Summer 2008 Course Descriptions

May Intersession | June Intersession | Summer Semeseter | July Intersession

May Intersession (May 15-May 25, 2008)

1st 4-Week Session (June 11-July 6, 2008)

English 2010: Writing MU (Intermediate Writing).  Jenny Edbauer Rice
Section 1

This course will focus on writing about place. Each student will adopt a local place, event, or person on campus to write about (the Union, the Stadium, Beetle Bailey, the campus radio station, historical protests on campus, women's life on campus, Jesse Hall, etc.). Students will work in the library archives, gathering historical resources, in order to construct a mini-documentary about their subject. We will put all mini-documentaries into a class "book" on campus history.

English 3410: African American Literature, 1900-Present.  Christopher N. Okonkwo
Section 1

MTWRF 9:50 - 11:50
African American literature offers a fascinating body of works, unique in their history, diverse in their concerns, and engaging in their sometimes "call-and-response" conversation. Since the literature’s inception centuries ago, African American writers and artists have through their works—folk/oral tradition, poetry, autobiographies, pamphlets, fiction, drama, non-fiction prose, speeches, paintings, songs and other cultural productions—contemplated the various issues integral to the complex experience of people of African descent in the United States. This course surveys important twentieth-century historical moments, writers, and works, as well as some of the intellectual debates and theories that have helped define the African American literary tradition. We will examine the tradition mainly from a historical, theoretical and critical standpoint and also supplement our readings and discussions with photographs, documentaries and audio recordings of significant, African American historical and literary figures and sociopolitical events.

English 4489: Major Anglophone Africana Women Writers, 1890-Present.  Marlon Moore
Section 1

MTWThF 12:10-2:10
In this course we will examine lesbian, bisexual and other nonheterosexual representations of black women in the US. We will explore the social and political impact of these depictions and investigate the ways geography, race consciousness, class politics and religion shape, complicate and/or undermine each project. We will study across literary and popular genres by and about black women (the famous and obscure), including theory, fiction, poetry, memoir, music, film, and television serials.

English 4610/7610: History of the English Language.  Matthew Gordon
Section 1

MTWRF * 12:10-2:10 * Tate 123
This course examines the history of English from the prehistoric roots that bind it to other languages of Europe and Asia, through the period of its earliest attestation, and into the modern era. We will see that English has undergone dramatic alterations throughout its life, and we will look at changes in sounds, grammar, meaning, and vocabulary. To understand these changes and why they occur, we will look for explanations in both the structure of the language and in the social history of its speakers. We will approach the subject from the perspective of modern linguistics and will, therefore, also develop familiarity with the theory and analytical methods of this field. (Same as Linguistics 4610/7610)

English 4700/7700: Folk Culture in Film.  Sw. Anand Prahlad
Section 1

If Known
English 4700/7700: Folk Culture in Film This course will examine ways in which images of folk cultures function in film. For example, such images often negotiate tensions between polarized elements of societies, real or imagined, e.g., those in power and the disenfranchised, the good and the evil, the natural and the artificial, male and female, etc. Rather than simply identifying specific genres in film, we will focus on the dynamics within folk groups and interactions between these folk cultures and the dominant groups presented in the films. The course will pay special attention to films in which relatively recently formed subcultures are juxtaposed with long-established folk or ethnic groups. We will view three films each week, and films will include Sugar Cane Alley, Sankofa, Quilombo,The Intended, The Village, Paris Is Burning, and The Last Wave. Assignments for the course will include four short essays.

8-Week Session (June 11-August 3, 2008)

2nd 4-Week Session (July 7-August 3, 2008)

English 2180: Introduction to Women's Literature.  Donna Strickland
Section 1

MTWRF * 9:50-11:50 * Tate 102
This course offers a glimpse into the diverse body of literary works written by women in the United States over the last 150 years or so. Women’s literature provides a window into lives that often are not represented in mainstream literature and mass media. As we look through this window, we find diverse attitudes about what it means to “be” a woman, and we may find calls to action that would otherwise go unnoticed. We’ll pay particular attention to the images, narratives, and actions that occur in and/or are suggested by the texts, especially how these textual features often alternatively construct and challenge what it means to be and act as a woman. As we both connect with and grapple with the literature together, we’ll no doubt end up asking other kinds of questions, as well.

English 4600/7600: Structure of American English.  Vicki Carstens
Section 1

MTWThF 12:10-2:10
The primary focus of this course is the syntax of American English, that is, the formation of its sentences and phrases. The course also surveys other aspects of linguistic structure: phonetics (speech sounds), phonology (the grammar of sounds), and morphology (word structure). The approach is that of generative grammar as developed in the work of Noam Chomsky and others. Graded work: 4 in-class tests and 8-9 homeworks. Required texts: An ERes packet, and The Language Instinct by S. Pinker. (Same as Linguistics 4600/7600)