Who is an insider and how do we know? Who is an outsider and how do we know? How do people self-identify as intentionally belonging or not belonging to a group? Who gets to decide who’s in and who’s out? What do experiences of an insider and an outsider look like? To what lengths will people go to hide what and who they are? To what lengths will people go to understand or become who and what they are not?

In this course, we will explore these and more questions around the theme of Insider/Outsider while also building essential skills. We will work on the fundamentals of writing about literature by studying a range of literary genres (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) from different time periods. These are useful skills for any writer, but they are also intended to prepare you for work as English majors or minors by focusing on two main goals. First, this class introduces you to a variety of critical and theoretical approaches that are used in the study of literature. Second, you will practice the basics of literary research, interpretation, and criticism, including modeling various critical approaches to texts, developing research skills, and becoming familiar with the best tools, resources, and databases for research.

Readings will likely include: short stories by Roxane Gay, Edwidge Danticat, Patricia Engel, and others; a range of poetry; Beowulf; George Bernard Shaw's Mrs Warren's Profession, and more!

Assignments will include shorter writing assignments, longer essays and revisions, in-class writings, quizzes, and a poster presentation.