Courses

Courses

Fall 2008

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010. Racism
H. Partridge W 1:00 - 3:55
Examines issues of racism in the United States, with attention to the social psychology of racism, its history, its relationship to social structure, and its ethical and moral implications.

014. Migration Narratives: Writers of the Caribbean
Jarrett Brown M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25
International as well as intra-national, geographical as well as psychological, migratory movement is a powerful theme that offers explanations for modernity, memory, identity, and transnationalism. Examines selected writers engaged primarily with Caribbean migratory experience. Authors may include Samuel Selvon, The Lonely Londoners; Claude McKay; Jamaica Kincaid, Lucy; Toni Morrison, Jazz; Caryll Phillips, A Distant Shore; V. S. Naipaul; Dionne Brand, In Another Place, Not Here; and Edwidge Danticat, Farming of Bones.

016. Love and Trouble: Black Women Writers
Guy Foster T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25
Introduces students to the twin themes of love and sex as they appear in novels written by African-American women from the nineteenth-century to the contemporary era. These texts explore such issues as sexism, group loyalty, racial authenticity, intra- and interracial desire, homosexuality, the intertextual unfolding of a literary tradition of black female writing, as well as how these writings relate to canonical African American male-authored texts and European American literary traditions. Students are expected to read texts closely, critically, as well as appreciatively.

017. The Intermarriage Plot in American Fiction
None None T 10:00 - 11:25, TH 10:00 - 11:25
Engages a series of novels and short stories that respond, either negatively or positively, to the prohibitions against intermarriage in the United States. Examines the ways in which fiction participates in the political discourse of marriage during the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Although focused primarily on Early American and African-American narratives, students will also have the opportunity to see how the structure of the intermarriage plot operates in more recent works of fiction and films. Works by Lydia Maria Child, William Wells Brown, Charles Chesnutt, and William Dean Howells, among others, will be considered.

101. Introduction to Africana Studies
Olufemi Vaughan M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
Introduction to the field of Africana studies, with a particular focus on African American history, politics, sociology, literature, and culture. Material is covered chronologically, building a historically centered account of African American life in America from 1619 to the present. The goals of this class are: (1) to introduce students to the field, particularly those students considering the Africana studies major or minor; (2) to provide a broad sweep of the field in terms of content, methodology, and intellectual trends; and (3) to provide a general backdrop for understanding American history, politics, and culture.

122. History of Jazz II
James McCalla T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25
A survey of jazz’s development from the creation of bebop in the 1940s through the present day, e.g., from Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie through such artists as Joshua Redman, James Carter, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Emphasis is on musical elements, but includes much attention to cultural and historical context through readings and videos.

138. Music of the Caribbean
Anthony Perman M 2:30 - 3:55, W 2:30 - 3:55
Surveys various musical traditions of the Caribbean, paying attention to the relation between sociohistorical context and artistic practice. Organized by geographic region, but addresses such larger issues as colonialism, nationalism, race, gender, and class.

207. Francophone Cultures
Hanetha Vete-Congolo M 11:30 - 12:55, W 11:30 - 12:55
An introduction to the cultures of various French-speaking regions outside of France. Examines the history, politics, customs, cinema, literature, and arts of the Francophone world, principally Africa and the Caribbean. Readings include newspaper and magazine articles, short stories, and a novel. Students see and discuss television news, documentaries, and feature films.

208. Race and Ethnicity
Seth Ovadia M 1:00 - 2:25, W 1:00 - 2:25
The social and cultural meaning of race and ethnicity, with emphasis on the politics of events and processes in contemporary America. Analysis of the causes and consequences of prejudice and discrimination. Examination of the relationships between race and class. Comparisons among racial and ethnic minorities in the United States.

222. Politics and Societies in Africa
Ericka Albaugh T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55
Surveys societies and politics in sub-Saharan Africa, seeking to understand the sources of current conditions and the prospects for political stability and economic growth. Looks briefly at pre-colonial society and colonial influence on state-construction in Africa, and concentrates on three broad phases in Africa's contemporary political development: 1) independence and consolidation of authoritarian rule; 2) economic decline and challenges to authoritarianism; 3) democratization and civil conflict. Expects no prior knowledge of the region.

225. Race-ing the Renaissance
Aaron Kitch T 1:00 - 2:25, TH 1:00 - 2:25
What does race mean in the English Renaissance? What literary strategies do authors from Shakespeare to Thomas Browne use in order to represent ethnic, religious, and cultural otherness? How is race as a political or social category dependent on such acts of representation? Studies examples of prose, poetry, and drama in the period, along with travel narratives of colonial exploration, accounts of the nascent slave trade in Africa, scientific treatises on race, and paintings with racialized subjects. Authors include Walter Raleigh, Sir Francis Drake, Edmund Spenser, Richard Hakluyt, Michael Drayton, Sir Philip Sidney, Shakespeare, Francis Bacon, Ben Jonson, Thomas Browne, and Lady Mary Worth. Note: This course fulfills the pre-1800 literature requirement for English majors.

245. Bearing the Untold Story: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the United States
Jennifer Scanlon T 8:30 - 9:55, TH 8:30 - 9:55
Women of color are often ignored or pushed to the margins. There is a cost to that absence, obviously, for women of color. As Zora Neale Hurston put it, “There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you.” There is also a cost to those who are not women of color, as women of color are encountered as objects, rather than subjects. Addresses the gaps and explores the histories and contemporary issues affecting women of color and their ethnic/racial communities in the United States.

268. Representing Slavery in the Americas
P. Foreman T 8:30 - 9:55, TH 8:30 - 9:55
In this writing intensive class we will examine slave narratives and anti-slavery novels from the United States and Cuba (where almost all of the nineteenth-century writings in Spanish originated). We will situate these works in their historical and literary contexts and explore the ways in which authors enter politically charged debates about slavery, gender and sexuality. We will be reading some of the most important, influential, and sometimes infamous books of the era. Authors include the orator, editor and statesmen, Frederick Douglass, the enslaved poet Juan Manzano, the feisty narrator Esteban Montejo, Martin Delany, known as the father of Black nationalism as well as the once enslaved authors and activists Harriet Jacobs and Louisa Picquet and Jamaica's famous woman warrior, Nanny. Spanish speakers will be encouraged to read primary texts and criticism in Spanish.

332. Black Activism and the Archive in the Nineteenth Century
P. Foreman T 6:30 - 9:25
Examines the writings and lives of nineteenth-century activist-authors. Subjects include Harriet Jacobs, the post-war advocate for freed people and author of the most famous woman's slave narrative as well as Frederick Douglass, whose speeches, newspaper articles and novella based on an actual slave mutiny we explore. We also read Ida B. Wells, the anti-lynching activist, Rebecca Latimer Felton, a powerful Georgian who was an advocate for education and prison reform for the white poor and was also the most rabid racist women's leader of her era. Finally, we'll examine the work of Reverend Harvey Johnson and Amelia Johnson who both were prolific authors, legal activists and radical believers in the social gospel. We will pair activists' novels, narratives, speeches, sermons, and newspaper writing with secondary sources including selections from biographies, critical essays and book chapters. This interdisciplinary class combines the methods and sources of historians and literary scholars. Requirements include intensive reading and writing, web forum posting and oral presentations. All students will be required to engage in original historical research for the final paper.

336. Research in Nineteenth-Century United States History
Patrick Rael T 11:30 - 12:55, TH 11:30 - 12:55
A research course for majors and interested non-majors that culminates in a single 25-30 page research paper. With the professor’s consent, students may choose any topic in Civil War or African-American history, broadly defined. This is a special opportunity to delve into Bowdoin’s rich collections of primary historical source documents.