University of St. Thomas

4 Credit Hours

In this class we will explore the intersection of folklore, an oral communication form, and literature, a written one. Since folklore encompasses everything from legends, jokes, traditional music, fairy tales, and marchen to belief, customs, and material culture, it would be folly to imagine literary production has not been influenced by it. We'll examine the myriad ways authors use folk genres, motifs, and culture in their work. This will mean reading about the fantastical and quotidian--but always the human. Authors may include Neil Gaiman, Martin McDonagh, Toni Morrison, T.S. Eliot, Louise Erdrich, Charles Chesnutt, Kristin Naca, and others. The writing load for this course is a minimum of 15 pages of formal revised writing. Prerequisite: ENGL 121.

4 Credit Hours

In this class we will explore the intersection of folklore, an oral communication form, and literature, a written one. Since folklore encompasses everything from legends, jokes, traditional music, fairy tales, and marchen to belief, customs, and material culture, it would be folly to imagine literary production has not been influenced by it. We'll examine the myriad ways authors use folk genres, motifs, and culture in their work. This will mean reading about the fantastical and quotidian--but always the human. Authors may include Neil Gaiman, Martin McDonagh, Toni Morrison, T.S. Eliot, Louise Erdrich, Charles Chesnutt, Kristin Naca, and others. The writing load for this course is a minimum of 15 pages of formal revised writing. Prerequisite: ENGL 121.

4 Credit Hours

In this class we will explore the intersection of folklore, an oral communication form, and literature, a written one. Since folklore encompasses everything from legends, jokes, traditional music, fairy tales, and marchen to belief, customs, and material culture, it would be folly to imagine literary production has not been influenced by it. We'll examine the myriad ways authors use folk genres, motifs, and culture in their work. This will mean reading about the fantastical and quotidian--but always the human. Authors may include Neil Gaiman, Martin McDonagh, Toni Morrison, T.S. Eliot, Louise Erdrich, Charles Chesnutt, Kristin Naca, and others. The writing load for this course is a minimum of 15 pages of formal revised writing. Prerequisite: ENGL 121.

4 Credit Hours

In this class we will explore the intersection of folklore, an oral communication form, and literature, a written one. Since folklore encompasses everything from legends, jokes, traditional music, fairy tales, and marchen to belief, customs, and material culture, it would be folly to imagine literary production has not been influenced by it. We'll examine the myriad ways authors use folk genres, motifs, and culture in their work. This will mean reading about the fantastical and quotidian--but always the human. Authors may include Neil Gaiman, Martin McDonagh, Toni Morrison, T.S. Eliot, Louise Erdrich, Charles Chesnutt, Kristin Naca, and others. The writing load for this course is a minimum of 15 pages of formal revised writing. Prerequisite: ENGL 121.

3 Credit Hours

The Black Arts Movement (1964-1976) has been known almost solely for its poets and dramatists. Central artists of movement such as Ed Bullins, Amiri Baraka, Larry Neal, and Sonia Sanchez believed performing their work dramatically would connect them most effectively with their intended audience--regular folks in the street. For many Black Arts Movement writers and theorists, the novel was an elitist, European genre, incompatible with the new black aesthetic they were developing. Artists like James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison, widely celebrated in the mainstream literary community, were rejected as aesthetic heretics by the movement because of their close kinship with white writers such as Henry James and James Joyce. In the minds of movement insiders, their work was not sufficiently black. In spite of all this, there were black novelists writing at the time who were positioned both inside and outside the movement. This class will examine the work produced by such writers with close attention paid to the ways in which the aesthetic ideals of the movement were embraced, complicated, or rejected by them. Authors will include Cecil Brown, John O. Killens, William Melvin Kelly, Ishmael Reed, John A. Williams, Alice Walker, and Gayl Jones. This course satisfies the Multicultural Literature distribution requirement. Prerequisite: GENG 513 or permission of the instructor.

3 Credit Hours

The Black Arts Movement (1964-1976) has been known almost solely for its poets and dramatists. Central artists of movement such as Ed Bullins, Amiri Baraka, Larry Neal, and Sonia Sanchez believed performing their work dramatically would connect them most effectively with their intended audience--regular folks in the street. For many Black Arts Movement writers and theorists, the novel was an elitist, European genre, incompatible with the new black aesthetic they were developing. Artists like James Baldwin and Ralph Ellison, widely celebrated in the mainstream literary community, were rejected as aesthetic heretics by the movement because of their close kinship with white writers such as Henry James and James Joyce. In the minds of movement insiders, their work was not sufficiently black. In spite of all this, there were black novelists writing at the time who were positioned both inside and outside the movement. This class will examine the work produced by such writers with close attention paid to the ways in which the aesthetic ideals of the movement were embraced, complicated, or rejected by them. Authors will include Cecil Brown, John O. Killens, William Melvin Kelly, Ishmael Reed, John A. Williams, Alice Walker, and Gayl Jones. This course satisfies the Multicultural Literature distribution requirement. Prerequisite: GENG 513 or permission of the instructor.

4 Credit Hours

In ACST 200, students learn about the historical and theoretical foundations of Cultural Studies as an academic discipline and use cultural theory to analyze a variety of cultural products and representations. In this course, students look specifically at dominant and subversive constructions of gender, race, ethnicity, national and sexual identities, and how these constructions are deployed through cultural practices and productions such as sports, film and television, folklore and popular culture, youth subcultures, music, and so on. For example, the course may contain units on "nation" and the creation of American mythologies; the process of hero-making in American history; stereotypes and the representation of race and ethnicity in television and film; representations of gender and sexuality in advertising; as well as a section on American music from jazz, blues, folk and roots music, to rock and roll, punk, and hip-hop. This course fulfills the Human Diversity requirement in the core curriculum.

4 Credit Hours

In ACST 200, students learn about the historical and theoretical foundations of Cultural Studies as an academic discipline and use cultural theory to analyze a variety of cultural products and representations. In this course, students look specifically at dominant and subversive constructions of gender, race, ethnicity, national and sexual identities, and how these constructions are deployed through cultural practices and productions such as sports, film and television, folklore and popular culture, youth subcultures, music, and so on. For example, the course may contain units on "nation" and the creation of American mythologies; the process of hero-making in American history; stereotypes and the representation of race and ethnicity in television and film; representations of gender and sexuality in advertising; as well as a section on American music from jazz, blues, folk and roots music, to rock and roll, punk, and hip-hop. This course fulfills the Human Diversity requirement in the core curriculum.

4 Credit Hours

While for many Americans the law and its enforcement have served to assuage anxieties about order and stability and to provide for a sense of security ("To Protect and Serve"), for African Americans the law has often been a barrier to freedom and dignity--a clear and present danger to human existence. It is the volatile nature of this relationship that makes detective, crime, and mystery novels by black writers so fascinating. More often than not, the characters in these novels exist in a world where criminality depends entirely on one's perspective. Many times, the real villain is a power structure that attempts to define and fix identity, status, privilege, and even humanity itself. The city, then, can become a site of liberation, an interzone where black and white, rich and poor, good and bad meet in a dizzying swirl that makes it difficult to put a fix on just who is who and who is doing what to whom. This course will explore the largely urban terrain of crime and mystery novels written by black authors and seek to understand the ways protagonists of these works occupy a unique and precarious position while attempting to negotiate a world in which notions of "criminality," "justice," and "morality" are highly contested and almost always dependent on who occupies the positions of power. We will also explore the ways that black criminality can offer a powerful indictment of the very laws that seek to regulate it. Authors will include Chester Himes, Pauline Hopkins, Walter Mosely, Mat Johnson, Eleanor Taylor Bland, Victor LaValle, and Percival Everett. This course satisfies the Diversity Literature distribution requirement for English majors (Note: It has not been approved to satisfy the Human Diversity requirement of the core curriculum). Prerequisite: ENGL 201, 202, 203, or 204.

4 Credit Hours

While for many Americans the law and its enforcement have served to assuage anxieties about order and stability and to provide for a sense of security ("To Protect and Serve"), for African Americans the law has often been a barrier to freedom and dignity--a clear and present danger to human existence. It is the volatile nature of this relationship that makes detective, crime, and mystery novels by black writers so fascinating. More often than not, the characters in these novels exist in a world where criminality depends entirely on one's perspective. Many times, the real villain is a power structure that attempts to define and fix identity, status, privilege, and even humanity itself. The city, then, can become a site of liberation, an interzone where black and white, rich and poor, good and bad meet in a dizzying swirl that makes it difficult to put a fix on just who is who and who is doing what to whom. This course will explore the largely urban terrain of crime and mystery novels written by black authors and seek to understand the ways protagonists of these works occupy a unique and precarious position while attempting to negotiate a world in which notions of "criminality," "justice," and "morality" are highly contested and almost always dependent on who occupies the positions of power. We will also explore the ways that black criminality can offer a powerful indictment of the very laws that seek to regulate it. Authors will include Chester Himes, Pauline Hopkins, Walter Mosely, Mat Johnson, Eleanor Taylor Bland, Victor LaValle, and Percival Everett. This course satisfies the Diversity Literature distribution requirement for English majors (Note: It has not been approved to satisfy the Human Diversity requirement of the core curriculum). Prerequisite: ENGL 201, 202, 203, or 204.