ENG 255.2069 Global Literatures in English
Spring 2011
Location: RZ 304
T/TH 4:30-5:45pm
Class website:
http://globalsp11.qwriting.org/
Instructor: Christopher Ian Foster
Email: cfoster@qc.cuny.edu
Office: 349 Klapper Hall (3rd floor)
Office Hours: T/TH 3-4pm
Course Description:
This course will be a literary, historical and cultural study of Anglophone literatures from various African
countries and the Caribbean in the 20th and 21st century. We will attend to and analyze issues prevalent
in the study of “global” literature including but not limited to: colonialism—specifically European
colonization of Africa and the Caribbean; indigenous responses to colonization and imperialism via
literature and political and theoretical writings; “postcolonial” writing and the postcolonial context;
diaspora; and finally, issues of globalization. We will read four novels as well as relevant theoretical and
political texts. Authors will include Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Chinua Achebe, Frantz
Fanon, Jamaica Kincaid, Kamau Brathwaite, Patricia Powell, Karl Marx, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
In addition we will view a documentary on the effects of globalization on Jamaica as well as watch online
clips of various lectures and footage both at home and in class. As the scope and breadth of global
literature is as vast as its name suggests, this class will function as a rigorous introduction to the
fundamental issues and key texts in this area of study.
English 255 fulfills the Perspectives (PLAS) requirement in the area of Reading Literature. Students will
become familiar with the disciplinary norms associated with literary reading. They will learn to pay close
attention to language and be familiar with the reasons for the writer’s particular choice of language.
They will learn how the writer uses the techniques and elements of literature and the particular
resources of genre to create meaning. They will learn how texts differ from one another and how they
interact with the larger society and its historical changes.
Required Texts:
Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, A Grain of Wheat, Heinemann African Writers Series, Revised Edition 1986
Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions, Seal Press, 1988 OR Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Purple Hibiscus, Anchor Books, 2004
Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place, Farrar Straus and Giroux, New York, 1988
Patricia Powell, The Pagoda, Harvest Book, 1998
Note: In addition to Queens College Bookstore, these novels are readily available either at your local
bookstore or on Amazon.com and other online sites. You may purchase your books via these venues just
as long as you have the correct editions and your books arrive with plenty of time for you to read them
before their assigned date.
Supplemental texts: All supplemental texts will be posted on the class website under “readings” in PDF
format. You will be expected to print out, read carefully, and bring to class these readings. See the class
schedule below for specific texts and dates. The password to access the readings on the class website is
“english”
Grading:
Essay 1 (3-4 pages): 20%
Essay 2 (5-6 pages): 20%
Participation: 20%
Blog “comments”: 20%
Bi-weekly reading quizzes: 20%
Formal essays:
-Typed using Microsoft Word.
-Double Spaced
-Times New Roman font size 12
-MLA or Chicago style citation format: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
-Pages must be numbered
-Your essay must be titled
-You must have a thesis argument and include textual support within your essay
Blogs: http://globalsp11.qwriting.org/
You will be expected to post a “comment” to class blogs once a week. These comments should take the
form of a critical analysis, commentary, or discussion of the past week’s readings and/or class
discussion. Your comment may also take the form of a critical response to a classmate’s comment. You
will be expected to discuss your posts in class the following week. In length, comments must be at
least 300 words (about two paragraphs), for credit. Posts not meeting these requirements will not be
counted. You must have ten comments total for an “A” in this section of the course. As there are
fourteen weeks in the semester, this means that you do not have to post every single week. Plan
accordingly. I will post a blog at the end of every week (usually Thursdays after class). You will post a
comment on, for example, the blog post “Week 1” or “Week 2,” etc, by Monday 5pm. Do not create
your own blog post, simply “comment,” for example, on the blog post “Week 1” or whichever week
we’ve just completed. And finally, although I expect respect and courtesy on the class blogs, I do
encourage thoughtful debate.
Participation:
Every class will involve some assortment of group discussion, note taking, and in-class writing activities.
Class work cannot be made up if you are absent, so make sure you are here as much as possible. You are
also responsible for contributing to class discussions (see below). Note: to get an “A” in participation you
must speak up at least once per class (a comment or a question), and you must be absent no more than
once or twice.
Course Expectations:
In order for you to do well in this course, you need to be in class prepared and ready to work. You need
to have read all assigned material before class and have prepared thoughts or questions to bring up in
class (these needn’t be formal). Since some of the readings may be particularly demanding you should
be prepared to read assigned texts, such as the short articles assigned, twice. In addition, I expect
everyone to participate in class discussions. A note on reading strategies: Our “primary” texts are mostly
the novels we will be reading. “Secondary” texts are the theoretical and political texts assigned that you
will print out in PDF format. These texts explain or are relevant to the primary texts. Some are
particularly demanding and necessitate a second reading. If you cannot allot the time for this I would
recommend taking the course at a later date.
Distracting Classroom Behavior:
I expect you to come to class prepared and ready to work. I also expect that while in class, you will be
attentive to our work as a class. Please turn off and conceal cell phones. Texting, IMing, answering cell
phones, talking instead of listening to others, for example, all count as “distracting behavior.” If you
persist in any of these behaviors, I will deduct up to a full letter grade (A to B or B to C, etc.) from your
final grade depending on the severity and occurrence of the distraction. If I see your phone in your
hand, on your desk or anywhere else I will ask you to leave. You may rejoin the class next session.
Late Work:
It is your responsibility to contact me about missed work. All assignments are due on the date assigned.
Unless prior arrangements are made, late work and missed assignments are NOT accepted.
Academic Honesty:
All students of Queen’s College are responsible for preparing and presenting original work. In
accordance with the college’s policy on Academic Integrity, the penalty for papers which are plagiarized
and any cheating during exams is grounds for immediate course failure. It is considered plagiarism
when you present other people’s work as your own without properly citing your source and/or
presenting an already-written essay as your own.
Learning Goals:
-Students will demonstrate a rigorous understanding of the myriad issues surrounding global literature.
-Students will be introduced to postcolonial theory and literature.
-Through close readings students will utilize historical and theoretical texts to broaden their
understanding of the novels we will read in class.
-Students will improve their academic writing through blog commentary and formal take home essays.
-Students will engage in literary, historical, political and theoretical discussions in class thus facilitating
their academic fluency.
Class Schedule (Dates and assignments are subject to change):
2/1/2011: Course introduction
2/3: PDF Baldwin & Quinn “Defining Imperialism and Colonialism” & Watch video “Colonialism: The Sins
of Europe in the Scramble for Africa” located on the class blog under “videos.” Come to class with
comments on both the article and video.
2/8: PDF Marx and Gramsci “Ideology” and PDF Marx and Engels The Communist Manifesto pp. 1-21
2/10: PDF Achebe “An Image of Africa” QUIZ 1
2/15: Begin Ngugi’s novel A Grain of Wheat pp. 1-70 (ch. 1-6)
2/17: PDF Mau Mau and in A Grain of Wheat pp. 70-122 (ch. 7)
2/22: PDF Ngugi from Decolonizing the Mind
2/24: and in A Grain of Wheat pp.122-167 (ch. 8-11) and watch video “Kenya: a White Man’s Country”
3/1: Finish A Grain of Wheat QUIZ 2
3/3: Begin Tsitsi Dangarembga’s novel Nervous Conditions pp. 1-34 and PDF Tyson “Feminism”
3/8: PDF Frantz Fanon excerpts from Black Skin White Masks: “The Negro and Language” and “The Fact
of Blackness” and in Nervous Conditions pp.35-76
3/10: in Nervous Conditions pp. 77-120 (through ch. 6). And PDF Dangarembga interview
3/15: Finish Nervous Conditions and PDF Tyson “Psychoanalysis”
3/17: ESSAY ONE DUE Begin Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s novel Purple Hibiscus pp. 1-51
3/22: in Purple Hibiscus pp. 52-161
3/24: in Purple Hibiscus pp. 162-216 QUIZ 3
3/29: Finish Purple Hibiscus
3/31: PDF Baldwin & Quinn “Colonization and the Caribbean” and PDF Rodney “How Europe
Underdeveloped Africa”
4/5: Begin Jamaica Kincaid’s A Small Place pp. 1-37 and PDF Althusser “Interpellation”
4/7: Finish Kincaid’s A Small Place and PDF Kamau Brathwaite “History of the Voice”
4/12: Life and Debt
4/14: Life and Debt cont…
4/19: SPRING RECESS
4/21: SPRING RECESS
4/26: SPRING RECESS
4/28: Begin Patricia Powell’s The Pagoda pp. 1-88.
5/3: In The Pagoda pp. 89-146 and PDF Tyson “Race”
5/5: QUIZ 4 Discuss The Pagoda
5/10: In The Pagoda pp. 147-196 and PDF on “passing” and/or Gender Trouble
5/12: Finish The Pagoda
5/17: Thesis paragraph and outline for final essay due/ workshop and presentations
Final essays due Sunday 5/22 by 5pm via email. Send Microsoft Word Documents attached to an email
to ianfoster@gmail.com. If I do not reply within 24 hours confirming your email I did not get it.