The “revolutionary conditions” of literature, Deleuze and Guattari wrote, can be found in literature that “a minority constructs in a major language.” Why, how? They ascribe the insurgent potential of this form of writing to its capacity for a collective and political perspective, and its “deterritorialization” of language. With an eye to these conditions, we will study the “deterritorialization” of English literature in the work of Anglophone authors from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Australia. Attending to local and global histories of English, we will approach the discourse of different nations and regions in three-part units: first, encountering the precedent of fiction that reflects on the aftermath of British imperialism; second, examining contemporary work that interrogates the reconfigured social orders and power dynamics of decolonization; and third, combining our interpretations with critical theories about expression and history or memory in each region.

Contemporary writings about histories of globalization, war, diaspora, and migration deepen the present. We will permeate these histories through modes of expression, such as hybridity, creolization, code switching, translation, and multimedia. Taking inspiration from our materials, we will engage in essay writing that is critical and creative, personally meaningful and politically informed.

Aims

• Explore works of global Anglophone literature
• Practice close reading literary and theoretical texts
• Form original, critical analyses in discussion and writing
• Become familiar with conventions of academic writing, research, and citation

Participation

Participation is mandatory. It includes outside preparation, taking notes while reading for class, and in-class written reflections. You should aim to speak at least once each meeting. Voicing a question or confusion is one simple, vital method.

In-class discussion gives you support for testing and refining your ideas, finding effective ways to communicate them, gauging their wider implications, and breaking down challenging readings. It strengthens your work in other areas of the course.

We will discuss ways to promote an environment of respect and support for all class participants. Phones and other electronics must be silenced and put away before class. If you struggle to speak in class, please contact me to make an alternate plan.

Inform me of any disabilities to arrange accommodations.

Assignments

Discussion Posts
Blog posts respond to the upcoming reading. Use your post to analyze one short passage in the text. Choose a passage that intrigues you—puzzles you, lingers with you, angers you, fascinates you, thrills you. Explain how it achieves that effect by analyzing its language, attending to word choice and literary techniques.

Length: 100-200 words. Due the day before the respective class meeting. Number of posts: 10.

Discussion Post Replies
You are responsible for replying to at least one of the discussion posts when they are due. Build on the analysis in the original post, suggest a different interpretation, or synthesize a connection to another passage or a theme in the text.

Tip: Be generous to classmates. Write to them as you would want to be written. Think of the blog (and the course) as a collective project.

Length: 50 words. Due at 11:00 AM on the respective day of class. Number of replies: 10

Presentation
In a group of 3 students, you will give a short presentation (10 min. long) in class. This is a chance to communicate an individual interest in connection to the reading. You will explain your interest in an aspect of the text, share your analysis through an example, and receive questions from the class. We will briefly talk as a group beforehand for preliminary feedback.

Midterm essay
For the midterm essay, you will receive guidelines to reflect on one text and your own creative, academic purposes. In this way, you will critically position yourself in relation to your object of study and practice referring to sources with purpose.

Final essay
You will design the topic of your final essay. It should investigate a question or problem that occurs in your consideration of the course topics. Use at least one text and a secondary source. Individual conferences will be set up for discussing your topic proposal. You may adapt the genre and medium of the essay to suit your aims. The essays will appear in a digital gallery on our course site.

Writing length
Students will cumulatively write at least 3,500 words as per Faculty Council mandate.

Expectations

Assessment
More than flawless literary interpretation or the perfect essay, I am looking for your direct engagement with the texts, hard work to communicate that engagement in writing, and efforts to think critically and collaborate supportively with the class. If you approach the assignments in this manner, I will be able to help you improve in any weaker areas and your grade will be rewarded.

Academic Integrity
Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own. Examples of plagiarism include:

• Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes attributing the words to their source.
• Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging the source.
• Internet Plagiarism includes submitting downloaded term papers or parts of term papers, paraphrasing or copying information from the internet without citing the source, or “cutting & pasting” from various sources without proper attribution.

– CCNY Undergraduate Bulletin

Plagiarism will result in failing the assignment and possibly the course. No exceptions.

Grade

10%    Participation                                       Weekly
20%    Blog posts                                       See schedule (✍)
5%    Blog post replies                              See schedule (✍)
15%    Presentation                                      Once
20%    Midterm essay                                   Due 3/16
30%    Final essay                                          Due 5/25

Each day past the due date will lower the grade of an assignment incrementally (e.g. A to A-, A- to B+). Extensions do not affect your grade and must be approved in advance.

Course materials

All readings are available on our course site. You are required to bring hard copies of the texts to class on the corresponding days of discussion.

You are welcome to read the assigned texts in other languages. English does not exist in a vacuum, and diverse reading practices will enhance our literary study. We may collect translations as desired.