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Syllabus Archive

Constructing Asian American Stories (Winter 2022)

In this course, we’ll explore the incredible diversity found at the intersection of two vast and complex topics--Asian American experiences and fictional forms in English. By reading in diverse forms—from young adult novel (Marie G. Lee’s Necessary Roughness) to graphic novel (Trung Le Nguyen’s The Magic Fish), spy novel (Chang-rae Lee’s Native Speaker) to historical novel (C Pam Zhang’s How Much of These Hills Are Gold), coming-of-age novella (Milton Murayama’s All I Asking For Is My Body) to fictionalized memoir (Carlos Bulosan’s America Is in the Heart)—we will ask how Asian American writers take advantage of and reinvent various fictional forms so as to interrogate issues like language, immigration, gender and sexuality, political resistance, and family relationships that lie at the heart of Asian American histories. We’ll ask, also, how centering Asian American literary traditions and experiments can provide a solid foundation with regards to fictional forms in English. Although the course is not intended to be a comprehensive history of Asian American literature, readings will include earlier canonical authors (Sui Sin Far, John Okada) as well as emerging writers (Elaine Castillo, Anthony Veasna So).



Country and City (Winter 2021)

“Coastal elites” vs. “Trump supporters.” “Urban progress” vs. “rural decline.” Skyscrapers vs. farms. Mainstream media and pop culture usually depict rural and urban America—especially around national elections—as diametrically opposed and mutually exclusive. Rural America, in these visions, is uniformly white and conservative, while urban America is diverse and progressive. Examining literary production, however, reveals a far more complicated reality—visions of both country and city that are diverse in terms of race, sexuality, ideology, and more, as well as a troubling of clear “divides” between the rural and urban. What does it really mean to be “urban” or “rural?” Who actually lives in the country or the city? How does place shape identity, and vice versa? And how does the environment shift our perception and experiences of what is urban or rural?

In this course, we will examine fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry from across the United States, exploring the environment in literature, and environmental approaches to literature, through the lenses of urbanity and rurality. We will ask how writers depict urban and rural environments and the issues facing them. Authors may include Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Tommy Orange, Ana Castillo, Jane Smiley, Juan Felipe Herrera, and bell hooks; topics may include environmental justice, agriculture and food, gentrification, immigration, and climate change. We will pay special attention to the intersections between race and environment in both urban and rural spaces.



U.S. National Parks and Public Lands (Fall 2020)

This writing course focuses on the creation of complex, analytic, well-supported arguments that matter in academic courses. Students work closely with their peers and the instructor to develop their written prose. Readings cover a variety of genres and academic disciplines, with a primary focus on literary texts. In this section, our reading and writing assignments will center around issues associated with national parks and other kinds of public lands in the United States. Topics may include ecology, policy, history (especially the dispossession of indigenous people), access (especially as related to race and ethnicity), and personal experience.



Rural America (Fall 2019, Winter 2020)

This class is about writing and academic inquiry. Effective arguments stem from well-formulated questions, and academic essays allow writers to gain deeper understanding of the questions that they are exploring. In this course, you will learn to create complex, analytic, well-supported arguments that matter in academic contexts. The course will also hone your critical thinking and reading skills. Working closely with your peers and instructor, you will develop your essays through workshops and extensive revision. Our course readings will cover a variety of genres and serve as models or prompts for assigned essays. The readings will loosely follow the theme “Rural America,” and together we’ll explore questions of what “rural” means, who lives in rural America, and what divides the rural from the urban. Readings will touch on topics related to farming, food, race and ethnicity, and how our hometowns shape us. The specific questions that you pursue in your written assignments do not have to relate to the course theme—they can and should be whatever interests you most.