Instructions for Thursday December 12: VERY IMPORTANT--COME TO E228 AT 11:45

HELLO WORLD LIT STUDENTS--

Please come to E228 at 11:45 (computer lab) on Thursday December 12.  Our purpose is to upload your research essays to ePortfolio.  

You will need to bring the essay in digital form (send it to yourself or bring flash drive).

If you sent me a digital copy this week, I returned it via email with comments.  I have written to those of you who gave me a hard copy last week indicating that I will leave your essay in my mailbox (E103) at about 2pm this Monday, December 9 (tomorrow) in case you wish to make final revisions for Thursday.  Some of you have a little work to do on documentation--worth doing to improve your grade!!  If you did not hear from me, there is no need for revision.

I will be checking the uploads to make sure everyone has deposited and cannot assign your grade until your essay is uploaded.

In addition to your research essay, you should bring your final essay exam to our Thursday meeting.  Don't forget!  This is the last day we meet.

I will probably be putting in the grades on Friday, December 13.  I will let you know what time I will be in my office in case you wish to stop by to receive your grade.

Thanks for being a really thoughtful class and for your good insights and strong writing!

Instructions for Submission of Final Version of Research Essay and Final Essay

1.  Please send me your revised research essay by Wednesday December 4, midnight.  If I have any last minute suggestions, I will mail it back to you with comments on the weekend of December 7-8.

2.  There will be no class Thursday, December 5, but if you are on campus, I will also accept a hard copy of your research essay in my mailbox in E103.  I will be on campus until 5pm. (If you leave me hard copy instead of email on Wednesday, there can be no further revision.)

3.  VERY IMPORTANT: BRING YOUR FINAL ESSAY TO E228 AT 11:45 AM ON THURSDAY DECEMBER 12 AND A DIGITAL VERSION OF YOUR RESEARCH ESSAY TO BE UPLOADED.  BE SURE TO REMOVE YOUR NAME AND MINE FROM THE ESSAY.  THE HEADING SHOULD SIMPLY BE ENGLISH 295, FALL 2013.

4.  I will be available Monday and Tuesday of December 16-17 reviewing essays and grades.  You may stop into my office between 11-3 both of those days.  I will reconfirm this and set up appointments on December 12.

Thank you for writing such great essays this semester.  It was a pleasure to read them and to get your insights into the literature :).

Hope to see you in another class.  I will be teaching The Woman Writer (English 245) in Spring 2014.

End of Semester Instructions :)

Greetings World Lit Class!

1.  I will review all the essays given to me in class on Thursday and give them back to you on Monday.

2.  Anyone who did not submit an essay to me on Thursday MUST send me a draft this weekend--by Saturday evening, midnight.

3.  Brooke and Jonathan I will see you at 10:30 and 11:00 on Monday to review your research projects--my office is E103.  Brooke if you are the one who borrowed the book on Disgrace, would you bring it on Monday?

4.  On Monday we will discuss research drafts and continue screening of Disgrace!

5.  Revisions of research will be due on December 2--no exceptions!  We are screening Dirty Pretty Things week of Dec 2-5.

6.  You will upload your research essays (removing your names and mine--just heading of English 295/Fall 2013)  and UPLOAD them to ePortfolio site on December 7.

7.  December 7 your final essay-exam will be due.  We will discuss topic(s) week of December 2.

Schedule for Week of November 18--Monday's Class will be Conferences in My Office: E103N

Hi Everyone:

So our task for this week is to get your research essays in almost perfect shape.  We will not have our regular Monday class but here is the appointment schedule for Monday.  If you are not going to make this appointment please let me know so I can give your space to someone else!

Monday Conferences
9:00: Sean
9:30: Soffwana
10:00: Irma
10:30: OPEN
11:00: Geovanni
11:30: Yawo
12:00: Jorge
12:30: Patricia

2:34: Matthew
3:00: Guilherme
3:30: Simge

Tuesday Conferences:
10:00: Tamika
10:30: Carlos
11:00: OPEN
11:30: Kierra

1:00: Rhiana
1:30: Manuel

What you should bring:  your draft and all your sources--preferably in a form that I can review! 

See you next week--go forth and work on your wonderful research essays!

Coetzee's Allusions and Their Meanings in Disgrace

Coetzee's Disgrace is full of important allusions that are worth investigating in relation to his themes.  Here is just one example of a reading of "Lucy" (citation below)


"Her name is an allusion to St Lucy the Sicilian virgin martyr, patron saint of virgins, the blind and writers, who has a silencing throat wound described in the novel thus: 'Over the body of the woman silence is being drawn like a blanket.  Too ashamed, they will say to each other, too ashamed to tell' (Coetzee 110).  It is difficult not to infer that patriarchy is a rape which silences. . . .St Lucy's day falls on the thirteenth of December in the northern hemisphere, the winter solstice which emphasizes a long dark night of the soul and, of course, December is astrologically the time of Capricorn, the goat, with all its connotations of earthy lust.  Ironically, it is Lurie who is reduced to silence by Lucy's experience.  Her rape is all the harder for a father to bear because not only must it cause vicarious suffering via empathy, but it also emasculates him via his impotence and inability to imagine what was involved (97, 110, 158, 160) and this is compounded by Lucy's refusal to "share" the experience in any way or to listen to any of his paternalistic advice.

Source:

Gaylard, Gerald. "Disgraceful metafiction: intertextuality in the postcolony." Journal of Literary Studies 21.3-4 (2005): 315+. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.

Other areas of this text worthy of exploration for their allusiveness--ie references to other texts, stories, history: these may become final exam questions!!!!  Please review.

Dogs and other animals; goats for example: how are these connected to Lurie?  Why does he cringe at the sight of the goat's damaged testicles?  How is this an allusion to his own sexuality?  Why is castration an important theme in the novel?  How is it related to South Africa, post-apartheid?  How do his feelings towards dogs change and why is this change significant?

Pastoral life in South Africa: how is the earth, the land, the farm (smallholding) Lucy occupies and works related to her, to South Africa?  We speak of mother earth (never father earth).  How does what happens to Lucy reflect what has happened to South Africa?  What has happened that is evident in this novel about ownership of land post-apartheid?  Who has power?  Who does not?  Is the female body symbolic of the land, of ownership?

The two crimes against women, Melanie and Lucy, have qualities that mirror each other.  Lucy considers her rape a private matter much as Lurie considers his actions private, not something to be discussed or fought about publicly.  Lurie is not interested in Melanie's feelings (at least not at the time of the almost rape), but he is deeply interested in Lucy's situation and wants revenge--much like the father of Melanie does!  Does Lurie grow, change, discover feelings for others in the course of the novel?

Does Lurie's attitude towards life, towards the idea of control, towards others (friendship), towards animals, towards the land change?  Why does Lurie allow the dog to be killed at the end of the novel?  Why is this upsetting?  What does it suggest about Coetzee's ideas about love, sacrifice, the ability to accept mortality?  Has he achieved grace?  Is he no longer in disgrace?

Instructions for Tomorrow and for Developing Your Research Topics--Next Stage Due Thursday November 14

FOR TOMORROW, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18 PLEASE READ COETZEE'S DISGRACE TO PAGE 100 (CHAPTER 12)--VERY IMPORTANT--KEY SCENE IN CHAPTER 11--TURNING POINT!  We may have a quiz :)

Greetings World Lit Researchers:

Here is what you need to do for next Thursday November 14:

1.  Expand/Complete blog from last week to include answers to all questions.

2.  Bring to class on Thursday a rough draft of your essay for peer critique.  This is VERY important.  Our Thursday class will be a workshop devoted to your research essays.

3.  Go on JStor and find at least two sources for your essay; if JStor does not provide what you need, try google scholar and see if you can find sources that end in .net, .edu or .org

4.  For literature go to library, find articles etc in online databases, go to English and World Literatures, then scroll to JStor--type in your author and titles of stories or novels--bring what you find to class--be prepared to discuss on Thursday.

Beginning Your Research: Post Blog Here by Sunday Evening November 3

We will devote the month of November to your research papers (alongside reading Disgrace).

Here are some guide questions to help you complete this blog:

1.  What text or texts (including films) are you planning to focus on and what is the main reason you are interested in this text or film?  What issue or theme really speaks to you?

2.  State your thesis or working hypothesis.

3.  What particular scenes or moments in the text (describe at least 3) will help you with a close reading and discussion of your chosen theme?

4.  What specific areas of research do you know will be important to pursue--do you need historical information, cultural information? Explain.  Do an initial search for at least one kind of information and note in the blog what you have found (include link to source).

5.  Ask your classmates (and professor) one specific question about your topic that, if we can answer, will help you!


NOTE:  All stages of the research essay, including this blog, count toward your grade for the project :)

Questions for Art Assignment: Wangechi Mutu

This set of questions is posted under course documents as ENG 295 Art Response--note that completing these questions will set you up for essay draft due Monday!  Whoever does not come with me needs to attach Brooklyn Museum stub to essay :)

Follow this sequence in responding to your chosen piece (take good notes)

1.  Experience:

What are your feelings when you look at the image?  Write your reactions including any personal experiences that you can relate to the image.

   

2.  Literal:
Describe exactly what you see in the image or artifact.  Be as precise as you can, noting colors, materials and textures, gesture, expression, mood (Is it sad, playful, dramatic, lyrical?).  Also notice the way space is used within a painting, around a sculpture. . .


3.  Interpretation:

Draw a conclusion about what is happening in the artifact or picture and why it is happening: what meaning does the imagery (all the elements of the image) convey?  You may have more than one idea here, but try to connect them.


4.  Evaluation:

What world-view is conveyed in the image?  In other words what kind of judgment does the image or artifact make about society or reality?  How does the image connect to ideas we have been discussing in our class, if any?

With each step, as we do in our discussion of literature, remember to give specific evidence from the image to support your claims.  This structure may be used to expand your reflections into an essay. 

AT the exhibit, choose one image or artifact to write about using this guide.  The information you record will become your essay for English 295: Connecting Postcolonial Ideas to Images, due October 31.

Blog on Danticat Here by Sunday Evening for Monday Class! (October 21)

Hi Everyone--Please read the essay in the coursepak "Silences Too Horrific to Disturb": Writing Sexual Histories in Edwidge Danticat's Breath, Eyes, Memory."  It begins on page 113.

The author, Donette Francis, argues that "the subjection to violence shapes these women's subjectivities" and that "cultural institutions" not only "enforce sexual violence" but also "conceal it" (77).  This concealment is perhaps why Danticat writes this novel.

Please write a blog in response to both the article (what piece of information was most interesting, valuable to you from the article in understanding the novel) and to the climax and ending of the novel.  Why do you think Danticat ends the novel in such a painful way?  At the same time there are moments of tremendous beauty in the novel: in other words, Danticat has managed to show us both the trauma suffered by Haitian women and also their strength, their powerful community.  Please find one example of how that powerful sense of connection, community, helps Sophie overcome her trauma and stay connected to her family.

Finally--please think about your research interests!  We will devote some class time to that topic.

Works Cited Entries for Short Stories

Below I am posting the information for your Works Cited entries.  A printable version may be found under course documents.  Second line should be indented five spaces (use hanging feature under paragraph format in Microsoft Word).

Danticat, Edwidge. “Children of the Sea.” Krik? Krak! New York: Soho Press, 1991. Print.

Head, Bessie. “Life.” The Collector of Treasures and other Botswana village tales. New York: Heinemann, 1992. Print.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Interpreter of Maladies.” Interpreter of Maladies. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999. Print.

Le, Nam. “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice.” The Boat. New York: Vintage, 2008. Print.

Orwell, George. “Shooting an Elephant.” Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays. London: Secker and Warburg, 1950. Print.

Note: I am giving you the print entry for Orwell, though we read online version.  Feel free to use this information for your works cited.

Message to World Lit Class from Your Professor--Monday September 30!

  Hi Everyone--Update Wednesday evening--I am off the jury!

Instructions for Thursday class:  Please blog about your essay topic if you have not already done so.

Please review Interpreter of Maladies--we didn't have time to discuss it and it is a wonderful story!

We will devote time to your essay topics, refining, developing strong claims (theses) and support.

If time I will screen a short film relevant to Breath, Eyes, Memory which I hope you are reading!!!

See you tomorrow :)
Dr Van

Blog on Essay #1: Short Story Ideas and Possible Thesis

For your first essay you will do a close reading of one story or a comparison of two zeroing in on a theme or symbol related to postcolonialism.  Write a blog by Sunday midnight on one of the stories we have read so far.  Consider this blog a rough essay draft.  Make a claim or argument about the story using the guidelines and suggestions below and anything else you have found in the story itself or the course pack on postcolonialism.  Quote at least twice from the story and if you use two stories, once at least from each!

Here are the short stories we have discussed so far:

"Shooting an Elephant," George Orwell
"Children of the Sea," Edwidge Danticat
"Life," Bessie Head
"Interpreter of Maladies," Jumpha Lahiri
"Love and Honor and Pity and Compassion," Nam Le

And here are BIG themes that might lead you to a close reading of one story or a comparison of two:

• how does displacement, relocation, return shape, define the identity of the postcolonial subject?
• what role does writing play in creating a meaningful space for the postcolonial subject?
• how does hybridity also create fragmentation, guilt, anxiety, loss, regret?
• what happens when "worlds collide" in a postcolonial space?
• how are families broken by generational postcolonial conflict?
• how does a story expose, illuminate eurocentrism, ideology, hegemony

Alternately, you may choose to do a more literary type of analysis.  Consider, for example, a central symbol in one of the stories and connect that symbol to postcolonialism:

• the elephant in "Shooting an Elephant"
• letters and journals and writing in "Children of the Sea," "Love and Honor..."
• Life and Lesego in "Life" as symbols
• the monkeys in "Interpreter of Maladies"

Note: all essays for English 295 must follow correct MLA format which we will review in class.  The citations for each story (except Orwell which is online) are listed with the story in the course pack.  If it is missing I will give it to you.  When you quote from the story, you must follow the quotation with the authors name and the page number of the original story.

Please review "Anatomy of an Essay" in course documents for more details about general coherence, focus, thesis and support and how to write an interesting conclusion.

Blog #2: Your Cultural Bricolage

Blog #2: Your own cultural bricolage: Do an inventory and narrative of your own cultural affiliations and identities.   What do you stress, value about your culture(s)?  How hybrid or globalized are you?  Where, when, under what circumstances do you feel conflicted, defensive, confused about your cultural identity/ies? Post by Sunday September 22, midnight.  Below are three postings of cultural bricolage from a previous class to inspire you!  Have fun :)  And READ each other's blogs!...respond to what is meaningful to you.

Various cultural influences shape my tattoos. I have the words "nature" and "god" tattooed across my wrists in Sanskrit, a space where Jesus was allegedly pierced as he was crucified. On my upper arms I have an abstract version of the African continent (abstract because it's supposed to mimic the henna tattoos Indian brides have on their palms) with the Hindu symbol for the sound of creation, on one arm. While the other has a short prayer to the Hindu god Shiva surrounded by the lotus flower. This collage of symbols is evident of what has influenced me as a human the most (Dominick).

When I'm walking around my neighborhood, the first thing that people often recognize, is my hair. And most people classify my to the group or culture of being a Rastafarian, "Rasta", which in my case, that's not a culture or a group that I can say I identify with. Like most, I don't really like to identify myself as being in a "culture", because there are its limitations, and you are often just boxed into what comes with being in a culture. And, I am totally the opposite of being boxed in. As an African-American young woman there are so many cultural identities, that I can be identified with, but I believe that it is the choices and options available to you, that deciphers what kind of cultures that you best coexist with. For me, I find that an "earthy-like" element is something that best fits with me. My look, I attempt to be very different, and I stray away from the norm of what Fashion is said to be like, I like my own originality. Even the music that I listen to, I have no limits to what I listen too, I love the words, in the poetic sense. (Victoria)

Due to problems at home my adolescent years became a period of disavowal of my Dominican upbringing. My parents and brother simply couldn't relate to me or my tastes, so I was playfully (on my parents' and other older Hispanics' behalf) labeled a 'gringo' and not-so-playfully teased and tortured by my first-born brother. So, I decided to take off with my newfound cultural interests and retaliate against this non-acceptance. To my peers in school, I'd pretend that I didn't speak Spanish. When they'd think I was white, I would wholeheartedly encourage it, matter of fact I took pleasure in their ignorance. I thought, better White than like you. I felt like I was toying with them, which was the seed for a 'healthy' superiority complex that sprouted later on. Ever since, I've been engaged in the process of trying to reconnect with my culture. It was an epiphany seeing a group of musicians that made the most of their hybridity, with full-blown acceptance, in turn helping me to realize that my generation is unique and lucky to be bilingual and multi-cultural. If i want my kids to experience and harness that beauty, i have to sustain it in myself, cultivate it, and make sure i can share it with my future family. My retaliation was part rebellion, half defense mechanism, and all learning.  (Rollin)

"The Dreaming"

In case anyone's interested, there is a 1982 song by Kate Bush called "The Dreaming" which talks about the relationship between the Aborigines and the white Australians.  The "dreaming" refers to ancient Aboriginal cosmological beliefs, and it means different things to different tribes.  It's complicated, but interesting.  You can read all about it on wikipedia.  The song references cases of white settlers (accidentally?) running over natives with their vehicles due to the natives blending in with their surroundings.  It also references the introduction of alcohol to the natives, which had devastating effects on their communities, much like the introduction of alcohol to Native Americans.  "Devils in a bottle."

The droning sound in the background of the song is from the didgeridoo, a traditional Aboriginal instrument.  Women are traditionally forbidden from playing it.

Here's the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJcAi9igY-o

Here are the lyrics:

http://songmeanings.com/songs/view/54732/

And if you're feeling adventurous, here's the music video to the song.  It looks like it cost exactly $23.50 to make:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2Wa0LdCsvM

Missing pages for "Children of the Sea"

Children of the Sea pages 11-12

On Rabbit-Proof Fence - Ira M.

The ironies in Rabbit-Proof Fence (film) carved themselves into my memory. The title “Chief Protector of the Aboriginese” given to A.O. Neville (as depicted in the film) could not have been more ironic. His actions showed the exact opposite of what his title meant to me: forced assimilation, indoctrination, and the erasure of all things Aboriginese (language, tradition, culture, etc.). He declared, along with his intention to do so, that the Aboriginese can be “bred out” from the hybrids by forcing them to mate with whites through as many generations necessary. He also claimed that “the native must be helped despite himself” - this reveals a flawed rationale whose purpose is to mask and justify British hegemony. First of all, the act of “helping” is a voluntary action on part of the doer – to be accepted or rejected by the receiver. To “help” someone while robbing them of choice is contradictory. To say that “the native must be helped despite himself” is to say that the native is ignorant, inferior, and unable to make sound decisions as if he is a child. The previous idea shows a “binary opposition” where the colonizer labels the indigenous people as “irrational” and “childlike” and therefore (by opposition) calls himself “superior” and “patriarchal” to borrow conviction for his atrocities. 

While I acknowledge that some supporters of the British effort of that time might have had genuinely good intentions, and that it is easy for us to sit and hurl criticisms at their entirety because we do not live in the same time and place, what was depicted in the film is sheer tyranny by the British colonizers. The colonizers saw a world that differed greatly from theirs and labelled it "savage" to justify changing that world into the spitting image of theirs and fulfill their need for homogeneity (and perhaps justify the current state of their own "superior" society). The colonizers brought with them their concepts of time, space, and "progress."  The idea of "progress" and "salvation" were associated with the British way of life: the emphasis on structure and work ethic. This eurocentric belief, in contrast with the Aboriginal way of life, "provided ideological justification for exclusionary practices..." (Smith 54). These exclusionary practices separated the "black" and "savage natives" from the "fair," "proper," and "rational."

The scene in the film where Mr. Neville tries to garner sympathy from the British settlers also upset me. By highlighting the difference in skin color between the Aborigines(including hybrids) and the British, and their purported differences in temperament he persuades the settlers that their cause is "just," all the while sweeping the inhumanities that the Aborigines had to suffer (inhumanities that the Aborigines never knew existed) under the rug. This reminds me of how a dominant force "rewrites history," divorcing itself from blame and criticism. This is the same peculiar maneuver that Ania Loomba exposes in "Situating Colonial and Postcolonial Studies" where she shows how the Oxford English Dictionary removes any possibility of "conquest and domination" from the word "colonialism" (1). Though I recognize a dictionary's need to stray away from controversial discourse, I can't help but scoff at how inaccurate the description is for historical application. The mask of innocence and "goodness" that such a definition gives for colonization casts a thick veil of ignorance that the world must see through.

Rabbit Proof Fence

Rabbit Proof Fence - A Film that depicts the lives of the Aborigine People and there struggle survive in a time where ideologies were imposed by British Govern law within Australia. My Personal reaction to the film is somewhat mixed with anger, frustration, distress, and a little bit of empathy. The British who settled from Europe were brought up on this mentality that you can just come into a new piece of land and claim that anything and everything you see is yours, which is sort of funny since the early stages of the film the Australian farmer states to Molly that the "Fence" separates themselves from the "Rabbits" which is sort of counter productive since the whole point of colonizing according to Loomba's  Situating Colonial and Postcolonial Studies "Colonialism can be defined as the conquest and control of other people's land and good" (25). Clearly this ideology is sort of bleak from the British mentality if they just want to reform those with a mixture of another race and leave the others people in case the Aborigine out to dry like a raisin in the sun. Watching this film I was beginning to think that all Western European ideologies on colonialism are somewhat derivative and redundant in a sense that throughout history it just hasn't work out in there favor nor the other conquers of other countries as clearly stated by Loomba, "...various European powers into Asia, Africa or the Americans...has been a recurrent of human history...Roman Empire...the Mongols...The Aztec Empire...Inca Empire...various kingdoms in India...and the Ottoman Empire" (25-26). So while I was saddened to see three young kids along other basically being programmed what to think, what to feel, how to talk, look and/or act in society I am not really surprise at all since history have this chronic tendency of repeating its self at nauseam and it makes me wonder have we ever really evolved at all as a human species as far as our raw emotions manifesting into something that eventually snowballs into something unimaginable?

Throughout the film you see examples of the  ideals being played out, for instance right before the Molly and her siblings were taken away you get a glimpse into the tactics that are were going to be imposed onto those Aborigine people when the white man who is  referred to as  "the devil" in Rabbit-scared Fences clearly states, "the Aborigine will be bread out of the native", this is further illustrated throughout the film with examples of the kids being stripped of there native tongue of language at become adept to speaking English, impose new faith onto them like religion and have them go harsh labor like when the Aborigine kids were sewing clothes and cleaning floors. It was appalling to watch that happen on film. Linda Smith uncovers the foundation of these ideals of the British colonizers in her article Decolonizing Methologies, "In Africa, the Americas and the pacific, western observers were struck by the contrast...by the indigenous peoples. Representation of 'native life'...and of the native people being lazy, indolent, with low attention spans" (31) and this type of attitude to the British was considered to be an "association between race...darker skin peoples being considered more 'naturally' indolent" (32). Although I believe this film horrific and tragic for its truth on the surface in relation to the treatment of the aborigine natives, it cuts much deeper into the psyche of people as whole on how we are driven by in my opinion a primal instinct like any animal to want to claim territory except in the case of people these primal instincts has manifested to our emotions such as fear, hysteria, insecurity. This all factors in to the mindset of colonialism and imperialism to a large extent and continues somewhat to this day.

  Rabbit - Proof Fence was an emotionally intense film. The horrific reality the Aborigine people had to endure was not an option they had; the law was the law and it had to be obeyed. Although the natives were oppressed, discriminated, and humiliated, by the British, there families were brutally separated as well. It was disturbing to see the three young native girls viciously taken away by the police without any mercy; their pride and ideology was more crucial than a desperate crying mother. It angered me when the youngsters were forced to diminish their own language; all for the sake of speaking English, “the proper language”. They simply had to eliminate everything that made them Aborigine.

 Eurocentrism was portrayed in the film when the British tried inculcating their culture, beliefs, and religion upon the children they captured. Not only did they have to apply everything they were taught, but their skin color was a critical issue. “White” was the ideal skin color and as a European that was essential. Although the Chief Protector was racist, he still accepted those who had fare skin because that meant that they were capable of generating a white family. After all the lighter skin and European status was one of the many ultimate goals. As a colony run by the British government, no one who had the liberty to be who they were, especially non-white people. According the article Situating Colonial and Post colonial Studies by Loomba and Smith, “…colonialism can be defined as the conquest and control of other people’s land and goods (25)”. Certainly the Aborigine’s had no control of their territory or even their people. Everything was under the empowerment of the British Government. A great example Loomba and Smith provide is Shakespeare’s drama, Othello. The great commotion on culture, loss of identity, and oppression can be noted when he mentions “Shakespeare’s drama is about a black man trying to live in a white society, assimilating yet maintain his identity/his loneliness is an integral feature of the play- he is isolated from other black people, from his history and culture (31)”. The young Aborigine girls are obligated to live a life they aren't accustomed to; they’re given a new identity, a new culture, religion, and language. As children it is easier for them to absorb everything they are taught and shown. We can see Molly’s 8 year old sister Daisy beginning to like the new environment she now lives in.  She doesn't want to leave the things the British people had offered her and soon she’ll forget she was an Aborigine. 

Blog on Rabbit Proof Fence due Sunday Evening Midnight for Monday Class

Hello World Lit Students Fall 2013!

This is your first blog for our class.  The purpose of the blogs is to start building good essay development, but the blog is less formal and allows you to express your personal feelings about our films and texts.  All blogs may be used in formal essays written for this course so the blog is a great place to start your rough draft and explore your good ideas. Scroll down to the bottom of this post and there is a space for you to enter your blog.  Feel free to write it on Word and copy and paste it in.  Be sure to click on labels to the right and put your name so I can find your blogs easily :).

1.  I want you to articulate your personal reaction to the film--tell me what moved you, what made you angry, what made you want to find out more about what happened to the Aborigine people during this time and about the ideology of the colonizers, the British law that governed at the time.

2.  Please review the materials in our course pack: the definition of terms we discussed on day one (ideology, grand narratives, hybridity etc) and the two articles by Loomba and Smith.  Find two ideas about the colonial/postcolonial condition and connect them to the film.  Quote directly from the articles in your blog (twice!) and explain how the "theory"(analysis) is connected to what the film depicts.

3.  Since this is a literature course, feel free to think about how the characters, the setting, the story itself, depict the colonial situation, what specific characters represent, how the values of the colonizer clash with those of the Aborigine people...

3.  Here is an example:

In Rabbit-Proof Fence, the "fence" is real and it is a symbol: it is a symbol of British power and at the same time, the limited vision, the desire to create boundaries and rules that are imposed on the indigenous population.  There were no "fences" before the British came. Fences "embody" British ideology, a desire for roads and boundaries that are used to control not only animals but also people--in this case people who are not considered fully human.  Linda Tuhiwai Smith in Decolonizing Methodologies explains that Europeans and indigenous Australians have very different ideas about physical space.  The British need "to establish boundaries and to mark the limits of colonial power" (53).  She explains that "the establishment of military, missionary or trading stations, the building of roads, ports and bridges. . . all involved processes of marking, defining and controlling space" (52).  What is most powerful in the film is the way the deeply intelligent, connected to the land, Aborigines, find a way to escape the boundaries of the British Protectorate.

Some MLA rules that you need to know:
Titles of books are in italics.
Titles of articles are in "quotes"
Put the page number of the article in parentheses after the quote and before the period--see above.

Welcome to World Literature Written in English

Welcome class of Fall 2013.  Here you will find course documents and blog assignments.  We will also share research information and ideas for presentations related to our readings.

You will need to create a gmail account and send me that email address.  Then I can invite you to the blog: http://worldlit295.blogspot.com
 

Major Themes and Questions:

This course will explore some of the major themes of World Literature Written in English. We will discuss a set of questions about the nature of identity in a post-war,  post-colonial and post-modern context.

·      How is identity shaped by the legacy of colonial histories?

·      How do issues of displacement, loss of community, of     homeland affect the formation of identity?

·      How do generational struggles and oppositions play a role in defining the ‘self’?

·      How are women’s identities shaped by a given culture’s patriarchal codes? How are these codes a form of “colonialism”?

·      How do new generations deal with ambivalence and guilt about cultural identity?

·       How do individuals shape paths of resistance and emancipation; how do they speak back within their communities and to the larger communities in which they find themselves?

·      What does the “voice” of the post-colonial subject teach us—about others, about ourselves? 

·      How can we read and discuss post-colonial literature in ways that recognize the dangers of “cultural tourism”; in ways that acknowledge our own internalized colonial values?

Stay tuned for your first blog assignment.