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AFH/HUM/SOC 394

[UN]RULY VOICES OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN: HARLEM RENAISSANCETO PRESENT

Summer 2002

Instructor: Ms. Lynette Myles
Office location and phone: LL 341 / 965-3853
Office Hours: 2:00-3:00 Mon., Tues., Wed., and by appointment
E-mail: lynette.myles@asu.edu

This course will focus on the novels, short stories, essays and a play that come out of the "voices" of African American women. These writings point to black women using language as agency from bell hook's assertion, "talkin back" to those forces that have attempted to "silence" and "erase" them literally and culturally from society. Student will examine the writings of African American women in the twentieth century and become familiar with how they used their writing and speaking "voices" to reposition black women outside the cult of "true womanhood." In addition to analyzing each work, students will use the literature as a way to investigate critical issues on race, class, and gender in the twentieth century. Lastly, students will develop techniques of literary analysis and will learn the importance of reading, writing, and thinking skills.

Nella Larsen, Passing (1929)
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970)
Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider (1984)
Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide (1975)
Handouts of other readings

1. Attendance and Participation. Attendance is taken at each class session. A student, who exceeds three absences regardless of the reason, may fail the course. Students are required to attend class meetings prepared to participate in discussions. Being 5 or more minutes late on three occasions will count as an absence.

Reading should be completed as assigned before the class meeting at which readings are to be discussed. Students are required to prepare a written question or comment about the day's assignment to make class discussion meaningful. Your participation grade will also include various in-class writings, responses, activities, and class participation.
2. Reading Responses. Students will write weekly responses (one double-spaced typed page, due on Mondays at the start of class). A sample will be provided of what your response should include for full credit. Late responses will not be accepted.

3. Short papers. Students are required to write two formal papers, a short (3-5 pages) analytical interpretation of a work, and a longer analytical paper (5-7 pages) that will require some research. Your essays must make an interesting, well-developed, persuasive argument about a significant topic related to our readings. You must provide outstanding reasons and evidence for your argument. You must read two literary criticisms for your longer paper. You must cite these sources appropriately using the MLA format.

Prospectus. You should begin thinking about your essays early in the term. For each paper, students must hand in a 100 word prospectus describing the proposed subject of the paper, its thesis (if known), works to be covered, and source materials. The prospectus will receive comments, but will not be graded. If the prospectus is missing, the paper grade will be lowered 5 points. When paper is due, you are required to turn in your final paper, rough draft and a copy of any scholarly journal article used in paper.

4. Final exam. Students are required to take a comprehensive in-class final exam, which will consist of identification and essay questions about required readings. The final exam will be given on the last day of class.

Late papers. Late papers will be penalized by automatically receiving one letter grade lower than the grade assigned to it.

Plagiarism. ASU has high standards concerning academic integrity. Plagiarism is the use of another person's words or sentence structure without acknowledging the source. Remember materials from websites as well as printed matter must be cited properly. You cannot simply cut and paste quotations into your own text without attribution. The MLA Guidelines published in the Bedford Handbook, MLA Handbook, and other sources will tell you how to cite materials, as will the MLA website guidelines for citing electronic materials.

Grading.
Attendance and Participation 10%
Reading Responses 15%
Paper #1 20%
Paper #2 25%
Final Exam 30%_
Total 100%

Grading Scale.
A = 3.6 - 4.0
B = 2.6 - 3.5
C = 1.6 - 2.5
D = .6 - 1.5
E = 0 - .59

Note on Assignments. This schedule should be regarded as a tentative schedule to the assignments; it will change as the semester progresses. If you are absent, please check with a classmate to make sure of the assignment.

Wed. 5/29
Discussion: "The Black Vernacular Tradition and Its Significance to African American Literature"
Reading: Handouts

Thurs. 5/ 30
Discussion: "The Harlem Renaissance and Its Literature".
Reserve Reading: Introduction to "The Harlem Renaissance" in The Norton Anthology of African American Literature," pp. 929-936.

Fri. 5/31
Discussion: "The Harlem Renaissance and Its Literature," cont.
Reading: Nella Larsen, Passing, pp. 143-176.

Week 2
Mon. 6/3
Due: Reading Response to Passing.
Reading: Passing, pp. 177-212.

Tues. 6/4
Due: Prospectus for paper # 1.
Film: "Intraracism"
Reading: Passing, pp. 212-end.

Wed. 6/5
Discussion: "Vernacular Language and Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God, pp. 1-47.

Week 3
Mon. 6/10
Due: Reading Response to Their Eyes Were Watching God.
Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God, pp. 129-159.

Tues. 6/11
Due: Paper #1.
Discussion: "African American Women's Literary Movement"
Read: Their Eyes Were Watching God, pp. 160-end.

Week 4
Mon. 6/17
Due: Prospectus for paper # 2.
Reading: "The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action" and "Uses of the Erotic."
in Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider

Tues. 6/18
Due: Reading Response to Sister Outsider
Reading: "An Open Letter to Mary Daly" and "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House."

Week 5
Mon. 6/24
Due: Reading Response to For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide.
Reading: Ntozoke Shange, For Colored Girls....

Tues. 6/25
Discussion: Handout.
Reading: For Colored Girls...
Wed., 6/26
Due: Paper # 2.
Reading: For Colored Girls....