In our Course Syllabus, you will find the goals and expectation of our course, descriptions of essay assignments, and the due dates for homework and drafts.

Over the course of the semester, you will read and discuss texts, complete regular informal reading and writing exercises, write several longer essays, and prepare a brief retrospective, all while exploring works of literature. You will learn how to construct critical conversations about literature through independent research into the historical, theoretical, and critical contexts of the work. These skills will encourage you to claim ownership over your work and learn how to develop your writing independently.

Our entry point for the literary texts we will be reading this semester will be the question of how literary texts challenge or uphold cultural oppression and the roles defined by it. How is status defined based on a character’s race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and economic status? How does power contribute to those definitions, and how do literary texts provide a means to defy or contribute to that power? How can our own writing serve as a form of activism? We’ll pursue answers to these questions (and more) through the lenses of history, race, gender, ethnicity, nationality, class, colonialism, and power. As we pursue answers to those questions, you’ll learn how to contribute meaningfully to scholarly conversations and perhaps start conversations of your own.

Review the Course Schedule page for assignment due dates.

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