ENGL 541: Ethnic Literature (Graduate Seminar)
Contemporary African American Literature and the Post-Soul Moment
Instructor:
Office:
Office Hours:
Telephone:
E-mail:
Dr. David Magill
110 Grainger
MW 10-11 and by appointment
395-4910 (office)
niagillde@longwood.edu
Course Description
The 1964 Civil Rights Act ostensibly removed the barriers to freedom imposed by Jim Crow politics and
racism. Yet the- recent riots in Cincinnati, the death of James Byrd, and the continued lack of diversity in
political and corporate positions of power indicate that race is becoming the problem of the 21st century,
to paraphrase W.E.B. DuBois. This course examines contemporary black literature and its
representations of modern identity and racial oppression. In particular, we will focus on the question of
"freedom" and related issues of rights and responsibilities as understood under the banner of U.S.
citizenship. How do these authors understand "freedom"? How has the "race problem" changed in the
post-Civil Rights era? These questions, as well as others we discover, will guide our explorations,
Course Required Texts
PaulBeatty, The White Boy Shuffle
Percival Everett, Erasure
Sapphire, Push
Suzan Lori-Parks, Top dog/Under dog
Toni Morrison, Paradise
Mat Johnson, Inconegro
Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress
Colson Whitehead, The Intuitionist
August Wilson, Fences
Charles Johnson, Middle Passage
Walter Dean Myers, Shooter
Course Organization and Content
Class Meetings: ENGL 541 is a graduate seminar in African American Literature. Thus, I expect that
you approach the class as an in-depth examination of an important body of knowledge that demands your
attendance and participation on a regular basis. We will cover a lot of historical and cultural ground in
each class, so the course will demand your regular attendance and participation on a regular basis. You
should bring the assigned texts with you to class each day as we will refer to them frequently in class.
This course will be run as a seminar, which means that I expect all of you to be as active in discussion as I
am. While I am not devoting a specific percentage of the grade to class participation, I reserve the right to
penalize a student's grade by 10% for lack of participation.
Attendance: Regular attendance is a vital part of this course. As suggested above, attendance is not just
showing up and sitting in your seat but being prepared to interact with the material on an intellectual
level. I expect you to show up on time and be ready to work. As per the Longwood University
guidelines, you will lose one letter grade if you miss 10% of the class meetings (2 unexcused absences),
another letter grade for each additional absence up to 20% of the class meetings (4 unexcused absences)
and a failing grade for the course if you miss 25% of the class meetings (5 absences, excused or
unexcused). Attendance means that you are in class for the entire time — students who arrive late or leave
early will be marked absent for the day.
Assignments:
Short Essay: You will write a 6-8 page essay focused on a particular theme or issue in one of our texts.
You will present this paper to the class for discussion, then hand in a revised version the following week.
Final Essay: You will write a 15-20 page critical essay on a topic related to the course. This essay will
include secondary research. You will also be required to hand in a proposal and annotated bibliography
ahead of time, which will count for 10% of the grade.
Syllabus Project: You will create a syllabus for an undergraduate course in African American literature
that focuses on a particular theme and present that syllabus to the class.
Leading Discussion: Each graduate student will lead discussion for the first hour of a particular class.
You will choose which text you want to present, research it, and lead the class through an examination of
a specific issue within the text. I will give more details about the presentation in a separate handout.
Blackboard Discussion: The graduate students in the class will also conduct additional discussion on
Blackboard. After each class, you should be prepared to extend the in-class discussion via postings to the
discussion board, and I will moderate, ask questions, raise objections, and occasionally suggest topics for
further inquiry.
Evaluation
In order to receive a passing grade for this course, you must satisfactorily complete all major assignments
and exams on time with a cumulative passing average. You are also expected to turn in daily work when
required and earn a passing grade for class participation.
Short Essay
Final Essay
Syllabus Project
Leading Discussion
Blackboard Discussion
20%
40%
15%
15%
10%
NOTE: Graduate students who are not enrolled in the Longwood University graduate program, and who
are taking graduate courses as non-degree-seeking students, only can take up to nine credit hours of
Longwood classes that will count for degree credit upon admission.
ENGL 541: Contemporary African American Literature - Dr. Magill
Schedule of Reading Assignments and Due Dates
W 8/25
W 9/1
Introductions
Hand out syllabus and schedule
Watch Bamboozled
bell hooks, "Postmodern Blackness"
(httrx//wv,fw.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_GenA1ostmodern_B lackness_18270.html)
Madhu Dubey, "Contemporary African American Fiction and the Politics of
Postmodernism" Novel: A Forum on Fiction 35.2/3 (Spring/Summer2002): 151-168.
Access through Greenwood Library —Academic Search Complete
Trey Ellis, "The New Black Aesthetic" Callaloo 38 (Winter 1989): 233-243. Access through ..
Greenwood Library — JSTOR.
Stuart Hall, "What Is This 'Black1 in Black Popular Culture?"
' rwww.bsos.umd.edu/aasp/chateauvert/whatis.doc)
Discuss 'Bamboozled
W 9/8
Walter Mosley, Devil in a Blue Dress
Marilyn Wesley, "Power and Knowledge in Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress," African
American Review 35.1 (Spring 2001): 103-16. Access through Greenwood Library.
W 9/15
August Wilson, Fences
August Wilson, "The Ground on Which I Stand" Callaloo 20.3 (Summer 1997): 493-503.
Access through Greenwood Library — JSTOR
Michael Awkward, "'The Crookeds with the Straights': On Fences, Race, and the Politics of
Adaptation" (pdf on Blackboard)
W 9/22
Mat Johnson, Inconegro
Audre Lorde, "A Litany for Survival" Chttn-//wvv^%mteractivetheatre.Qrg/resc/Htanv.htiTil')
Chaney, Michael A. "Drawing on History in Recent African American Graphic
Novels". MELUS: The Journal of the Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the
United States 32.3 (2007 Fall): 175-200. Access through Greenwood Library - MLA
Bibliography
W 9/29
Toni Morrison, Paradise "Ruby" - "Divine"
Rita Dove, "History" (http://^rvvrvv.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/dove/poems-RD.html#rd6')
. Rob Davidson, "Racial Stock and 8-Rocks: Communal Historiography in Toni Morrison's
Paradise." Twentieth Century Literature 47.3 (Fall 2001): 355-73. Access through Greenwood
Library.
Th 9/30
James L. Peacock lecture-Hull 132, 7 p.m.
W 10/6
Toni Morrison, Paradise "Patricia" - "Save-Marie"
Toi Derricotte, "The Weakness" (http://wwvv.poets.Org/viewmedia.plip/prmMTD/l 5501)
Richard L. Schur, "Locating Paradise in the Post-Civil Rights Era: Toni Morrison and Critical
Race Theory." Contemporary Literature 45.2 (2004): 276-99. Access through Greenwood '
Library.
W 10/13
Suzan Lori-Parks, Topdog/Underdog
Wilmer, S. E. "Restaging the Nation: The Work of Suzan-Lori Parks". Modern Drama 43.3
(2000 Fall): 442-52. Access through Greenwood Library ~MLA Bibliography.
W 10/20
Paul Beatty, The While Boy Shuffle
Michael Harper, "Here Where Coltrane Is"
flittp://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=:il 75744)
Murray, Holland. "Black Crisis Shuffle: Fiction, Race, and Simulation" African American
Review 42.2 (2008 Summer): 215-233. Access through Greenwood Library- MLA
Bibliography
W 10/27
-
Sapphire, PUSH
Essex Hemphill, "Conditions XXI"
rhttp:/A^y\vxQlorado.edu/iournals/standardsA75N2/ITOMPHILL/hemphiII4.htrnI)
Dana Williams, "Contemporary African American Women Writers" (pdf)
W 11/3
Meet with Dr. Miskec's ENGL 381/581 class
Everett, Erasure
Myers, Shooter
Terrance Hayes, "What I Am" (http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16208')
Th 11/4
Percival Everett speaks on campus!!! You must attend this reading.
W 11/10
Colson Whitehead, The Intuitionist
Nikki Giovanni, "Nikka Rosa"
Chttp://www.math.buft'alo.edu/-sMr>v/poetn'/giovanni nildd.htmI#nikki%2Qrosa)
Michael Berube, "Race and Modernity hi Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist" (pdf)
W 11/17
Charles lohnson, Middle Passage
Rushdy, Ashraf H. A. "The Neo-Slave Narrative." Graham, Maryemma (ed. and introd.) The
Cambridge Companion to the African American Novel. Cambridge, England: Cambridge
UP, 2004. 87-105. (pdf)
W 11/24
Thanksgiving Break - No Classes
W 12/1
Novel Presentations
Final Exam:
Monday, December 6, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
Final Project and Discussion due