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LITR
4333: American Immigrant Literature
Spring
2001, University of Houston-Clear Lake Thursdays, 1-3:50pm
(R 1300-1550), Bayou 1233 * A multicultural course with a unifying theme: the story of coming to America, becoming American, and changing America. * (with 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
(1992) Non-Fiction
Anthology Visions of
America: Personal Narratives from the Promised Land (1992) Poetry
Anthology Unsettling
America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry
(1994) Anglo-American William
Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation
(1620-1647) (read
with selections from Exodus in the
Bible's Old Testament) Jewish-American Anzia
Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925) Caribbean-American Julia
Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their
Accents (1992) Chinese-American Amy
Tan, The Joy Luck Club (1989) Course
webpage:
http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/homepage.htm Instructor:
Craig White Phone:
281 283 3380.
Email: whitec@uhcl.edu Office:
2529-8 Bayou Office Hours: T
11:30-12:30, 2-5 & by appointment Caveat: Data stated and contracts implied in this syllabus may change with minimal notice through fair hearings at class meetings. Summary
of Graded Assignments (details below) (Percentages of final grade are only approximate. Numbers are not used in calculating final grades.) · Midterm examination on immigrant narrative and comparison / contrast with minority experience (1 March; 20%.) · Analytic / Research Paper or Journal. (Proposal due 22 March; Paper due 19 April; 30%). · Final Examination (Thursday, 3 May, 1300-1550; 30%). · Class participation, preparation, attendance, quiz grades, presentations, email submissions (dates for presentations assigned at second class; 20%). Attendance policy: You are expected to attend every scheduled class meeting. You may take one free cut. Attendance may not be taken systematically, but if you miss more than one meeting, you start jeopardizing your status in the course. If you miss more than two classes (especially early!), consider dropping, unless prior arrangements are made. Partial absences also count negatively. If people leave frequently or in a group at break, their commitment to the class is called into question and they should account for their actions. Even with medical or other emergency excuses, a high number of absences or partial attendances will result in a lower or failing grade. If shockingly absent, return and make contact (281-283-3380) or leave message ASAP. 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 (2000-2001 Catalog, pp. 74-77). Plagiarism—that is, using research without citations—will result in a grade penalty or failure of the course. Copying someone else's test leads to heavy losses of credit for the test and the course in general. 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. Make-up exam policy: Ask way in advance for times before the regular exam. Professor has the right to refuse accommodations requested on short notice. Objectives: · "Objectives" are ideas and terms repeatedly explored and reinforced in lectures, discussions, presentations, and examinations. As learning outcomes, this course enables you to discuss American immigrant literature in the terms set up by these objectives. · As this Literature course studies an aspect of American culture, its course objectives are divided into Literary and Cultural categories, though these categories may overlap. Fundamental to these objectives is the Immigrant Narrative (a. k. a. "the American Dream narrative"). Most Americans have some consciousness of its outlines, but no single text tells the whole story. Its features can be varied, divided, extended, or shared out to different characters or generations, but here is a quick overview: · Leave the Old World (“traditional societies” in Europe, Asia, or Latin America). · Journey to the New World (here, the USA & modern culture) · Shock, resistance, exploitation, and discrimination · Assimilation to dominant American culture and loss of ethnic identity · Rediscovery or reassertion of ethnic identity (usually only partial). Literary
Objectives: 1. To comprehend the story of immigration as a fundamental narrative of American literature and culture. 1a. To define the concept of narrative as a literary and cultural category 1b. To criticize as well as celebrate the immigrant or American dream narrative. c. To explore the immigrant narrative as an organizing principle for studying multicultural literature. 2. To chart the various literary permutations available to the narrative 2a. narrator or viewpoint: Who writes the immigrant narrative? First-generation? Second-generation? Other? 2b. setting(s): Homeland? Journey? America? Return to homeland? 2c. character by generation: to identify and question the first-generation as “heroic,” second-generation as “divided,” third generation as “assimilated.” 2d. Most of the literary terms so far refer to prose narratives, but also to examine how lyric poems represent different stages of the Immigrant Narrative. 3. To distinguish fictional and non-fictional modes of the immigrant narrative 3a. What “markers” or signs of difference both inside and outside the text alert the reader that the narrative is either fictional or non-fictional? 3b. How do narrative, viewpoint, and setting change in fiction or non-fiction? 3c. How much may these two genres cross? (Genre-bending.) 4. To become sensitized to immigrant literature’s effects on English or to the variant English styles practiced by different ethnic groups. Cultural Objectives1. To identify the immigrant narrative as the fundamental story-line of the dominant culture in the USA. 1a. To compare and contrast the immigrant narrative with the minority narrative. · In terms of comparison, immigrants may experience problems of “minority” cultures in the first generation(s), and they may suffer discrimination and marginalization by the dominant culture on account of racial and cultural differences as long as those differences are visible. · In terms of contrast, the “social contracts” of immigrants and minorities differ. Immigrants like the Chinese, Germans, Dominicans, Irish, or Italians voluntarily participate in the “American Dream” migration pattern of immigrating to America for personal freedom and economic betterment, Minority groups, esp. African Americans and Native Americans, involuntarily join the “American Nightmare” pattern of forced participation. · Mexican Americans, sometimes known as “the ambivalent minority,” have an identity somewhere between the immigrant and minority patterns. Though many Mexicans immigrate to the USA, the states to which they primarily immigrate (such as Texas and California) were once part of Mexico. This land was taken from Mexico in much the same manner as other American lands were taken from Indians. Racially, too, Mexicans may fall in between, as they may be descended from Europeans (immigrant culture) and / or from Indians and / or African Americans (both minority groups). 1b. 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 immigration of individuals or families, especially the “Great Migration” of Pilgrims and Puritans to early North America and their historical model, the ancient Hebrews migrating from Egypt to Canaan. These national groups resist assimilation and intermarriage with the people whose land they occupy, but other elements of the immigrant narrative may continue. · “Internal immigration,” such as the “Great Migration” of African Americans from the Old Confederacy to northern states around World War 1 (the 1910s). · “Socioeconomic Immigration,” in which economic success or failure leads families to move from one class or neighborhood to another, with resulting needs to assimilate to new values, language patterns, courtship patterns, etc. 1c. To complicate the dominant European-American culture’s east-to-west direction for migration by including immigrants from the South to the North (Mexico, the Caribbean) and from the East to the West (Asia, the Pacific). 2. To observe and analyze the effects of immigration and assimilation on American cultural units or identities: 2a.
family (Old World: extended family; New World: nuclear family) 2b. generations (esp. generational tensions over assimilation, expectations.) 2c. gender (usually traditional in homeland and modern in America) 2d. community (including neighborhood) and laws, especially the change from traditional or family laws to impersonal laws and a regulated state 2e. religion 2f. What do immigrants see about America that the native-born cannot? 2g. How do immigrants change America? 3. 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 transportation may enable recent immigrants not to feel same pressures 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. 4. To acknowledge the international or global nature of immigration. ·
The great waves of immigration
from Europe (17th through 19th centuries) occurred
simultaneously with Europe’s
colonization of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. ·
Many American and European immigrants today come from lands
formerly colonized by Europeans or European-Americans. 5. To acknowledge and criticize the different values projected on ethnic homelands and on America (examples below are positive / negative):
6. To observe competing economic ideals or states exposed by immigrant literature. 6a. 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.. 6b. To discuss the immigrants’ shock at and adaptation to American economic models, variously identified as Social Darwinism, competitive individualism, laissez-faire, freemarket, high-growth capitalism 6c. A surprising feature in immigrant literature (and perhaps elsewhere): the identification of shopping and sexuality. 6d. To acknowledge the difficulty of stabilizing an American society founded on act of revolution (i. e., leaving the past behind); compare to the nation’s revolutionary founding in the Declaration of Independence, which breaks off ties with the “Mother Country” much as an immigrant does with the Old World. Email and webpage contributions
With help from UHCL’s Instructional Technology Center, a webpage is being developed for this course. Each student is expected to contribute to this webpage in order to benefit this course in its present and future offerings. Each student must make at least four contributions to the webpage through the instructor via email or other electronic media. Your contributions may be anonymous or indexed by your name or initials. The web address is http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/homepage.htm. If convenient, install it as a “favorite” on your web browser. Later you will be able to reach the course webpage by going to the University of Houston-Clear Lake homepage (www.uhcl.edu) and clicking on “Web Courses.” At that web site, previous webpages can be seen at the links to LITR 4533: Tragedy, LITR 4231: Literatures of Early America, and LITR 4332: American Minority Literature. For examples of student contributions, click on “model assignments.” Required email contributions: 1. presentation handout and discussion summary 2. midterm, or selections from midterm 3. research proposal 4. copy of Analytic / Research Paper or Journal Optional email contributions: 1. final exam Options
for transmitting your passages electronically: · Type answers in a word processing file and “attach” the file to an email to me at whitec@uhcl.edu. (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 a “text only” or “read” format and then attach it.) · Type answers in a word processing file, copy the answers, then paste them into an email message to me at whitec@uhcl.edu · If you have trouble reaching my by email, save your word processing file to a 3 & ½ “ floppy disk and give it to me. If you put your name on the disk, I’ll eventually return it to you. I may perform some light editing to improve readability, but I won’t make major changes. Student computer access: Every enrolled student at UHCL is assigned an email account on the university server. To receive your account name and password, go to the Delta Building (near Bay Area Blvd) and inquire at the front desk of the main lab on the right-hand side of the second floor. 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: 1 March Relative weight: 20% of final grade Course content: The immigrant narrative, especially in comparison and contrast with the minority narrative Format: open-book and open-notebook. Materials: Write in blue or black ink in a bluebook or in spaces provided on exam sheet. 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) as you like. In-class students will be given the exam at 1pm and must turn it in by 3:50. All students will be emailed the exam at approximately noon, at which time the exam will also be posted on the course webpage. Email students must mail in the exam by 5pm. The time is more 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 people's writing styles, length is hard to estimate, but generally the best exams have more writing, while the less impressive exams look scanty. Organization: Two sets and types of questions and answers: 1. “Identify and signify.” Write your answers in the spaces provided on the question sheet, or otherwise index the questions by numbers. You will be given passages from the class readings or concepts or terms from class lectures and discussions. In the case of quoted passages, first you will “identify” the passage by author, title, and context in the work from which they are taken; second, you will “signify”—that is, highlight and discuss themes, ideas, and style features of the passage in relation to course lectures and discussions. This part of the exam should take approximately one hour. For part 1, you will likely be given some choices—e. g., you might choose 3 out of 4 quotations and 3 out of 4 terms. 2. “Essay question(s).” You will write an essay in response to a question. You are expected to refer to your readings, relate them to the main themes of the course, and offer original interpretations or extensions of class themes as appropriate. You may or may not have a choice of questions to answer. Email midterm contributions: Selections from midterms will be uploaded to the course webpage as examples of outstanding work for present and future students. If you take the midterm by email, the instructor will simply copy selections from your file. If you take the midterm in-class, the process is as follows: the instructor will highlight selections in your midterm; you will email the selections to the instructor at whitec@uhcl.edu; the instructor will upload the selections to the webpage. Research project: Students
have a choice of
two options for their research projects. Option
1 is a traditional 7-10 page analytic / research paper relevant to the
course. Option 2 is a 10-15 page journal of
research and reflections concerning a variety of materials relevant to the
course.
· Weight: approximately 30% of final grade Research proposal: Due
via email by 22 March (or before). Write at least two paragraphs containing the following information: · Indicate which option—Option 1 or Option 2—your research project will take. (If you are trying to choose between the two options, start your email by explaining the situation, then write separate entries for each option according to the guidelines below. The instructor—and perhaps some fellow students—will help you decide. · If Option 1, list the primary text(s) you intend to work with. Explain the source of your interest, why the topic is significant, and what you hope to find out through your research. Describe any reading or research you have already done and how useful it has been. · If Option 2, mention your possible choices of topics for the categories listed below in Option 2 (journal) requirements. · For either option, conclude by asking the instructor at least one question about your topic, possible sources for research, or the writing of your research project. · Email or otherwise transmit an electronic version of your proposal to me at whitec@uhcl.edu. · Research report proposals will be posted on the course webpage. · If you want to confer about your possible topic before submitting a proposal, feel free to confer with me in person, by phone, or by email. Response
to Research Proposal · The instructor will email you a reaction okaying the proposal and/or making any necessary suggestions. · Student may also receive suggestions for research from other students. · Student does not receive a letter grade for the proposal, only a “yes” or instructions for receiving a yes. Students will not lose credit for problems in reaching a topic as long as they are working to resolve these problems. · The only way you can start getting into trouble over the proposal is if you simply don’t offer very much to work with, especially after prompts from instructor. An example of a really bad proposal is one sentence starting with “I’m thinking about” and ending with “doing something about immigration and gender,” then asking, “What do you think?” In these cases, a bad grade won’t be recorded, but the deep hole the student has dug will be remembered. Notes regarding the paper proposal may appear on the Final Grade Report. Option 1 (analytic / research paper) requirements· The topic is open to any type of literary analysis, but it must have some relevance to the course. That is, a member of the class reading your essay would be able to recognize the relevance of the text or its major themes. · In terms of primary texts, you may choose a text from beyond this course, but if you use more than one primary text, at least one should be from the course readings. · In terms of research, you must incorporate references to at least three secondary and background sources--that is, your research sources must include both secondary and background types of research; the distinction will be explained. · Follow MLA style for documentation and mechanics. Option 2 (journal) requirements
If you choose the journal option, you are not choosing an option that involves less work than the traditional research paper option. You are expected to do just as much work and your writing will be judged by similar standards. However, the writing may be less centrally or consistently focused on one subject. Thus you may pursue several subjects, which may or may not cohere. All the same, I expect to see good absorption and expression of research and well-polished if exploratory writing in what you turn in. (In brief, the journal I will read should not be restricted to your first drafts.) Students choosing this option should check in with the instructor as the semester progresses to make sure that their work is adequately rigorous. The following items or elements should be included, but some changes in proportions may be permitted according to your interests and discoveries. (Page lengths are only suggestions for minimal lengths.) · Brief autobiography and complete primary bibliography of an immigrant author, with some secondary bibliography. (2-4 pages?) · Review of at least three secondary sources having to do with immigrant literature, however broadly or specifically focused. These articles might pertain to our class readings or to your research on an ethnic group or an immigrant author. (At least one page each. Head report with bibliographic citation, followed by a review of the scholar’s argument, evidence, and usefulness.) (At least 3 pages) · Review of history of immigration and immigrant literature by a particular ethnic group (e. g., Italian-American, Chinese-American, Caribbean-American, Mexican-American), including a bibliography. (The bibliography may be embedded in the text of this review.) (3 pages) · The following elements are more optional: reflection on your own family’s immigration history (2-4 pages; interviews with family members?); interviews with recent immigrants regarding immigrant experience plus their reading habits (3-5 pages; regarding reading habits, what literature do they find relevant to their experience?) · Other possible items may be mentioned as the semester progresses. Also consider combining categories—for instance, your “immigrant author” could be from the “ethnic group” you also investigate. Student Presentations, Responses, & RecordsEvery student will lead (or share in leading) one class presentation, and each student will also serve in a supporting role for one or more other presentations. Students may make one of two types of presentations—either as the reader and chief interpreter of a poem from the Unsettling America anthology, or as a presenter in a fiction-nonfiction dialogue. In either case, the student presenter is responsible for making a presentation, leading and responding to the following discussion, and submitting the finished presentation summary to the instructor via email for posting to the webpage. Poetry presentations are recommended for less experienced students, and fiction-nonfiction dialogues for more experienced students. Presentation assignments listed in the reading schedule will be decided partly by student choice and partly by chance; student preferences are not guaranteed. On the opening class day (18 January), students may indicate their preferences on an ID card, and volunteers will be solicited for the presentations on 25 January. On that day everyone will be given a schedule assigning students to particular presentation assignments for the rest of the semester. Poetry
Presentation: The Poetry Presentation assignment relates to Objective 2d. . . . to examine how lyric poems represent different stages of the Immigrant Narrative. The assigned student will introduce, read, interpret, and lead a discussion an assigned poem from the Unsettling America anthology. (The assignments appear in the reading schedule below, though some poems may be added or cut according to need.) The interpretation should relate to a course objective (besides 2d) and focus on the poem’s immigrant themes (or, in the case of "minority" poems, the minority themes and their comparisons or contrasts with immigrant themes). Also consider the following subjects concerning the poem: · Identify which generation in the immigrant narrative is speaking. · Identify the "stage" (or combination of stages) of immigrant narrative: Leaving, journeying, the shock of America, assimilation, or reconnection? · Compare to the day’s prose narratives? What does a lyric poem accomplish that a prose narrative cannot? · Many other topics may be suggested by the Course Objectives. Format
for poetry presentation: 1. 10-minute time limit. Ten minutes is the time limit in terms of your presentation itself (i. e., not counting discussion). If some shorter poems do not require 10 minutes, don't feel the need to stretch out your presentation. If your poem is quite long, extra time may be allowed, or consider reading parts of it. 2. Before reading the poem, cite one or two course objectives relevant to your interpretation, and begin your interpretation. Your interpretation of the poem may be divided before and after the reading of the poem. You may provide some brief biography of the poet (see pp. 385-400), but this is not necessary and may be distracting. Concentrate on the poem itself. 3. Read the poem aloud. Look up unfamiliar words and practice pronunciations. (Feel free to ask for help beforehand.) Try to read with feeling and comprehension. 4. After reading, briefly complete your interpretation. In general, students are most ready to discuss soon after the reading, so don't lose that opportunity. 5. Begin discussion by asking a question. The best way to begin a discussion is by asking a question. Therefore, your last steps in the poetry presentation (besides leading and responding to discussion) are to wrap up your interpretation and to ask the other members of the class a question relevant to what you've said up to that point. (Sometimes they’ll just sit there, so you might have an extra question ready; sometimes they’ll want to discuss something besides what you asked, but that’s okay; sometimes you have to keep asking and trying different angles until you get a response.) Discussion may go up to 10 minutes beyond the presentation itself. 6. Respondent joins discussion. (see below for description of Respondent's role.) 7. Recorder takes notes of discussion. 8. Email instructor summary of presentation & discussion. For posting to the webpage, the presenter emails to the instructor a 2-3 paragraph summary of the presentation plus 2-3 paragraphs reviewing the highlights of the discussion, prepared with the help of the recorder. Be sure to include respondent's comments. (Attribute by name.) The presenter is welcome to consult with the respondent, the recorder, and other discussion participants as much as is helpful. (Unlike the poetry presentations for LITR 4332 in Fall 2000, a handout is not requested. Instead, refer to the syllabus and to the poem in making your presentation.) Respondent: The “respondent” is first responsible for having read the assigned poem before the class meeting and for having some interpretations in mind. When the presenter asks the question to begin discussion, the respondent should not “jump in” immediately but should watch to see how or if discussion develops before beginning to contribute. The respondent may speak for a minute or two at once or may make two or three briefer remarks during discussion. The respondent is encouraged not to bail out of his or her duties by shrugging that “They’ve already said it.” Recorder: An assigned student will take notes of the discussion, writing down as much as possible of what students say and connecting it, if possible, to names. (Instructor will help with names.) The note taker will share these with the reader and consult as far as desirable in helping with the email / webpage summary (see below). The reader and note taker may share and consult in person, by phone, or by email. Examples of Email / Webpage summaries: In fall semester 2000 I organized a similar set of exercises in LITR 5535: American Romanticism. To see "Student Presentations on American Romantic Poems, fall 2000," go to the following web address: http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/5535/poetpresnsamps.htm Some of these are better than others. I especially recommend the presentation summaries titled, "Joy Harjo, `Eagle Poem,'" "Robert Hayden, `Those Winter Sundays,'" and "Sylvia Plath, `Blackberrying.'" Fiction-Nonfiction
dialogues: This is a new kind of student presentation premised on Literary Objective 3: To distinguish fictional and non-fictional modes of the immigrant narrative 3a. What “markers” or signs of difference both inside and outside the text alert the reader that the narrative is either fictional or non-fictional? 3b. How do narrative, viewpoint, and setting change in fiction or non-fiction? 3c. How much may these two genres cross? (Genre-bending.) Overall, the spirit of this presentation is summarized in the last word of the objective: “Genre-bending.” As with “gender-bending,” the Readers and discussion participants may enjoy seeing how supposedly fixed categories or genres like fiction and nonfiction can overlap, and how, at least in literary representation, what is supposedly “real” and what is supposedly “made up” are often entangled with each other. In terms of student leadership and preparation, each Fiction-Nonfiction dialogue involves two student leaders and one recorder of the discussion. In terms of content, the subject matter will involve one Fiction Text and one Nonfiction Text from the day's assigned readings. The two student leaders will be designated the Fiction Reader and the Nonfiction Reader. Here is a suggested order of presentation. However, by mutual agreement, the starting reader could reverse or otherwise change the order throughout. Also, the Readers are encouraged to experiment with different approaches for inviting discussion, but they should apprise the class of any such plans before beginning. (continued) Fiction-Nonfiction
dialogues—suggested order of presentation 1. The Fiction Reader will explain how and why the Fiction Text may be identified as fictional, highlighting some passages, defining or summarizing the markers, and identifying some of the pleasures fiction provides. (3-5 minutes) 2. The Nonfiction Reader responds by pointing out elements of the Fiction Text that may also appear to be Nonfiction. (1-2 minutes) 3. The Fiction and Nonfiction Reader may open up the floor for discussion of the fictional and nonfictional elements of the Fiction Text. 4. The Nonfiction Reader then turns to the Nonfiction Text, explaining how and why it may be identified as nonfiction, highlighting some passages, defining or summarizing the markers, and identifying some of the pleasures nonfiction provides. (3-5 minutes) 5. The Fiction Reader responds by pointing out elements of the Nonfiction Text that may also appear to be fiction. (1-2 minutes) 6. The Fiction and Nonfiction Reader may open up the floor for discussion of the fictional and nonfictional elements of the Fiction Text. Fiction Reader and Nonfiction Reader are welcome to consult and prepare together as much as they like beforehand, or they may just show up prepared with their own materials and react to each other. Also, any presenters of poetry or fiction-nonfiction dialogues are invited to consult with the instructor beforehand. Recorder: The Recorder’s job is to take notes of the discussion sections of the presentation. The recorder will then provide the notes to the presenters for their email / webpage summary. These notes may be provided in person, by email, by phone, or some combination. Email / webpage summary: The Fiction and Nonfiction Readers are responsible together for preparing together a summary of their presentation and discussion (with the Recorder's help). In a few detailed paragraphs the Readers should indicate the passages they referred to and summarize their insights. They should also organize the Recorder’s notes into readable form. The complete report should be emailed to the instructor at whitec@uhcl.edu for posting to the course webpage. The main goal in the summary’s composition is to provide an interesting and readable account for future students to consult. “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. Your roles as respondents and recorders are not a major feature of your grade unless you simply shirk and draw attention to yourself for lack of cooperation. You are expected to help your presenter in the same spirit that you would like to be helped. One potential complication is that the Fiction and Nonfiction Readers are responsible for a joint email / webpage submission. If problems arise because one Reader has to do too much work while another Reader may take too much credit, one or the other should speak to the instructor, who will try to resolve the situation as reasonably as possible. Final Exam--Date:
Thursday, 3 May: Final Exam, regular class period (1300-1550) Relative weight: 30% of final grade Format: In-class or email (as with midterm). 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) as you like. In-class students will be given the exam at 1pm and must turn it in by 3:50pm. All students will be emailed the exam at approximately noon, at which time the exam will also be posted on the course webpage. Email students must mail in the exam by 5pm. The time is more 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 people's writing styles, length is hard to estimate, but generally the best exams have more writing, while the less impressive exams look scanty. Course content & Exam Organization: Three essay questions / answers on the following topics: National migration (Jewish-American and Pilgrim literature) compared to the standard Immigrant Narrative; Asian American Immigrant Narratives; fiction and non-fiction. Refer to assigned readings and to poetry presentations since midterm. 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. · Even if you do not know the answers, you should turn in a quiz with your name on it, as I often use the quizzes 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. Final Grade Report I will turn in final grades to the registrar according to the usual procedures. Students may check their final grades by calling the university’s EASE line. However, I will 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 STUDENT NAME Absences: Quiz grades: Presentation grade: (plus or minus a few notes on quality of presentation) Midterm grade: Research project proposal: Research project grade: Final exam grade: Course grade: (Depending on time and other factors, I may include a few remarks on your essay and final exam.) LITR 4333 2001 reading schedule IA = Imagining America VA = Visions of America UA
= Unsettling America ************ Thursday, 18 January: introduction ************ Thursday, 25 January: Anzia Yezierska, “Soap and Water” (IA 105-110); Nicholasa Mohr, “The English Lesson” (IA 21-33); Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, “Going Home: Brooklyn Revisited” (VA 158-169); June Jordan, “Report from the Bahamas” (VA 305-315) Poetry presentation: Joseph Papaleo, “American Dream: First Report,” UA 88 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: *** Fiction-nonfiction dialogue Fiction text: “The English Lesson” Fiction reader: Nonfiction text: “Going Home: Brooklyn Revisited” Nonfiction reader: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 1 February: Minorities and the immigrant narrative. James Baldwin, from No Name in the Street (VA 284-290); Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” (IA 139-145); Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” (IA 191-195); Louise Erdrich, "American Horse" (IA 196-206) Poetry presentation: Patricia Smith, “Blonde White Women,” UA 77 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: Poetry presentation: Chrystos, “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government,” UA 304 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: Fiction-nonfiction dialogue Fiction text: Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” Fiction reader: Nonfiction text: from No Name in the Street Nonfiction reader: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 8 February: Caribbean-American. Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Poetry presentation: Martin Espada, “Coca-Cola and Coco Frio,” UA 124 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 15 February: Caribbean-American. Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents; Paule Marshall, “The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen” (VA 82-89); Paule Marshall, “To Da-Duh, in Memoriam” (IA 351-360) Poetry presentation: Jose Angel Villalongo, Sr., “In the Good Old U. S. A.,” UA 328 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: **** Fiction-nonfiction dialogue Fiction text: “The Making of a Writer . . . ” Fiction reader: Nonfiction text: “To Da-Duh, in Memoriam” Nonfiction reader: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 22 February: Mexican Americans as Immigrants or as Ambivalent Minority? Richard Rodriguez, from Hunger of Memory (VA 229-235); Gary Soto, “Like Mexicans” (VA 301-304); Nash Candelaria, "El Patron" (IA 215-221); Sandra Cisneros, "Barbie-Q" (IA 252-253) Poetry presentation: Pat Mora, “Immigrants,” UA 119 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: **** Poetry presentation: Tino Villanueva, “Haciendo Apenas la Recoleccion,” UA 191 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: **** Fiction-nonfiction dialogue Fiction text: "El Patron" Fiction reader: Nonfiction text: “Like Mexicans” Nonfiction reader: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 1 March: midterm examination ************ Thursday, 8 March: Jewish-American: Chosen People in the New World. Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925) (complete) Poetry presentation: Louis Simpson, “A Story about Chicken Soup,” UA 245 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 15 March: Spring Break, no class meeting ************ Thursday, 22 March: Jewish-American & the ancient Hebrew model of Migration. Sonia Pilcer, “2G” (VA 201-206); Eva Hoffman, from Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (VA 219-228); selections from the Book of Exodus, from the Bible (student provides; King James / Revised Standard version preferred); Proposal
for Research Project due. Poetry presentation: Michael S. Glaser, “Preparations for Seder,” UA 176 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 29 March: Other Middle Eastern Immigrants. Mikhail Naimy, “His Grace” (IA 111-116); Tahira Naqvi, “Thank God for the Jews” (IA 222-229); Anton Shammas, “Amerka, Amerka: A Palestinian Abroad in the Land of the Free” (VA 291-300); The Pilgrims and the Hebrew model of national migration. William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (introduction, p. xxii; chapters I-IV). Poetry presentation: Hamod (Sam), “After the Funeral of Assam Hamady,” UA 288 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 5 April: The Pilgrims, the Hebrew model of national migration, and the later Anglo-American culture. 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; 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); Jonathan Raban, from Hunting Mr. Heartbreak: A Discovery of America (VA, 344-356) Poetry presentation: Gregory Djanikian, “In the Elementary School Choir,” UA 215 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 12 April: Chinese-American. Sui Sin Far, "In the Land of the Free" (IA 3-11); Maxine Hong Kingston, from The Woman Warrior (VA 195-200); Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club Fiction-nonfiction dialogue Fiction text: Fiction reader: Nonfiction text: Nonfiction reader: Recorder: **** Thursday, 12 April (continued) Poetry presentation: Nellie Wong, “When I was Growing Up,” UA 55 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 19 April Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club; Analytic
/ Research Paper or Journal due. Poetry presentation: Shirley Geok-lin Lim, “Father from Asia,” UA 19 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 26 April: Bharati Mukherjee, “A Wife’s Story” (IA 64-75); Bharati Mukherjee, “Love Me or Leave Me” (VA 187-194) Fiction-nonfiction dialogue Fiction text: “A Wife’s Story” Fiction reader: Nonfiction text: “Love Me or Leave Me” Nonfiction reader: Recorder: **** Poetry presentation: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, “Restroom,” UA 21-23 Reader: Respondent: Recorder: ************ Thursday, 3 May: Final Exam, 1300-1550 Course TextsShort-Fiction Anthology Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land (1992) Non-Fiction Anthology Visions of America: Personal Narratives from the Promised Land (1992) Poetry
Anthology Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry (1994) Anglo-American William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (1620-1647) (read with selections from Exodus in the Bible's Old Testament) Jewish-American Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925) Caribbean-American Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1992) Chinese-American Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club (1989) Hindu-American Bharati Mukherjee, Jasmine (1989) LITR 5733 reading schedule Tuesday, 1 June: introduction Thursday, 3 June: Anzia Yezierska, “Soap and Water” (IA 105-110); Nicholasa Mohr, “The English Lesson” (IA 21-33); Louise Erdrich, “American Horse” (IA 196-206); Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, “Going Home: Brooklyn Revisited” (VA 158-169); June Jordan, “Report from the Bahamas” (VA 305-315) Tuesday, 8 June: Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents; Charles Alexander Eastman, “The Ghost Dance War” (VA 1-7). Thursday, 10 June: Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents; Paule Marshall, “The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen” (VA 82-89); Paule Marshall, “To Da-Duh, in Memoriam” (IA 351-360) Tuesday, 15 June: Book of Exodus, from the Bible (student provides); Bernard Malamud, “The German Refugee” (IA 34-44); Adrienne Rich, “Split at the Root: An Essay on Jewish Identity” (VA 90-105); Sonia Pilcer, “2G” (VA 201-206); Eva Hoffman, from Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (VA 219-228); Mikhail Naimy, “His Grace” (IA 111-116); Tahira Naqvi, “Thank God for the Jews” (222-229) Thursday, 17 June: Vivian Gornick, “To Begin With” (VA 74-81); Anton Shammas, “Amerka, Amerka: A Palestinian Abroad in the Land of the Free” (VA 291-300); William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (introduction, p. xxii; chapters I-IV). Tuesday, 22 June: 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; 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); Joan Didion, “The White Album” (VA 245-268); Jonathan Raban, from Hunting Mr. Heartbreak: A Discovery of America (VA, 344-356) Thursday, 24 June: Minorities and the immigrant narrative. James Baldwin, from No Name in the Street (VA 284-290); Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” (IA 139-145); Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” (IA 191-195) Tuesday, 29 June: Maxine Hong Kingston, from The Woman Warrior (VA 195-200); Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club Thursday, July 1: Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club; Mei Mei Evans, “Gussuk” (IA 230-243); research proposals due Tuesday, 6 July: Jose Antonio Villareal, Pocho; Richard Rodriguez, from Hunger of Memory (VA 229-235); Thursday, 8 July: Jose Antonio Villareal, Pocho; Gary Soto, “Like Mexicans” (VA 301-304) Tuesday, 13 July: Mary Gordon, “’I Can’t Stand Your Books’: A Writer Goes Home” (VA 212-218) Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir Thursday, 15 July: Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir Tuesday, 20 July: Lan Cao, Monkey Bridge Thursday, 22 July: Lan Cao, Monkey Bridge Tuesday, 27 July:; Bharati Mukherjee, “A Wife’s Story” (IA 64-75); Bharati Mukherjee, “Love Me or Leave Me” (VA 187-194); research projects due Thursday, 29 July: final exam (6-8:30). See description above. |