LITR 4333 American Immigrant Literature UHCL syllabus 2006

LITR 4333:

American Immigrant Literature

Spring 2006, University of Houston-Clear Lake

Tuesdays, 4-6:50pm, Bayou 2230

A multicultural course with a unifying theme:

the story of coming to America,

becoming American, and changing America.

( . . . & subplots! . . . )

generational conflicts * the family and the nation

* ethnicity & gender * the shock of America *

the memory of the homeland

Course Texts

Short-Fiction Anthology

Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land (2^nd ed., 2002)

Poetry Anthology

Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry (1994)

Jewish-American immigrant novel

Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925)

Anglo-American non-fiction

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (1620-1647)

(read with selections from the Exodus of the Bible)

Summary of Graded Assignments (details below)

(Percentages for final grade are only approximate. Numbers are not used in calculating final grades.)

· Midterm examination + Research Report Proposal (21 March; 30%.)

· Final Examination including Research Report (2 May; 50%).

· Class participation, preparation, attendance, quiz grades, presentations, email submissions. Dates for presentations assigned at second class (20%).

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: & by apptmt

Caveat: Data stated and contracts implied in this syllabus may change with minimal notice through fair hearings at class meetings.

Course Objectives:

Objective 1. To identify the immigrant narrative as the fundamental story-line of the dominant or majority culture in the USA and identify its relations to "the American Dream” and other essential American narratives.

1a. Most Americans are broadly conscious of these narratives’ outlines

1b. No single text tells the whole story, but the whole or larger story is always in the background.

1c. Models of Immigrant Literature may be provided by any ethnic group whose people write about move and adapting to America: the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, Salvadorans, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Filipinos, Japanese, Ukrainians, modern Nigerians, Vietnamese, Germans, Hindu, Pakistani . . . a list too numerous and growing ever to complete!

Objective 2. To chart variations and stages of the immigrant narrative.

2a. Basic stages of the Immigrant Narrative

· Stage 1: Leave the Old World (“traditional societies” in Europe, Asia, or Latin America).

· Stage 2: Journey to the New World (here, the USA & modern culture)

· Stage 3: Shock, resistance, exploitation, and discrimination (immigrant experience here overlaps with or resembles the minority experience)

· Stage 4: Assimilation to dominant American culture and loss of ethnic identity (departs or differs from minority experience)

· Stage 5: Rediscovery or reassertion of ethnic identity (usu. only partial)

Is the immigrant narrative comparable to a conversion experience?

2b. narrator or viewpoint: Who writes the immigrant narrative?

· First-generation? (rare, except among English-speaking peoples)

· Second-generation? (standard: the children of immigrants learn English and explore the conflict between ethnic and mainstream identities)

· Other?

2c. setting(s): Where does the immigrant narrative take place?

· Homeland? Journey? America? Return to homeland?

· "Ethnic enclave" (e. g., ghetto, barrio) as transition or limbo between 2 worlds.

2d. character by generation: What are the standard associations or identities of distinct generation?

· first-generation as “heroic” but also “clueless”

· second-generation as “divided” between traditional identities of homeland or ethnic group and modern identity of assimilated American; bi-cultural and bi-lingual

· third generation as “assimilated” (Maria becomes Kristen, Kwan becomes Kevin

(These numbers aren’t fixed—variations occur in every family’s story)

Objective 3. To compare and contrast the immigrant narrative with the minority narrative—or, American Dream versus American Nightmare:

· Differences between immigrants and minorities:

African Americans and Native Americans were not immigrants, at least in any normal sense. (Native Americans were already here, and immigration meant bad news—the “American Nightmare” rather than the American Dream. African Americans, unlike traditional immigrants, did not choose to come to America, but were forced; when they arrived, they found slavery instead of opportunity.)

As a result, the “social contracts” of immigrants and minorities may differ. Since immigrants voluntarily chose to come to America, they can be told to play by the rules of the American Dream. Minorities may have been denied the opportunity for the American Dream, and minorities may speak of exploitation instead of opportunity.

Immigrants typically assimilate and lose their ethnic identity within 1-3 generations. Minorities remain distinct or maintain distinct communities.

· Similarities between immigrants and minorities:

Immigrants may experience problems of “minority” cultures in the first generation(s). Immigrants may suffer discrimination and marginalization by the dominant culture on account of racial and cultural differences as long as those differences are visible or audible. With a few exceptions, the only immigrants who are treated as minorities are immigrants who are not yet assimilated.

· Mexican Americans may have an identity somewhere between the immigrant and minority patterns.

The immigrant experiences and historic identities of Mexican Americans in relation to the United States are unique in a number of ways that may make them more ambivalent regarding assimilation to the dominant American culture. Other Hispanic immigrant groups like Puerto Ricans may have similarly ambivalent attitudes toward assimilation or separation.

Objective 4. To observe cultural variations in the Immigrant Narrative by different nations, at different historical periods, or under different national conditions.

· “National migration”

In contrast to the normal pattern of immigration by individuals or families with intentions to assimilate to their new home, some groups immigrate with the intention of not assimilating. These groups are primarily religious in identification, but under special circumstances they may become the dominant culture of a nation or area.

Our deep historical model for “national migration” is the ancient Jews who migrated from Egypt to Canaan in the Bible’s Exodus story. Unlike normal immigrants to America, the Jews moved as a group, continued to operate together as a group, and resisted assimilation and intermarriage with the Canaanites. American Jews have followed this pattern until recent generations, when intermarriage has increased.

Our American historical model is the “Great Migration” of English Pilgrims and Puritans to early North America, where they imitated the Jews in Canaan by refusing to intermarry or assimilate with the American Indians. This English culture became the basis for the USA’s dominant culture. In brief, this is the culture to which American immigrants assimilate.

A relatively recent internal example of “national migration” might be that of the Mormons in the 1800s from the Midwest to Utah, where they became the dominant culture.

Objective 5. To observe and analyze the effects of immigration and assimilation on cultural units or identities:

· family

In the traditional Old World, extended families prevail. In the modern New World, assimilated people live in nuclear families (often divorced) or by themselves.

· gender

In the Old World, gender identities tend to be traditional, with divisions of power, labor and expression. In the New World, gender may be de-emphasized in favor of equality, merit, and other gender-neutral concepts.

· community and laws

Old World culture is often organized by traditional or family laws and a distant, autocratic state. New World culture conforms to impersonal laws and a democratic, regulated, but self-governing state.

· religion:

In traditional societies of the Old World, religion and political or cultural identity are closely related. Modern cultures of the New World tends toward a secular state and private religion.

Religion is the identity factor that resists assimilation the longest—but not necessarily forever. Catholic, Islamic, or Hindu immigrants may generally conform to mainstream dominant culture but resist conversion to the Protestant or Evangelical Christianity of the dominant culture.

· Finally, How do immigrants change America?

Objective 6. To contrast the “New Immigrant Model” with the “Old Immigrant Model.”

· “Old Immigrant Model”

Because of the danger and cost of journey by boat, past immigrants found it more difficult to return and were expected to cut ties to the Old World in order to assimilate to American culture

· “New Immigrant Model”

Improved communications and air transportation may enable recent immigrants to feel less pressure to forget the homeland and to assimilate to American culture as rapidly as earlier immigrants

· The biculturalism and bilingualism of “New Immigrants” may contribute to or reflect an emerging global identity in which human beings are less defined or restricted by nationality.

· “Vertical immigration”: as immigration has increased and trade and national barriers have fallen, societies may be becoming less identified by nationality and more by economics and technology: first world-third world, upper class-lower class, highrise-street, electronic media-manual labor.

Objective 7. To observe competing economic ideals or states exposed by immigrant literature.

7a. To identify communal or utopian elements such as Bradford’s discussion of the commonwealth and Jewish immigrants’ interests in Marxism, as well as “Old World” concepts of community, social obligations, and limits.

7b. To discuss immigrants’ shock at and adaptation to American economic models, variously identified as Social Darwinism, competitive individualism, laissez-faire, freemarket, high-growth capitalism

7c. A surprising feature in immigrant literature (and perhaps elsewhere): the identification of shopping and sexuality. (Consistent with Darwinian survival through competitive sexuality)

Objective 8. To monitor the importance of public education to the assimilation stage of the immigrant narrative.

8a. To consider the significance of free education as a starting point for the American Dream of economic success. (first rung on the ladder)

Special Literary Objective 9. To distinguish fictional and non-fictional modes of the immigrant narrative & poetic expressions of the immigrant and minority narratives.

9a. How can we tell whether we're reading fiction or nonfiction? What “markers” or signs of difference both in and outside the text alert the reader that the narrative is either fictional or non-fictional? Are these signs always accurate?

9b. How much may fiction and nonfiction cross or overlap? (Genre-bending.)

9c. How does lyric poetry, which is generally non-narrative, represent the Immigrant Narrative differently than our prose texts?

Email and webpage contributions

This course has a webpage featuring basic information about the course and student models of required assignments. The web address is

http://coursesite.uhcl.edu/HSH/Whitec/LITR/4333/. If convenient, install it as a “favorite” on your web browser for easy access.

Each student must make at least three or four contributions to the webpage through the instructor via email or other electronic means.

Required email contributions:

1. Presentation handout or posting

2. Research report proposal

Optional email contributions:

· midterm exam

· final exam & research report

Email address:

Send all emails to whitec@uhcl.edu. Note the "c" at the end of "whitec." If you send the email to "white" only, it goes to the wrong professor.

Contents and attachments:

Try both of the following

· Paste the contents of the appropriate word processing file directly into the email message.

· “Attach” your word processing file to an email message. (My computer and most of its programs work off of Microsoft Word 2000. The only word processing program my computer appears unable to translate is Microsoft Works, though Microsoft Word is fine, as are most others. If in doubt, save your word processing file in "Rich Text Format" or a “text only” format.)

If you have trouble reaching me by email, save your word processing file to a 3½“ floppy disk and give it to me. If you put your name on the disk, I’ll eventually return it to you.

Student computer access: Every enrolled student at UHCL is assigned an email account on the university server. For information about your account and password, call the university help desk at 281 283 2828.

Reassurances: You are not graded on your expertise in electronic media but on your intelligence in reading literature, discussing it, and writing about it. I’ve tried similar email exercises for several semesters; a few students encounter a few problems, but, if we don’t give up, these problems always work out. Your course grade will not suffer for mistakes with email and related issues as long as I see you making a fair effort.

Descriptions of Graded Assignments

Midterm exam--Date: 21 March Relative weight: 30% of final grade

Format: open-book and open-notebook.

Materials: Write in blue or black ink on paper of your own. Email students should work things out according to the instructions above.

Time: The exam should take at least two hours to complete, but you may use the entire class period (2 hours and 50 minutes). In-class students will be given the exam at 7pm and must turn it in by 9:50. All students will be emailed the exam at approximately 6:45pm, at which time the exam will also be posted on the course webpage. Email students must return their exam by 11pm. The time is flexible to account for possible interruptions. However, email students should spend no more than 2 hours and 50 minutes in writing the exam, and they should keep a log indicating when they start and stop. (Pauses or interruptions are okay.)

Length: Given different writing styles, length is hard to estimate, but generally the best exams have more writing, while less impressive exams look scanty.

Requirement: Make at least one reference to previous midterm answers.

Midterm contents

· Short and long essays on The Immigrant Narrative and the Minority Narrative.

· Research Report proposal

Note on Research Report Proposal

As part of your midterm exam, you will write and submit a proposal for the Research Report that is part of your final exam.

· You may write this proposal ahead of time and simply turn it in with the midterm, or you may write it during the midterm period.

Assignment: Write 3-5 sentences identifying your probable topic for a research report, explaining why you chose it, and speculating on what you hope to learn and how. Explain the sources of your interest. Give some indication of what you already know and what you wish to find out.

Range of subjects: You have considerable freedom to choose, but a reader of your proposal should immediately recognize its relevant to a class on immigrant literature and identity.

Possibilities for topics:

· Literature associated with a particular immigrant ethnic group—identify which group you’re interested in, e. g. Chinese-American, Mexican-American, Turkish-American.

· History of a particular immigrant group plus or minus some literature or movements associated with them.

· An immigrant or ethnic group that mixes immigrant and minority traditions, e. g. Haitians, Jamaicans, or other West Indians; Mexican Americans?

· Literature associated with a particular immigrant writer, e. g. Gish Jen, Frank McCourt, Henry Roth, Crevecoeur. (This would be a career review with some bibliography of major writings.)

· Some other immigrant-literature-related topic, perhaps of a more formal literary nature focusing on narrative, language issues, publishing challenges, etc.

· Other topics or areas may be developed as the semester progresses. The main thing is for you to choose a topic you care about and want to learn about and share.

Final Exam with Research Report (2 May 2006)

Part 1: Research Report with bibliography or works cited (1-1.5 hours)

Part 2: Essay question regarding immigrant literature and dominant culture (national migration) (1-1.5 hours)

Relative weight: 50% of final grade Format: In-class or email

Time: The exam should take at least two hours and a half to complete, but you may use the entire class period (2 hours and 50 minutes). In-class students will be given the exam at 4pm and must turn it in by 6:50. All students will be emailed the exam at approximately 3:45, when the exam will also be posted on the course webpage. Email students must mail in the exam by 8pm. The time is flexible to account for possible interruptions. However, email students should spend no more than 2 hours and 50 minutes in writing the exam, and they should keep a log indicating when they start and stop. (Pauses or interruptions are okay.)

Essay question: You will write a complete essay in response to a question. There may be some choice in essay questions, but the essay will need to deal with the course’s distinction in the second half of the course between the standard immigrant narrative and the “national migration” pattern of the USA’s dominant culture, exemplified by the Exodus story and Of Plymouth Plantation.

Requirement: Make at least one reference to previous midterm answers.

Research Report

Format requirements

Title: Give your report a title

Length: approximately 4-6 paragraphs

Time: 1-1.5 hours

Works Cited: Include a list of your major research sources (at least four)

Assignment description: Write a complete report describing your research on your chosen subject.

· Student is responsible for having researched at least four sources on the subject before the exam.

· Organize the information you found and review how you may use it, either in your college career, teaching, or personal development.

· The emphasis is on information, not opinion and analysis, though some summary and evaluation is welcome and expected. It's a report foremost.

· You are encouraged to connect your findings to course objectives or texts.

Default organization: Describe your path of learning as a quest.

· What subject did you choose and why? What relevance to our course and/or to your life or career?

· What were your starting points in research? How did your subject or understanding change or develop?

· What did you learn? What was expected or unexpected? If you continued your research, what would you seek to know next and why?

Evaluation standards: Readability, competence levels, and interest.

· Readability: Your reader must be able to process what you're reporting. Given the pressures of a timed writing exercise, some rough edges are acceptable.

· Competence levels: quality of your research and comprehension of your subject

Interest: Make your reader *want* to process your report. Make the information meaningful; make it matter to our study of literature and culture.

Sources for research report:

You must refer to at least four outside sources. At least two sources must be “non-web”—i. e., from print sources or firsthand interviews. As one of your sources, you are encouraged to consider interviewing either representatives of your immigrant group or experts who may know something about this group.

Reading Quizzes: Most class meetings will feature a short, objective reading quiz based on the day’s assigned readings.

· These quizzes are given one time only. If you come in after the quiz has been given, or if you miss a class, please do not ask if you can take the quiz. I strongly appreciate your not asking me, and I very much dislike being asked. You risk losing more by asking than you do by missing the quiz.

· Even if you do not know the answers, you should turn in a quiz with your name on it, as the quizzes are used for taking attendance.

· Answer the questions as briefly and accurately as possible, as I grade them very quickly. In most cases, a few words or phrases will suffice. You do not need to answer in complete sentences.

· Grades will range from “checks” for correct answers to “X’s” for no right answers to combinations of these grades with pluses or minuses for combinations of right and wrong answers. Occasionally one or two students in the class will receive a “check-plus” for answers that are not only accurate but entertaining, insightful, or otherwise impressive.

· You are expected to make checks or check-minuses on all but one or two of your quizzes. Failure to take or turn in quizzes, or overall quiz grades noticeably lower than the class average, can result in a much lower overall course grade, beyond the declared weight of the quizzes.

Student Presentations, Responses, & Records

Every student will participate in at least one class presentation.

Options

· Poetry reader

· Text-objective discussion leader

· Fiction-nonfiction dialogue

· Web highlight

Students may indicate preferred presentations or dates on their student ID cards. These requests will be honored as far as possible. In making assignments, however, the interests of the overall class may outweigh individual preferences. At the second class meeting a printed schedule will assign students to particular presentation assignments for the rest of the semester. Students may work out changes with each other and suggest those changes to the instructor.

Descriptions of individual presentation assignments

· Poetry reader

1. Your poem will be in the Unsettling America anthology. All students are expected to bring this anthology to every class.

2. Project an outline of your presentation on the webpage. (Email to instructor at least an hour before class.)

3. Introduce, read aloud, and briefly interpret your assigned poem relative to one or two course objectives.

4. Ask a question and lead discussion of the poem. (You may post more than one question.)

5. Ten-minute time limit for presentation itself. Discussion may run longer.

· Text-objective discussion leader

The student will lead a class discussion of the day’s reading assignment. Project an outline of your presentation on the webpage. (Email to instructor at least an hour before class.)

1. Identify the Course Objective(s) relevant to the discussion.

2. Direct the class to one or two passages in the reading assignment.

3. Read passage aloud.

4. Briefly interpret passage in relation to objective.

5. Lead discussion by asking a question or inviting challenges to interpretation.

· Fiction-nonfiction dialogue

This presentation is available when the day’s reading assignment features a fiction and a nonfiction text on similar subjects. The purpose, related to Special Literary Objective 9, is to comprehend the differences and overlap between fictional and nonfictional writing. Project an outline of your presentation on the webpage. (Email to instructor at least an hour before class.)

1. Identify your assignment and texts involved. The next steps can be mixed or varied as helpful.

2. Set up passages with the class—one from fiction text, one from nonfiction text. Read passages aloud.

3. Compare and contrast the two passages. How does one announce itself as fiction? How does the other declare it is nonfiction? Where do the two categories cross, overlap, or blur? Refer to Objective 9a and 9b for additional terms.

4. Summarize your comparison-contrast, what you learned or what puzzles.

5. Lead discussion on your analysis. Ask class for support or dissent concerning passages chosen or examples from elsewhere in the texts.

· Web highlight

The student selects passages from the undergraduate midterm, project, or final exam samples and sends them with an introduction and conclusion to the instructor for inclusion on the day’s webpage. This informal presentation may lead to a discussion, but a question is not required.

Project a copy of your presentation on the webpage. (Email to instructor at least an hour before class.)

The purpose of this presentation is to familiarize students with assignments and with standards of student work.

1. Introduction: Student writes 1-3 sentences describing the assignment and how s/he went about developing it. Student reads to begin presentation.

2. Two or more selections from assigned models: Students will be assigned to highlight midterms, projects, or finals. Student copies sections from assigned models and sends them to the instructor for posting with introduction and conclusion. Or the student may ask for links to assigned models for wider review. (Such links may be appropriate for reviewing projects.) Student reads or selectively reviews selections.

3. Conclusion: Student writes 3-5 sentences explaining what s/he learned from the review, what about the models was either impressive or disappointing, and what kinds of “models” have been created for our own semester’s work.

“Silent Grade” for presentation, responses, etc.

You are graded for the quality of your work in presentations, responses, and general class participation, but this grade is not announced until the end of the semester, when it is recorded in the general grade tally that is included in your final exam. The reason for this “silent grade” is to avoid unproductive behavior from students in relation to the presentations, such as second-guessing, comparing grades, competing to each other’s detriment, or performing to the teacher. Altogether the presentations are a cooperative exercise on the part of the class, so it’s better to keep grading out of sight; however, since some students would work less otherwise, the leverage of a grade is necessary.

Final Grade Report

I will turn in final grades to the registrar according to the usual procedures. I will also email each student a tally of their grades. Though this message should be accurate, it will be “unofficial” in that none of its information aside from the final grade will be recorded or supported by the university registrar. The message will appear thus:

LITR 4333: American Immigrant Literature 2006

STUDENT NAME

Contact information

Absences:

Quiz grades:

Presentation grade:

Midterm grade:

Research report proposal:

Final exam & research project grade:

Course grade:

COURSE POLICIES

Attendance policy: You are expected to attend every scheduled class meeting. You may take one free cut. More than one absence jeopardizes your status in the course. If you miss more than one class (especially early in the session), you are encouraged to drop. If you miss the first class, even if you are not enrolled at that time, that absence counts as your free cut. Partial absences also count negatively. Even with medical or other emergency excuses, an excessive number of absences (full or partial) results in a lower or failing grade. More than one absence affects final grades. You are always welcome to discuss your standing in the course.

Academic Honesty Policy: Please refer to the catalog for the Academic Honesty Policy (2005-2006 Catalog, pp. 76-78). Plagiarism—that is, using research without citations or copying someone else’s work as your own—will result in a grade penalty or failure of the course. Refer to the UHCL catalogue for further details regarding expectations and potential penalties.

Disabilities: If you have a disability and need a special accommodation, consult first with the Health Center and then discuss the accommodation with me.

Incompletes: A grade of "I" is given only in cases of documented emergency late in the semester. An Incomplete Grade Contract must be completed.

Late & Early Submissions Warning

· Submissions of Research Projects received after the 36-hour due period may be downgraded severely, especially if the student has not communicated on the issue with the instructor. The severity of grade reduction may depend on whether the problem is chronic or whether the student is generally helpful to the course. The extent of grade reduction for late papers may not become known until the final grade report.

· Students are warned not to submit Research Projects drastically early. Offering a completed assignment far in advance of the due date creates a negative impression on several counts.

LITR 4333 2006 reading schedule

IA = Imagining America (2^nd edition)

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

Tuesday, 17 January: introduction; students indicate presentation preferences; some history of immigration

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

Tuesday, 24 January: Examples of the Immigrant Narrative. Anzia Yezierska, “Soap and Water” (IA 105-110) [handout]; Nicholasa Mohr, “The English Lesson” (IA 21-34); Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, “Going Home: Brooklyn Revisited” (VA 158-169) [handout]

Poetry reader:

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

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Fiction-nonfiction dialogue: instructor

Fiction: “The English Lesson”; Nonfiction: “Going Home: Brooklyn Revisited”

(30 January 2006: Last Day to Drop Spring Class with Refund (Not Total Withdrawal)

Tuesday, 31 January: 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]

· Poetry reader:

Poem: Nellie Wong, “When I was Growing Up,” UA 55

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Fiction-nonfiction dialogue:

Fiction: "In the Land of the Free"; Nonfiction: from The Woman Warrior

· Web highlight:

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

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

Tuesday, 7 February: African American Minority vs. the immigrant narrative. James Baldwin, from No Name in the Street [handout]; Jewell Gomez, “Don’t Explain” (182-190); Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” (IA 145-152); Alice Walker, “Elethia” (IA 307-109)

· Poetry reader:

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

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Fiction-nonfiction dialogue:

Fiction: “The Lesson”; Nonfiction: from No Name in the Street

· Web highlight:

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

Tuesday, 14 February: 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)

· Poetry reader:

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

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Web highlight:

(17 February 2006: Last Day to Apply for Spring 2006 Graduation)

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

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

Tuesday, 21 February: 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)

· Poetry reader:

Poem: Pat Mora, “Immigrants,” UA 119

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Fiction-nonfiction dialogue:

Fiction: "El Patron"; Nonfiction: “Like Mexicans”

· Web highlight:

Tuesday, 28 February: 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]

· Poetry reader:

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

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Fiction-nonfiction dialogue:

· Web highlight:

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

Tuesday, 7 March: 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)

· Poetry reader:

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

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Fiction-nonfiction dialogue:

Fiction: “To Da-Duh . . . “; Nonfiction: “The Making of a Writer”

· Web highlight:

Tuesday, 14 March: spring break

Tuesday, 21 March: Midterm exam and research report proposal

Tuesday, 28 March: Indian & Pakistani American Literature

Chitra Divakaruni, “Silver Pavements, Golden Roofs” (70-83); Tahira Naqvi, “Thank God for the Jews” (IA 229-236); Bharati Mukherjee, “A Wife’s Story” (IA 57-69); Bharati Mukherjee, “Love Me or Leave Me” [handout]

· Poetry reader:

Poem: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, “Restroom,” UA 21-23

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Fiction-nonfiction dialogue:

Fiction: “A Wife’s Story”; Nonfiction: “Love Me or Leave Me”

· Web highlight:

(27 March 2006: Last Day to Drop a Spring Class or Withdraw for the Semester)

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

Tuesday, 4 April: Jewish-American: Chosen People in the New World. Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925)

· Poetry reader:

Poem: Louis Simpson, “A Story about Chicken Soup,” UA 245

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Web highlight:

(10 April 2006: Summer 2006 Class Schedule Available Online)

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

Tuesday, 11 April: 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

· Poetry reader:

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

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Web highlight:

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

Tuesday, 18 April: 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).

· Poetry reader:

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

· Text-objective discussion leader:

· Web highlight:

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

Tuesday, 25 April: 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]

· Poetry reader:

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

· Text-objective discussion leader (Raban article):

· Web highlight:

Tuesday, 2 May: final exam & research report