| Course | Title | Instructor | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| COM LIT 9 | IMAGINING HOME | ROGERS, J. | Salmon Rushdie once wrote of the immigrant experience that “Sometime, we feel we straddle two cultures; at other times, that we fall between two stools” (Imaginary Homelands 1991). In this course, we will explore the histories of underrepresentation and inequality that accompany such experiences of straddling — or falling in between — two cultures. We will look at novels, short stories, autobiographies, and films by first- and second-generation immigrants, as well as by descendants of forced migration to and within the United States, to better understand the rich yet complex processes of community building and subject formation brought about by the historical and contemporary flow of bodies across borders. By focusing on culturally diverse texts, we will develop comparative analyses of interrelated and recurrent themes such as diaspora and homeland, memory and nostalgia, alienation and belonging, borders and border crossings, language, intergenerational conflict and trauma, and national and ethnic identity. Our discussions will be attentive to complex relations of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and citizenship that result in varying forms of marginalization, produced both outside and inside migrant communities. We will situate our texts historically, as well as in reference to current issues such as anti-Black violence in the U.S., and the politics of border control. Readings will include texts by Gloria Anzaldúa, Junot Diaz, Jamaica Kincaid, Toni Morrison, and Ta-Nehisi Coates. Films will include David Riker’s La Ciudad and Marc Silver’s 3 1/2 Minutes. At the conclusion of the course, students should be able to:
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| COM LIT 10 | GROWING UP DIGITAL | OBODIAC, E. | “Growing up Digital in America” Digital natives—young people born into and raised in what might be called the “global digital village”—inhabit a cyberspace Amerika that is both peculiarly regional and transnational. Digital media, the Internet, and other emerging technologies are not only transforming what it might mean to be an “American,” but also invite us to rethink race, ethnicity, gender, and human identity in an ever-expanding computer and machine world. Through a constellation of theoretical texts and media, our class will explore how emergent subjectivities are formed in our digital era. We will also attend to the materiality of digital media—their geological sources, the e-waste they produce, and their contribution to what is called the “anthropocene,” the planetary era determined by technology. |