LITR 4333: American Immigrant Literature

Fall 2007, University of Houston-Clear Lake

Thursdays, 10am-12:50pm, Bayou 1215

Course webpage: http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/4333

Instructor: Craig White

Phone: 281 283 3380                                        Email: whitec@uhcl.edu

Office: 2529-8 Bayou Office Hours: T 2:30-3:30; Th 1-2; Th 7-8 &  by appointment

 

LITR 4333 2007 reading & presentation schedule

IA = Imagining America (2nd edition)

UA = Unsettling America (poetry anthology)

************

Thursday, 23 August: introduction; students indicate presentation preferences; some history of immigration; introduction of essential terms: assimilation, minority, demographics

*********************************

Thursday, 30 August: Examples of the Immigrant Narrative. Anzia Yezierska, “Soap and Water” (IA 105-110) [handout]; Nicholasa Mohr, “The English Lesson” (IA 21-34)

·        Text-objective discussion leader: Christina Holmes

·        Dominant culture moment: Cheryl Voskamp

·        Poetry reader: Jason K. Collins

Poem: Joseph Papaleo, “American Dream: First Report,” UA 88

*********************************

Thursday, 6 September: “Model Minorities”: Asian American Immigrant Literature

Sui Sin Far, "In the Land of the Free" (IA 3-11); Gish Jen, “In the American Society” (IA 158-171); Maxine Hong Kingston, from The Woman Warrior (VA 195-200) [handout]; Carlos Bulosan, from American is in the Heart [handout]

·        Text-objective discussion leader: Mary Caraway

·        Web highlight (midterms): Tami Gilley

·        Dominant culture moment: Donna Shotwell

*********************************

Thursday, 13 September: class canceled (Tropical Storm / Hurricane Humberto)

*********************************

Question for next two class meetings: How does the minority narrative differ from the immigrant narrative?

 

Thursday, 20 September: African American Minority vs. the immigrant narrative. James Baldwin, from No Name in the Street [handout]; Jewelle Gomez, “Don’t Explain” (182-190); Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” (IA 145-152); Alice Walker, “Elethia” (IA 307-309)

·        Web highlight (midterms): Lindsey Kerckhoff

·        Poetry reader: Ashley Fonteno

Poem: Patricia Smith, “Blonde White Women,” UA 77

*********************************

Thursday, 27 September: American Indian Minority vs. the immigrant narrative.

Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” (IA 205-209); Louise Erdrich, "American Horse" (IA 210-220); Mei Mei Evans, “Gussuk” (IA 237-251)

·        Text-objective discussion leader: Julie Matuszczak

·         Dominant culture moment: Ashley Webb

·        Poetry reader: Tiffany Watson-Mynatt

Poem: Chrystos, “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government,” UA 304

*********************************

Question for next three class meetings: How does Hispanic or Caribbean literature resemble or differ from either the immigrant narrative or the minority narrative?

Thursday, 4 October: Mexican Americans: Immigrant / American Dream story, or Minority? Richard Rodriguez, from Hunger of Memory [handout]; Gary Soto, “Like Mexicans” [handout]; Nash Candelaria, "El Patron" (IA 221-228); Sandra Cisneros, "Barbie-Q" (IA 252-253)

·        Text-objective discussion leader: Lindsey Kerckhoff

·        Web highlight (midterms): Mallory Rogers

·        Dominant culture moment: instructor

·        Poetry reader: Robin Tupa

Poem: Pat Mora, “Immigrants,” UA 119

*********************************

Thursday, 11 October: Other Hispanic Americans: Immigrant / American Dream story, or Minority?

Junot Diaz, "How to Date a Browngirl . . . “ (IA 276-279); Oscar Hijuelos, “Visitors, 1965” (IA 310-325) Judith Ortiz Cofer, "Silent Dancing" [handout]

·        Text-objective discussion leader: Tiffany Watson-Mynatt

·        Dominant culture moment: Alana Elkins

·        Poetry reader: Christina Holmes

Poem: Martin Espada, “Coca-Cola and Coco Frio,” UA 124

 

*********************************

Thursday, 18 October: Caribbean Immigrants: Minorities or Immigrants? June Jordan, “Report from the Bahamas” [handout]; Edwidge Danticat, “Children of the Sea” (IA 98-112); Paule Marshall, “The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen” [handout]; Paule Marshall, “To Da-Duh, in Memoriam” (IA 368-377)

·        Text-objective discussion leader: Rhonda Fisher

·        Web highlight (midterms): Jennifer Brewer

·        Poetry reader: Rita Zelaya
Poem: “From an Island You Cannot Name” UA 139

*********************************

Thursday, 25 October: Midterm exam and research report proposal

*********************************

European-American Immigrant Literature / Prototypes of the American Dominant Culture: The Ancient Jews & New England

Thursday, 1 November: Jewish-American: Chosen People in the New World. Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925)

·        Text-objective discussion leader: Rita Zelaya

·        Web highlight (final essays and/or research reports): Rhonda Fisher

·        Dominant culture moment: Tami Gilley

 

*********************************

Thursday, 8 November: selections from the Exodus story in the Old Testament of the Bible (student provides; King James / Revised Standard version preferred);

Exodus, chapters 1-15; chapter 16, verses 1-4; chapter 20; chapter 31, verse 12 through chapter 32 complete.

Leviticus, chapter 18, verses 1-5

Numbers, chapter 14, verses 1-6; chapters 33.

Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verses 1-6; chapter 11, verses 10-17.26-28; chapter 12, verses 2-3; chapter 34.1-6

Joshua, chapter 24

Judges, chapter 2, verses 1-15

·        Web highlight (final essays or research reports): Ashley Kauppi

·        Poetry reader: Tanya Stanley

Poem: Michael S. Glaser, “Preparations for Seder,” UA 176

*********************************

 

Thursday, 15 November: The Pilgrims and the Hebrew model of national migration; prototype of white exclusiveness and purity? William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (introduction, esp. p. xxii; chapters I-IV).

·        Web highlight (final essays and/or research reports): Ashley Webb

·        Report on William Bradford: Mary Caraway

·        Poetry reader: Julie Matuszczak

Poem: Enid Dame, “On the Road to Damascus, Maryland,” UA 141

 

*********************************

Thursday, 22 November: No meeting—Thanksgiving Holiday: read about the “first Thanksgiving” in Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation! (p. 100 of Modern Library Edition)

*********************************

Thursday, 29 November: The Pilgrims, the Hebrew model of national migration, and late Anglo-American culture / vertical immigration.  Of Plymouth Plantation (V, 29-32;VI, 45 middle paragraph; VII, 49-50, 57; VIII, 59-61; IX; X; XI, 83-89; XII, 96-100, 107 bottom paragraph; XIV, 128-129, 132-134, 143-146; XV, 160-161; XIX, 224-232; ch. 21, p. 62; XXIII, 281-283; XXXII, 351; XXXIII, 364-368; 370-1); Jonathan Raban, from Hunting Mr. Heartbreak: A Discovery of America [handout]

·        Text-objective discussion leader (Raban article): Cheryl Voskamp

·        Poetry reader: Andrina Giusti

Poem: Hamod (Sam), “After the Funeral of Assam Hamady,” UA 288

*********************************

Thursday, 6 December: final exam & research report