English 396: Women Writers of the Caribbean -- Spring 2001
Instructor: Dr. Julie Barak                                                               Office: LHH 435
Phone: 248-1072                                                                                Office Hours: M,T,R 11:00-12:00
                                                                                                                                    W 9:30-11:00
Email: [email protected]                                                             Home Page: http://mesastate.edu/~jbarak

Course Goals: 1) To explore the literature and lives of women living in and writing about the Caribbean today. 2) To share our responses to the assigned readings. 3) To produce well-written and insightful scholarship about the writers and their region.

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Course Methods: We'll read not only novels, poetry, and short stories, but also history, sociological studies, and theory to provide ourselves with broad background to aid in our understanding of the literature and the social, political and cultural contexts that shape that literature. Opportunities for responding to the readings will be offered in the following forms: reading journals, take home essay exams, short oral reports, class discussion, and scholarly essays. We will share our writing with each other in informal workshops, voluntary, optional teacher-student conferences, and formal readings or reports. For the most part the class is discussion-based, though some short lectures may be required to provide background material.

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Required Texts:

Julia Alvarez. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. (Dominican Republic)
Michelle Cliff. Abeng. (Jamaica)
Edwidge Danticat. The Farming of Bones. (Haiti)
Rosario Ferré. Sweet Diamond Dust. (Puerto Rico)
Cristina Garcia. Dreaming in Cuban. (Cuba)
Jamaica Kincaid. Annie John. (Antigua)
Paule Marshall. Praisesong for the Widow. (Barbados)
Jean Rhys. Wide Sargasso Sea, Norton Critical Edition. (Dominica)
Consuelo Lópex Springfield. Daughters of Caliban: Caribbean Women in the Twentieth Century.
Various handouts provided by the instructor or on reserve** in the library.

**The books on reserve in the library are the following:
Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin. The Postcolonial Studies Reader. (PCSR)
Donnell and Welsh. Reader in Caribbean Literature. (RiCL)
Mordecai and Wilson. Her True-True Name. (HTTN)
McDonald and Brown. Caribbean Poetry. (CP)

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Course Requirements:

Daily Journals. One page typed response to the issues raised by the texts assigned for the day. Begin each journal with 3 or 4 questions the text raises for you. Attempt to answer or consider possible answers for one or more of those questions in the remainder of the journal. These journals are due each day we have a reading assignment. (20% of your grade for the course.)

Exams. There will be two take home exams -- one at mid-term and one at the end of the semester. The questions for the exams will be culled from the issued raised during class discussions. (Each exam is worth 15% of your grade for the course.)

Three short in-class oral reports. The reports will be on the following topics: 1) a contemporary Caribbean poet; 2) the history of one of the islands that is home to the writers we'll study; and 3) a contemporary short story by a woman writer not on our assigned reading list. (Each report is worth 5% of your grade for the course.)

Two 5 page papers. (Double-spaced, 10-11 font, 1 inch margins) The first paper will examine a critical issue in post-colonial, feminist, or postmodern theory that expands your reading of one or more of the novels. The second paper will briefly summarize a second novel by one of the writers on our reading list. Following the summary the paper should comment how, in this second work, the author you've chosen to work with continues to address or moves beyond the themes of the first novel. (Each paper is worth 12.5% of your grade for the course.)

Participation in Discussion. Sharing your thinking with the class is important. (My overall evaluation of your participation is worth 10% of your grade for the course.)

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Policies and Procedures:

Attendance. Obviously, you can't participate in the discussion if you don't show up. You'll lose one letter grade for every two absences after the first two. (For example, 4 absences drops a "B" to a "B-", 6 absences drops a "B-" to a "C". Additional penalties will be assessed for late work.

Academic Misconduct. Please read the section on cheating and plagiarism in the student handbook. The consequences for both behaviors are severe and can include failure for the assignment, failure of the course, disciplinary referral to the dean, and expulsion from the college. If you have questions about these violations of academic honesty, please come and see me.

Disabilities. If you have any condition, such as a physical or mental disability which will make it difficult for you to carry out the work of the course, please talk to me and we will work with the support services provided for students at Mesa State College to find you the assistance you require.

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Reading Schedule:
 

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Texts for Essay #2

Alvarez --
In the Time of the Butterflies
Yo!
In the Name of Salome!

Cliff --
No Telephone to Heaven
Free Enterprise

Danticat --
Krik? Krak!
Breath, Eyes, Memory

Ferre --
The House on the Lagoon
Eccentric Neighborhoods

Garcia --
The Aguero sisters

Kincaid --
Lucy
The Autobiography of my Mother

Marshall --
Brown Girl, Brownstones
The Chosen Place, The Timeless People
Daughters

Rhys --
Postures
After Leaving Mr. Mackensie
Voyage in the Dark
Good Morning, Midnight

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Links to useful resources:

Contemporary Authors
Voices from the Gaps
Voice of the Shuttle
A Celebration of Women Writers
Colonial/Postcolonial Websites
Caribbean History