Former President Carter to Receive Global Nonviolence Award 9/21

In our viewing of the Cameroonian documentary Afrique, je te plumerai (Africa, I am Going to Fleece You) and in future course assignments, we begin to see that struggles for independence are generally also struggles for peace. That is, peoples who seek liberation from foreign domination also seek peace from the violence that is the hallmark of domination.

James Madison University's Mahatma Gandhi Center has recently inaugurated an annual award to honor those who work for global liberation and peace. You can view the Center's goals here.

The the Mahatma Gandhi Award for Global Nonviolence is a tribute to its namesake, Mahatma Gandhi and his work toward the liberation of India from British colonial rule. It is also a recognition of those whose efforts continue Mr. Gandhi's trajectory toward peace.

On September 21, 2009, Former President of the United States and Nobel Peace Laureate Jimmy Carter will visit JMU to receive the 2009 Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award. President Carter's Award Lecture is titled "The Path to Peace in the Middle East" and reflects his efforts in that arena.

I encourage all of you who can get tickets to attend this important event--for both its historical importance and because its themes intersect with those from our course. You can read details from the University Office of Public Affairs here.

Harrisonburg International Festival: 9/26

If you are new to JMU, you may not yet be aware of Harrisonburg's increasingly rich cultural diversity. The city hosts an annual International Festival to honor both diversity and unity with dual emphases on family and community. The festival is free to the public and offers food, music, dance, artists, vendors, storytellers, activities for all ages, a multi-language area, and a cultural fashion show featuring traditional dress from sites across the globe. Typically, about 6,500 people attended this wheel-accessible, rain-or-shine event.

I encourage you to attend this year's festival on September 26th as part of our course aims to foster a sense of community and global citizenship. See the International Festival's web page here for more details on volunteer opportunities and Festival itineraries.

I hope I'll see you there!

Replacing Hieroglyphics for Babies with Afrique, je te plumerai

Thank you all for your willingness to read new materials and to engage in our current discussions of oral literatures and issues of translation.

As I announced in class, the university bookstore has been unable to procure copies of Hieroglyphics for Babies. We will view and discuss the Cameroonian documentary Afrique, je te plumerai (Africa, I am going to fleece you) next week on the days originally slated for Hieroglyphics.

I have amended the required readings and films lists on this blog to reflect the change. Please remember to bring your film viewing worksheets to class on those days.

Course Description and Objectives

Description:

This course will introduce students to key African, Indian, Caribbean, Central American, and South American oral and written narratives from about 3000 BCE to the present day. While paying special attention to historical specificity, we will consider the ways in which literatures from various sites around the world suggest varied and dynamic relationships among power, violence, gender, race, ethnicity, and identity formation before, during, and since the imperial incursion. In this context, we will consider the specific material conditions necessary to precipitate organized resistance, as well as the various forms resistance may take. The resulting key questions we will keep before us are: in what ways have power and violence shaped contemporary notions of “the world”? What are some potential responses to past injustices? In what ways can we envision ourselves as productive citizens of our world community? Readings and films are from or depict Algeria, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Haiti, India, Kenya, Malaysia (formerly British Malaya), Martinique, Mexico, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Palestine, South Africa, The United States, and Tanzania.


Objectives:

This course is part of the Cluster Two, Arts and Humanities, General Education requirement. After completing this course, students should be able to perform the following tasks outlined in the General Education guidelines:

1. Generate increasingly nuanced questions (interpretations, ideas) about literature and explain why those questions matter.

2. Use appropriate vocabulary and tactics to analyze specific literary expressions of culture and the relationship between the reader, the author, and text.

3. Define ways that texts serve as arguments and identify rhetorical and formal elements that inform these arguments.

4. Recognize appropriate contexts (such as genres, political perspectives, textual juxtapositions) and understand that readers may interpret literature from a variety of perspectives.

5. Articulate a variety of examples of the ways in which literature gives us access to the human experience that reveals what differentiates it from, and connects it to, the other disciplines that make up the arc of human learning.

The Class as Learning Community

Class attendance and informed participation in class activities is crucial. This class is a learning community, and a key element in fostering community is member responsibility to both the self and the community. Each class member must assume responsibility for his or her learning and support the learning of others. Assuming responsibility means preparing for class, asking for help, responding to classmates, and respecting differences. These expectations also apply to me as your instructor.

a. I expect you to arrive on time and stay until each class meeting’s conclusion. Arriving late or leaving early disrupts everyone’s learning.

b. If you do not attend class, you miss a crucial element of the community learning experience that is a key premise of this course and, conversely, the class misses your unique contributions. Whatever the reason for an absence, the missed learning experience is irreplaceable. If you miss class, you are responsible for obtaining notes, handouts, and assignments from classmates and not from me. More than three recorded absences (one week) will lower your final course grade by one letter. More than six recorded absences (two weeks) will lower your final course grade to an F.

c. The classroom community can best learn if everyone participates. I expect you to attend each class prepared to contribute productively to discussion and other class activities. Preparation is your reflection on the assigned readings. Productive participation includes, but is not limited to:

· Informed responses to discussion questions related to the readings.
· Thoughtfully answering questions posed in class discussions.
· Sharing your unique perspective or knowledge of course material with the class.
· Posing questions or offering comments that demonstrate your comprehension and reflection on assigned readings.

Course Policies

1. Assignment Format: All written work must be typed, double-spaced, printed legibly in black ink, and follow MLA style. Use only The MLA Handbook, 6th edition or later, hard copy, available in the JMU library, in all area bookstores, and online. Online MLA style guides are usually incorrect. Unreadable or improperly formatted papers will receive an F.

2. Due Dates: All written work is due in class at the start time. See me before the deadline if you do not understand any assignment or run into any other sort of difficulty. If you will be unable to submit your work at the assigned place or time, make pre-deadline arrangements with me to submit it early. Work is submitted when I receive it in-hand, not when it arrives in my mailbox or under my office door. I will accept one late assignment at the start time of the next class meeting and dock the assignment one full letter grade.

3. The JMU Honor Code: The Code applies to all work completed in this class. Handing in work constitutes your pledge of academic honesty. Plagiarism will result in failing the course and referral for disciplinary action by the Honor Council and the College of Arts and Letters.

4. Students With Disabilities: If you have a diagnosed disability, it is your responsibility to notify the Office of Disability Services and me so that we can work together to meet your learning needs.

5. Academic Support: I encourage all students to access the academic support services available on campus.

6. Office Hours: I will always be in my office, Keezell 406, during posted office hours unless otherwise announced. Please feel free to drop by or make an appointment to see me during those times.

7. Inclement Weather: Class meets if the university is open. If I am unable to get to campus, I will notify the class via email and by having a notice posted outside our classroom door.

Course Readings and Films

Required Texts:



Danticat, Edwidge. Krik? Krak! Random House/Vintage, 1992.






Lahiri, Jhumpa. Unaccustomed Earth. Random House/Vintage, 2009.






Márquez, Gabriel García. Love in the Time of Cholera. Random House/Vintage, 2007.





Morrison, Toni. A Mercy. Random House/Vintage, 2008.




Mwangi, Meja. Carcase for Hounds (coursepack). Your coursepack price = photocopy cost + $1, thanks to the author's extremely generous charge of only $1 in royalties per copy. I hope you will thank Mr. Mwangi for supporting the worldwide study of African literature.



Soyinka, Wole. Death and the King’s Horseman. Norton, 2002.





Required Online Readings (see schedule):

1. Kipury, Naomi. “The Sun and the Moon.” Available online thanks to Jens Finke's Traditional Music and Cultures of Kenya.

2. Neruda, Pablo. “The United Fruit Co.” Available online thanks to The Ashville Poetry Review.


Required Photocopied Readings (provided; see schedule):

1. Chesaina, C. “Hare and Kipsongut,” The Man Who Never Attended Public Gatherings,” and selected Kalenjin proverbs.

2. de Landa, Diego. Selection from Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (Account of Things in Yucatán).

3. Fanon, Frantz. Selection from The Wretched of the Earth.

4. Kipury, Naomi. “The Girl Who Married a Crow,” “The Greedy Man Who Almost Went Hungry,” and selected Maasai proverbs.

5. Neruda, Pablo. “The Beggars.”

6. Tlali, Miriam. “Fud-u-u-a.”


Recommended Text: The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 6th edition or later.

Required Films (Reserved at Carrier Library; see schedule):

Afrique, je te plumerai (Africa, I'm going to fleece you). Directed by Jean-Marie Téno (videotape #6236).

Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate). Directed by Alfonso Arau (DVD #5158).




In the Name of Liberation: Freedom by any Means. Directed by Jon Blair (DVD #957).



Monsoon Wedding. Directed by Mira Nair (DVD #1893).





Witness to Apartheid. Directed by Sharon Sopher (videotape #324).