussion; the course will frequently ask you
to open your book to find specific quotations. Often you will need to print out and read a text from the
internet or e-reserve; you must bring that print out to lecture and discussion.
Course Exams
This class has two exams: a midterm and a final. The midterm will be held during class time in our
lecture room; the final will be scheduled by the university and held during final exam week. No makeup exams will be scheduled; any necessary make-up procedures must be discussed and arranged with me
on an individual basis.
Plagiarism
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Students are required to adhere to university policies on academic honesty and student conduct.
It is the expressed policy of the University that every aspect of academic life—not only formal
coursework situations, but all relationships and interactions connected to the educational process—shall
be conducted in an absolutely honest manner. The University presupposes that any submission of work
for academic credit indicates that the work is the student’s own and is in compliance with University
policies. In cases where academic dishonesty is discovered after completion of a course or degree
program, sanctions may be imposed retroactively, up to and including revocation of the degree. Any
student who reasonably believes another student has committed an act of academic dishonesty should
inform the course instructor of the alleged violation. The current Code of Student Conduct, including
information about academic dishonesty, is available at:
http://www.umb.edu/life_on_campus/policies/code/
Plagiarism is a serious offence and is strictly prohibited. Plagiarism is defined by UMass Boston’s Code
of Student Conduct. An act of academic dishonesty, plagiarism can include actions such as presenting
another writer’s work as your own work; copying passages from print or internet sources without proper
citation; taking ideas off the internet, modifying them, and presenting them as your own; or submitting
the same work for more than one course. If you plagiarize, you can expect to fail the course.
Disabilities
If you have a disability and feel you will need accommodation in order to complete course requirements,
please contact the Ross Center for Disability Services at 617-287-7430. Section 504 of the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990 offers guidelines for curriculum modifications and adaptations for students
with documented disabilities. If applicable, students may obtain adaptation recommendations from the
Ross Center for Disability Services, Campus Center UL211, (617-287-7430). The student must present
these recommendations and discuss them with each professor within a reasonable period, preferably by
the end of Drop/Add period.
Incompletes
Incompletes are rarely offered, as they are reserved for students who are unable to complete a small
portion of the course at the end of the term due to an extreme circumstance such as illness. Incompletes
are not allowed to replace a significant amount of coursework or absences. If you are awarded an
Incomplete, you must sign a contract with your instructor outlining the work to be done and work due
dates. Although an INC automatically turns into an F after a year, your Incomplete work will typically
be due before the year’s end. The university’s official Incomplete policy is located at:
http://www.umb.edu/registrar/academic_policies/incomplete_policy
_______________________________________________________________________________
V. COURSE SYLLABUS—MEETINGS and ASSIGNMENTS
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Week 1: Introduction to course
Mon:
Introduction to course: World Literature, The Very Idea
Wed:
“Shooting the Elephant,” George Orwell
Fri:
Discussion Section: Introduction to discussion section; “Shooting the Elephant,” George
Orwell
Week 2: South Africa
Mon:
Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M. Coetzee
Wed:
Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M. Coetzee
Fri:
Discussion Section: Journal #1 due; Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M. Coetzee
Week 3: South Africa
Mon:
Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M. Coetzee,
Wed:
“The Collector Of Treasures,” Bessie Head; “Is There Nowhere Else Where We Can
Meet?” Nadine Gordimer
Fri:
Discussion Section: Journal #2 due: “Porcelain,” Henrietta Rose-Innes
Week 4: Nigeria and Kenya
Mon:
“Girls at War,” Chinua Achebe; “My Mother, The Crazy African,” C.N. Adichie
Wed:
“Goodbye Africa,” Ngugi wa Thiong’o; “Homeless,” Ova Adagha
Fri:
Discussion Section: Journal #3 due; “Growing my Hair Again,” Chika Unigwe;
“Retrenched,” Ken N. Kamoche
Week 5: The Caribbean
Mon:
Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid; “On Seeing England for the First Time,” Jamaica Kincaid
Wed:
Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid
Fri:
Discussion Section: Essay #1 DUE; “Wordsworth,” “Jasmine,” V.S. Naipaul; “I Used
To Live Here Once,” Jean Rhys
Week 6: The Caribbean
Mon:
Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid
Wed:
“Assam’s Iron Chest,” Willie Chen; “Brackley and the Bed,” “Turning Christian,”
Samuel Selvon
Fri:
Discussion Section: Journal #4 due; “McGregor’s Journey,” Pauline Melville
Week 7: Australia, New Zealand
Mon:
“Hooks and Feelers,” Keri Hulme; “This Life is Weary,” Witi Ihimaera
Wed:
“White Fantasy—Black Fact,” Jack Davis
Fri:
Discussion Section: MIDTERM EXAM
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Week 8: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
Mon:
Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, R.K. Narayan
Wed:
Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, R.K. Narayan
Fri:
Discussion Section: Journal #5 due; Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, R.K.
Narayan
Week 9
Mon:
Wed:
Fri:
Week 10
Mon:
Wed:
Fri:
Week 11
Mon:
Wed:
Fri:
Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, R.K. Narayan
Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, R.K. Narayan
Discussion Section: Journal #6 due, Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, R.K.
Narayan
“The Prophet’s Hair,” “The Courter,” Salman Rushdie
“Surface Textures,” Anita Desai; “Swimming Lessons,” Rohinton Mistry
Discussion Section: Journal #7 due; “‘Commonwealth’ Literature Does not Exist,”
“Outside the Whale,” Salman Rushdie
“Ishwari’s Children,” Shabnam Nadiya; “Hindus,” Bharati Mukherjee
Earth (film, directed by Deepa Mehta)
Discussion Section: Journal #8 due; Earth
Week 12: Migration, Immigration, Citizenship, and Exile
Mon:
White Teeth, Zadie Smith
Wed:
White Teeth, Zadie Smith
Fri:
Discussion Section: White Teeth, Zadie Smith
Week 13
Mon:
Wed:
Fri:
White Teeth, Zadie Smith
White Teeth, Zadie Smith; Edward Said, “Reflections on Exile”
Discussion Section: ESSAY #2 DUE; White Teeth, Zadie Smith
Week 14
Mon:
Wed:
Fri:
White Teeth, Zadie Smith
White Teeth, Zadie Smith
Discussion Section: White Teeth, Zadie Smith;
Week 15
Mon:
“The Third and Final Continent,” Jhumpa Lahiri; “One of Billy’s Boys,” Timothy Mo,
“Busted Scotch,” James Kelman
Wed:
Exam Review
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***FINAL EXAM (During Exam Week: Date TBA)***
_______________________________________________________________________________
ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE COURSE AS TAUGHT BY Professor Rajini Srikanth: Weekly
Journals, Mid-Term, Final Essay
Designed to foster Verbal Reasoning (Critical Thinking), Critical Reading and Analysis, Effective
Communication
Journals
Every week, you will need to turn in a 300-500-word journal response on a particular aspect (prompt
provided by the instructor and or TA) of any text we have been reading and discussing during that
period. This response can be analytical or personal or both, but it should engage deeply the language and
themes of the text. So, for example, the prompt may ask you to observe and explain your reactions to a
cultural practice we encounter in the reading and to comment on the meaning of “unfamiliarity.” Or,
you may be asked to analyze the complexity of motivations underlying a character’s actions and to
situate those motivations within the context of the national politics, history, and cultural landscape of the
text in question.
These journal assignments are meant to get you thinking about the major themes of the course—identity,
migration, culture, nation, exile—and to help you draft ideas for the formal essays you will be writing
this semester.
Mid-term
Select a short story from among the several we have read and discussed so far. Imagine that you have to
stimulate the interest of a close friend, family member, or someone you care about in your life for this
short story. Write a letter to this person and highlight the features of this short story as a text that
exposes you to something new and something unfamiliar that you have now learned to appreciate and
recognize as important. Make sure that your letter includes specific details from the text (through
quotations, if necessary) to excite the curiosity of the recipient. Why should the recipient of your letter
care about this short story? How will reading it enrich their life? Your letter should be at least 1,000
words in length.
Final Paper
We have studied works in English from many different parts of the globe. Some of these locations were
more familiar to us than others, but we hope our engagement with these diverse texts has brought us
closer to understanding our place within a world community. Select two of the works we’ve read and,
using these, write an essay in which you discuss how these works have expanded and/or complicated
your understanding of the terms “familiar” and “unfamiliar” and how they have brought you deeper
insight into what connects us and separates us as peoples living in different parts of the world. Your
paper should examine each work independently and in relation to one another with respect to the
questions posed. Your essay should be at least 2,000 words in length.
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ASSIGNMENT ONE FOR THE COURSE AS TAUGHT BY Professor Matthew Brown:
CRITICAL ESSAY #1
Designed to foster Critical Reading and Analysis, Effective Communication.
English 245: Global Voices
Professor Brown
Spring 2014
Essay #1 (15% of final grade)
Your paper should be 2-3 pages in length, typed, double spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point
font.
• Your paper should have a clear thesis, one supported by textual evidence and argumentative
acumen. Do not summarize the text—spend your time analyzing the novel in order to advance
your thesis through relevant textual evidence. Please consult the “Writing Guides and Writing
Handouts” section on the course Wiki page.
• Remember to incorporate topic sentences that argue and transitions that sustain this argument’s
logic and coherence.
In no more than 2-3 pages, please address one of the following concerns. So far, we have encountered
several theories and terms that are central to the field of global literatures in English. For this paper,
please consider how ONE of the following terms is illuminated in, critiqued by, negotiated through,
manifest within, examined or ironized by ONE of the writers we have examined this semester. The
terms (available in selections from Key Concepts in Post-Colonial Studies) are:
Culture and Imperialism
Colonial desire
Manicheanism
Other/other
Cartography
Creolization
Allegory
Decolonization
“Savage/Civilized”
*A term of your own choosing (please clear with me before you begin)
In essence, you need to choose a term that interests you and one that you think a writer this semester
specifically addresses in her or his fiction. You then need to make a clear and concise argument about
what you think your chosen author argues about your chosen term. Most of the paper should prove your
thesis through close reading and textual analysis. Your thesis might look something like this:
SAMPLE THESIS (in essay about J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians): “Through the
Magistrate’s feelings for the girl, which he expresses perversely through the washing of her feet,
Coetzee examines the economy of desire between the self and the ‘other’ within the colonial situation.
Coetzee suggests that the Magistrate’s power over the girl and his erotic ‘use’ of her are apt allegories
for the operations of Empire at large. Coetzee advances this point by connecting the metaphorical
language of Empire to the gender politics of erotic conquest, within the novel’s colonial administration.”
•
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Feel free to use secondary articles we have discussed in class to jump-start your essay if you so desire.
Finally, please let me know if you have questions or concerns about this essay.
ASSIGNMENT TWO FOR THE COURSE AS TAUGHT BY Professor Matthew Brown:
CRITICAL ESSAY #2
Designed to foster Critical Reading and Analysis, Effective Communication.
English 245: Global Voices
Professor Brown
Spring 2014
Essay #2 (20% of final grade)
Your paper should be 3-5 pages in length, typed, double spaced, Times New Roman, 11 or 12
point font.
• Your paper should have a clear thesis, one supported by textual evidence and argumentative
acumen. Do not summarize the text—spend your time analyzing the novel in order to advance
your thesis through relevant textual evidence. Please see the course wiki for details and talk to
your TA about drafting your essay!
• Remember to incorporate topic sentences that argue and transitions that sustain this argument’s
logic and coherence. You will be graded on originality of argument and depth of insight.
In this compare and contrast essay, you are required to critically read and analyze ONE novel and ONE
short story we have read this semester. Please address one of the following topics—the questions listed
under each are writing prompts: you do not have to answer all of these questions.
1. The Gender of “Civilization”: how does the regulation of women, women’s bodies, women’s
sexuality, and what women are allowed to know relate to the enforce of colonialism and/or civilization?
How is masculinity described, revised, and/or regulated? Why is the control of gender—what it means
to be a man, what it means to be a woman—so significant in the novels and short stories we have
studied?
2. Writing and Speaking, Text and Voice: assess the interaction between writing as a form of
communication and speaking as a form of communication in two of the texts we have read. Which field
is given privilege as the “proper” form of language and of knowing? Why is one privileged over the
other? What are some of the ways in which voice and text interact, collide, overlap, or mutually
“speak?” Does one ever cancel out the other? Why and in what ways? How does “weird” or “rotten”
English change our perception of the written word?
3. Economies, Systems of Exchange, Trade: discuss how economic concerns—literal or
metaphorical—operate in one of the texts we have read. What counts as a commodity, as currency? Who
controls the rules of exchange? What is the significance of persons being treated as objects? What does
this value system say about politics, culture, etc.?
4. Exile and return: what defines the condition of exile for one of the novels and one of the stories we
have read? How is living as an “exile” defined, negotiated, rejected, or embraced? What are some of the
threats posed by the exile, especially to other categories of affiliation, like the “capitalist” or the “settler”
or the “cosmopolitan”? What happens to the exile, or émigré, or tourist, once they return home—in other
words, how have their perceptions changed?
•
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5. Memory: the representation of memory and recollection is crucial to all the literary texts we have
discussed this semester. How is memory represented? Why is it significant? Whose memory? Consider
the differences between individual memory and collective memory. Who controls which memory is
authorized and disregarded? How is memory related to official history? Consider how the past erupts
into the present; consider how it might be said to haunt the present.
6. Modernity and Nature: reflect upon representations of the landscape, cityscape, nature, etc. and,
especially, the figurative rapport between characters and setting. Why are representations of physical
space so important? Consider also what Timothy Brennan argues about modernity, that it makes a fetish
of the new and the present, to the detriment of history and the past.
ASSIGNMENT THREE FOR THE COURSE AS TAUGHT BY Professor Matthew Brown:
TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAM
Designed to foster Critical Reading and Analysis, Effective Communication.
English 245: Global Voices
Professor Brown
Spring 2014
Take-home exam
No late exams will be accepted. Please drop off a hard copy of your exam either in my office (there is a
box on my door) or in my English Department mailbox. If you absolutely cannot make it to campus,
please e-mail me your exam.
This exam needs to be typed (Times New Roman, 1 inch margins, 12 or 11 point font). Even though this
exam is open book, you MAY NOT consult with friends or colleagues while writing your exam. Your
work should be your own: original, insightful, and discerning about the major themes we have discussed
throughout the semester. The exam has two parts. You may write only once about any given novel,
short story, film, or article.
Part I: Please answer two of the following three questions. Each answer should be no less than 750
words long (three pages):
1) Several writers we studied this semester have been fascinated by the theme of the construction or
demolition of houses and/or buildings that mimic, in very specific ways, the domestic space. Using
evidence from at least TWO novels we discussed this semester, consider the thematic importance of this
representational strategy. Why is the construction or demolition of homes, buildings, etc. suggestive for
the creation of an identity? Why is this theme problematic or troublesome for “positive assertions of
identity”?
2) We have chatted about exile, but what of return? Using evidence from at least TWO works we
have discussed this semester, discuss the issues, debates, anxieties, etc. surrounding a character’s desire
to return and/or “returning,” an activity that you should consider in its widest possible sense.
3) Many authors this semester have depicted failed protests (e.g., protests that turn into riots, protests
that lead to imprisonment, exile, beatings, etc.). Have we seen any positive and/or successful forms of
protest? If so, what are the criteria by which we can judge a “successful protest” (and let me give you
one quick hint—death is not one of these criteria)? Is such a thing possible in global literature in
English? Utopias aside, what kinds of cultural or political paradigms does protest authorize?
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Part II: Please answer the following question in no less than 4 pages.
1) Discuss, investigate, suss out, mull over, articulate the theoretical problems of ONE of the
following terms: Ambivalence, ‘going native,’ Hegemony, Essentialism/Strategic Essentialism,
Place, World Systems Theory. This discussion should employ evidence from at least TWO works we
have studied this semester and relevant theoretical materials from assigned articles of your choosing.
Keep in mind that this question DOES NOT ask you to apply your term to the fiction or to show how
this term is exemplified by narrative in some uncomplicated, straightforward way. Rather, I want you to
consider how the fiction upsets your term’s “traditional” definition (for such a definition, please see the
KCPS book) or adds to our critical understanding of this term—in other words, take what you have
learned in this class to throw a wrench into the perceived wisdom and to the apparently secure lexicon of
global fictions in English.
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