During the course of the semester, using works by black women writers, we will examine some of the ways in which American literature has dealt with racial issues and how women have described and discussed their specific condition, especially in public realm. Among the course’s concerns are: concepts of racial identity; the images and representations that blacks and whites offer of each other; overt and subtle forms of racism; the intersection of race, gender, class and sexuality, and ways in which the writers reflect and/or transcend the cultures from which they come. We will read a range of literary works – including texts by Phillis Wheatley, Harriet Jacobs, Zora N. Hurston, Toni Morrison – as well as selected recent scholarship, and we will watch movies dealing with racial issues during different periods of American history.
(In the photo: The Sisterhood Members, 1977. (front row from left) Nana Maynard, Ntozake Shange, Louise Meriwether (back row from left) Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, Alice Walker, Audrey Edwards, Toni Morrison and June Jordan. Alice Walker Papers)
Course details:
This class will be conducted as a seminar: students will be expected to show constant progress through the course materials by way of classroom presentations and written assignments.
This course is FULLY TAUGHT IN ENGLISH. Please do not take this class if your English level is not at the very least a B2.
This course is taught IN PERSON as a SEMINAR and is not suitable for distant learning. Recording sessions (even partially) is forbidden. Recordings of lessons will not be made available.
Classes will start on October 6th.
Schedule: Thursday and Friday 10am-1pm.
Office Hour: Thursday 2pm-3pm (preferably by appointment) starting Oct. 13.
My email address: sonia.diloreto@unito.it
Bibliography:
Primary material:
Bibliography:
Toni Morrison, A selection of essays (provided by the instructor)
Claudia Rankine, Citizen. An American Lyric.
Phillis Wheatley, A Selection of Poems (On Being Brought from Africa to America; To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for North America, &c.; To the University of Cambridge, in New England; On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, 1770; Thoughts on the Works of Providence; To S. M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works; To His Excellency General Washington)
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Frances Harper, A Selection of Poems (Ethiopia, Eliza Harris, The Slave Mother, Vashti, A Double Standard), “The Two Offers”
Zora N. Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Nella Larsen, Passing
Alice Walker, “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens”
Toni Morrison, A Mercy
Students are required to own these texts, in print form (no electronic versions).
The following texts will be provided by the instructor:
Hortense Spillers, “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book” in Diacritics Vol. 17, No. 2, Culture and Countermemory: The “American” Connection (Summer, 1987), pp. 64-81. Available here: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~cavitch/pdf-library/Spillers_Mamas_Baby.pdf
Christina Sharpe. In the Wake. On Blackness and Being. (2016) (Selection)
Saidiya Hartman, “Venus in Two Acts.” Small Axe, 26, 12:2 (2008): 1-14. Available here: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/research/centres/blackstudies/venus_in_two_acts.pdf
In addition, other required readings will be available online. The file or directions about how to find the site or file will be found on this website.
Requirements:
Attending students
will be asked to produce different texts over the course of the semester. “Attending” students will be considered those attending at least 12 lessons. There will be:
- Three response papers (very brief, 1-page paper, see here for a detailed explanation: http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/rwc/handouts/the-writing-process-1/invention/Writing-a-Response-or-Reaction-Paper ). Each one will count for 10 points max.
- A final written exam to be taken on Dec. 15th (last day of class). Max 30 points. Conversely, if you prefer, you can write a traditional final essay (research paper), to be handed in by Jan. 7 if the student intends to take the oral exam on the first session in January, or to be handed in by Jan. 13 for all the other exam dates (see Dept. website for exam dates) . Max 30 points. The length should be between 3000 and 4000 words. The final essay needs to be agreed upon with the instructor.
- One “unessay” project, to be handed in, if you can, on the last day of class (in December) or no later than Jan. 7. An “unessay” is an original, personal piece of work that you conceive during the course of the semester, and that you realize in any format you like. Given the topic of our class, it could be an interview, a painting, a drawing, a song, a game. I take this idea from my colleague Ryan Cordell (Northeastern University), and he explains the concept here: https://s18tot.ryancordell.org/assignments/unessay/ Max 26 points.
4. In my evaluation I will also take into account your presentation during our meetings (14 points). Each student is required in fact to present on one of the texts, which will provide an extra layer of discussion to the class (you can also pair two texts).
AGIC students who are willing to give a presentation, and would like to choose another text should contact the instructor.
Non-attending students
will take the oral exam according to the dates published on the Dept. website. They will study the same texts as other students. If they so wish, they can integrate their work by reading 5 or 6 chapters from
The Cambridge Companion to African American Women’s Literature, eds. Angelyn Mitchell and Danille K. Taylor.
The secondary material will be made available either on this website or on the department website.
EXAMS: it will not be possible to take this exam as “seconda annualità” if you have not passed the first year exam (“prima annualità”)
Registration:
Please register for this class both on the department website, and here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/14RHs-6Lrk-Cd2zJPyNRKCwCkA0dXeaQ0lHuG0e33Llg/edit
Please note that I need both registrations, thank you.
Texts to be read for the first week of classes (Oct. 6th and 7th):
Thursday Oct. 6th:
- Toni Morrison, “Rootednness. The Ancestor as Foundation.” ToniMorrisonRootedness
- Hortense Spillers. “”Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book” Spillers, Mama’sBabyPapa’sMaybe (1987)
Friday Oct. 7th:
- Phillis Wheatley’s poems: Phillis Wheatley (The Norton Anthology of American Literature)
-
Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, “The Age of Phillis” http://commonplace.online/article/the-age-of-phillis/
