Tuesday, March 17, 2009:
Important!! Don't forget that our course midterm will take place during the first hour of class on Tuesday, March 17!! The guidelines/questions were circulated in class at our last class meeting and I'm also posting them again here below.
Important!! Don't forget that your paper topic is also due in class Tuesday, March 17!! This will simply consist of a short paragraph stating your intended topic for your final paper (topic is wide open, as long as it approaches the issue of identity in one form or another), along with 3-4 possible sources that you might use/take a look at as your topic continues to take shape. At this juncture, I want a sense of what interests you and what you'd like to write about, and to get you into the research databases, at the very least, to poke around a little bit and get your feet wet in terms of possible sources. This will allow me to help you out with focusing/shaping your topic early on.
You may submit a blog post by Monday, March 16, midnight for extra credit, if you like.
No additional assigned readings for Tuesday, March 17, due to midterm and paper proposalMidterm Exam Guidelines: Closed Book, One Hour, Tuesday, March 17, 2009Short Answer (3-4 sentences apiece, plus examples if requested):
1. Provide a working definition of assimilation, providing at least three specific general examples of assimilation taken from culture-at-large.
2. Please provide three specific examples in which different characters struggle with and/or negotiate aspects of assimilation from the texts we have read (or viewed) thus far this semester.
3. Provide a working definition of essentialism, providing at least three specific general examples of essentialism taken from culture-at-large.
4. Please provide three specific examples in which different characters are essentialized from the texts we have read (or viewed) thus far this semester.
5. Please provide a brief explanation of the difference between race and ethnicity.
6. Please provide a brief explanation of the difference between multiculturalism and post-colonial theory.
Essay Question (Ball Park 750 Words) (I will ask you to answer one of the following, or, at the time of the exam, allow you to choose to write on one of the following):
1. Please provide an analysis/discussion of the ways in which race, class, gender, and orientation intersect and influence one another in James Baldwin's novel,
Another Country.
2. Please provide an analysis/discussion of "The American Dream" in Junot Diaz's
Drown3. Please provide an analysis of the implications/significance of the missing/absent mother in Lois-Ann Yamanaka's
Blu's Hanging.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009:
Please read James Welch's novel,
The Heartsong of Charging Elk. (Note, this is a bit of a longer/slower read, so you'll want to start chipping away at it as early as possible.)
As time allows, please review Bhabha's "The Other Question," as I'd like to discuss some of these ideas in conjunction with Welch's novel.
Don't forget that we'll return to our normal schedule of blogging, and posts will be due on Monday, March 23, by midnight, as usual.
Finally, the syllabus draft schedule indicates that the 4-page evaluative essay on the English major experience is due March 24, but I'm pushing these deadlines back one week, and so the 4-page essay will be due instead on Tuesday, March 31, 2009.
