Studies in World Literature, Fall 2009: Toni Morrison Discusses and Reads "A Mercy"

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Toni Morrison Discusses and Reads "A Mercy"

Thanks to classmate Max Sedghi for pointing me toward this interview. National Public Radio's Lynn Neary interviewed Toni Morrison about A Mercy and its historical context last year. Morrison also read several selections from her novel.

The interview and series of readings, including the one we played in class, are here.

No comments:

Required Writing and Exams

1. Commentaries: To foster reading comprehension and analytical skills via working together as a group, you will share a written commentary on current course material (film and written texts) at the beginning of one class meeting per week. One third of the class members will contribute commentaries on Mondays, one third on Wednesdays, and one third on Fridays. A commentary may be either a question or an answer to a current question the class is discussing. A commentary may be early thinking on an upcoming writing assignment. Each commentary must reference at least one current text or film. I will grade commentaries on relevance to the course, clarity of expression, depth of engagement with the material, and adherence to assignment directions. Examples of in-depth engagement with the material are striving for connections across course texts and attempting to answer your own difficult questions. Each week’s commentary will count as one class participation grade.

2. Learning Activity: During the semester, you will complete one (of five possible) learning activities. You will choose the learning activity that you wish to complete. Each possible learning activity is listed on the class schedule and must be completed by the listed due date. You may elect to submit a draft of the activity for review and feedback before the final paper is submitted. Optional draft due dates are listed in the syllabus.

3. Critical Essay (five pages): The critical essay will demonstrate your critical synthesis of course themes and required texts and films. They essay will consider two different texts or films from across the course reading and film lists.

4. Exams: Take-home Midterm and Final Essay Exams. See schedule for due dates.

5. Group Community Service Project and Presentation: During the semester, you will form a group with three others to design and carry out a service project in the community that demonstrates your in-depth understanding of the course material and objectives. Your project’s focus must arise from your group’s interest in a particular theme, issue, text, or film from the course. The project’s purpose is to help students to better understand the artists and the art which we have studied by considering these questions: What social conditions motivate these artists to create? How do they choose their subjects, media, and audiences? How do these artists define “art”? How might the creative lessons learned from these artists inform your own community involvement?

Your group will complete the project during the semester. Your group will make a presentation to the class at the end of the semester in which you will describe (and, if applicable, display) your project. You will outline the project’s goals, methodology, outcome, and lessons learned. Projects should above all benefit the community, but projects and presentations must also be creative, well planned, relevant, and well researched.

Your project may assume one of two forms: (1) design and carry out an original project, or (2) engage with an organized service program at JMU or in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County (see links for some campus and community examples).

All groups must submit a project proposal, and projects must receive my approval to proceed. I am happy to consult beyond the proposal stage with groups on both original and university/community-sponsored projects.

Evaluation

Assignments will be weighted according to the scale below:

15% Class Participation and Commentaries
15% Take-home Midterm Essay Exam
10% Learning Activity
20% Critical Essay
20% Take-home Final Essay Exam
20% Group Community Service Project and Presentation
-------------------------------------------------------------
100% Total

To record and compute your grades, I use the university’s four-point scale below. Each number represents the lowest average that may earn a particular grade. For example, a B+ is at least a 3.3 average .

A = 4.0
A- = 3.7

B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B- = 2.7

C+ = 2.3
C = 2.0
C- = 1.7

D+ = 1.3
D = 1.0
D- = 0.7

F = 0

Essay Grading Criteria

Even though your essays will be focused, each should suggest new understandings of entire texts and/or films. To do this, push your thinking to a deeper understanding of each text or film. Take risks. Your conclusion is the place to explain how your narrowly focused thesis has significant consequences for understanding the text(s) and/or film(s) under consideration, each as a whole. Below are the levels of sophistication in written papers, discussions, and other written assignments on Literature and Film:

The A paper analyzes. It demonstrates thoughtful connections, explanations, and the application of course themes, ideas, or theory. This paper offers illuminations and evaluations not specifically provided by authors or the instructor. It grasps the assigned author’s complex ideas but also demonstrates the student author's critical processing of those ideas. This paper is focused and developed with significant conclusions.

The A- paper is focused and fully developed.

A B+ paper is focused, but needs to be developed a bit more.

The B paper demonstrates understanding. It uses central and complex ideas, but is a reiteration of these as presented by an assigned author or the instructor. This paper demonstrates an understanding of the assigned text's key complexities, but does not offer any significant depth of analysis. A B paper is focused, but not fully developed.

In a B- paper, the focus is good but needs to be narrowed a bit more.

A C paper shows recognition of the significant material in a body of ideas but deals with it in a superficial way. While the C paper can discriminate between central and peripheral ideas, its function is more reportage than any real depth of understanding. The C paper may advance an original idea but, because it remains on the surface, is not fully focused.

D and F papers are disoriented. These papers are usually unfocused or, if focused, are irrelevant to the course objectives or discussions. The D paper demonstrates no clear idea of its topic. An F paper may or may not be unclear, but it is always incomplete and/or off-assignment.

Course Schedule

M 8/24 Course Introduction: What is (World) Literature?

Oral Narratives and Ancient Writing

W 8/26 Kenya, Tanzania. Maasai and Kalenjin Oral Literature. Kipury. “The Sun and the Moon,” “The Girl Who Married a Crow.” Chesaina. “Hare and Kipsongut.”

F 8/28 Kipury. “The Greedy Man Who Almost Went Hungry,” selected proverbs. Chesaina. “The Man Who Never Attended Public Gatherings,” selected proverbs.

M 8/31 Cameroon. Film: Afrique, je te plumerai (Africa, I'm going to fleece you).

W 9/2 Film: Afrique, je te plumerai (Africa, I'm going to fleece you). Due: Commentary (Monday and Wednesday Groups).

Representing the Colonial Incursion

F 9/4 Mexico. de Landa. Selection from Relación de las cosas de Yucatán (Account of Things in Yucatán). Due: Commentary (Friday Group).

M 9/7 Labor Day. No class.

W 9/9 The United States. Morrison. A Mercy, pp. 1-41. Due: Learning Activity: Kid’s Stuff? optional draft. Due: Commentary (Monday and Wednesday Groups).

F 9/11 Morrison. A Mercy, pp. 42-78. Due: Commentary-F.

M 9/14 Morrison. A Mercy, pp. 79-118. Due: Commentary-M.

W 9/16 Morrison. A Mercy, pp. 119-136. Due: Commentary-W.

F 9/18 Morrison. A Mercy, pp. 137-167. Due: Learning Activity: Kid’s Stuff? final paper. Due: Commentary-F.

M 9/21 Morrison. A Mercy, finish. Due: Commentary-M.

W 9/23 Nigeria. Soyinka. Death and the King’s Horseman, pp. 3-37. Due: Commentary-W.

F 9/25 Soyinka. Death and the King’s Horseman, finish. Due: Group Community Service Project Proposal. No Commentary-F.

Art and Armed Struggle

M 9/28 Film: In the Name of Liberation. No Commentary-M.

W 9/30 Chile. Neruda. “The United Fruit Co.” and “The Beggars.” Due: Midterm Take-home Exam. No Commentary-W.

F 10/2 Martinique, Algeria. Selection from Fanon. The Wretched of the Earth. Due: Commentary-W and -F.

M 10/5 South Africa. Tlali. “Fud-u-u-a.” Due: Commentary-M.

W 10/7 Film: Witness to Apartheid. Due: Learning Activity: Reading “Africa,” “South Asia,” “the Caribbean,” “Central America,” or “South America” optional draft. No Commentary-W.

F 10/9 No class. Attend a session of the Africana Studies Symposium (see 10/5 post for schedule). No Commentary-F.

M 10/12 Kenya. Mwangi. Carcase for Hounds, pp. 1-48. Due: Commentary-M, Witness to Apartheid film viewing worksheet.

W 10/14 Mwangi. Carcase for Hounds, pp. 48-88. Due: Commentary-W.

F 10/16 Mwangi. Carcase for Hounds, finish. Due: Commentary-F.

Postcolonial Literature

M 10/19 Mexico. Magic Realism. Film: Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate). Due: Learning Activity: Reading “Africa,” “South Asia,” “the Caribbean,” “Central America,” or “South America” final paper. No Commentary-M.

W 10/21 Film: Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate). No Commentary-W.

F 10/23 Film: Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate). Due: Learning Activity: Gender and War optional draft. Due: Commentary-F.

M 10/26 Colombia. Marquez. Love in the Time of Cholera (to p. 120). Due: Commentary-M.

W 10/28 Marquez. Love in the Time of Cholera, pp. 121-163. Due: Learning Activity: “Poetry of Revolt” optional draft. Due: Commentary-W.

F 10/30 Marquez. Love in the Time of Cholera, pp. 165-200. Due: Commentary-F.

M 11/2 Marquez. Love in the Time of Cholera, pp. 200-240. Due: Commentary-M.

W 11/4 Marquez. Love in the Time of Cholera, pp. 241-278. Due: Learning Activity: Gender and War final paper. Due: Commentary-W.

F 11/6 Marquez. Love in the Time of Cholera, pp. 279-320. Due: Commentary-F.

M 11/9 Marquez. Love in the Time of Cholera, finish. Due: Learning Activity: “Poetry of Revolt” final paper. Due: Commentary-M.

W 11/11 Haiti and Diaspora. Danticat. “Children of the Sea.” Due: Commentary-W.

F 11/13 Danticat. “Caroline’s Wedding.” Due: Commentary-F.

M 11/16 India and Diaspora. Film: Monsoon Wedding. Due: Learning Activity: Learn a Country optional draft. No Commentary-M.

W 11/18 Film: Monsoon Wedding. No Commentary-W.

F 11/20 Film: Monsoon Wedding. Due: Commentary-F.

M-F 11/23-27 Thanksgiving Break. No Class.

M 11/30 Lahiri. “Once in a Lifetime.” Due: Learning Activity: Learn a Country final paper. Due: Commentary-M.

W 12/2 Lahiri. “Year’s End.” Due: Commentary-W.

F 12/4 Lahiri. “Going Ashore.” Due: Critical Essay. No Commentary-F.

Final Exam Period

Due: Group Community Service Project Presentations. Due: Take-home Final Exam Essay.

10:10 class: Friday, 12/11, from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

11:15 class: Monday, 12/7, from 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Weekly Commentary Assignment

All students will share a written commentary on current course material (film and written texts) at the beginning of one class meeting per week. One third of the class members will contribute commentaries on Mondays, one third on Wednesdays, and one third on Fridays.

Purpose: This exercise is designed to foster reading comprehension and analytical skills through your extended reflection on course materials, and through working together as a group. The goal is to advance everyone’s ability to offer productive discussion.

Requirements: Each student will share one typed commentary of no more than one to four sentences in length per week. A commentary may be:

1. a question on current readings/films

2. an answer to a current question the class is currently discussing

3. early thinking about an upcoming writing assignment, but thinking that connects to current readings and film

Here are some examples of possible critical thinking question frames:

1. What is a particular strength or weakness of this argument?

2. What is the difference between the points made by two readings/films?

3. How (or why) is this argument or point especially relevant to our course? To the community? In a global context?

4. How could this argument be used in a different context?

5. What are the implications of this particular argument?

6. How does the condition described in the reading affect a different or related kind of group, community, or population?

7. How does this reading connect with what we have already learned?

8. What does this particular point/word/phrase/question mean?

9. Why is this point or argument important?

10. How are these two points/arguments/scenarios similar?

11. What is a counter-argument for this writer’s argument?

12. I agree (or disagree) with this statement: [insert quote] because .... The readings provide ... as evidence to support my claim.

13. What is another way to look at this particular point?

Evaluation: I will grade commentaries on relevance to the course, clarity of expression, depth of engagement with the material, and adherence to assignment directions. Examples of in-depth engagement with the material are striving for connections across course texts and attempting to answer your own difficult questions. Each week’s commentary will count as one equal fraction of your total class participation/commentary grade.

Due Dates: The first Commentary is due on Wednesday, September 2nd, for both Monday and Wednesday groups.

Commentary Relief: If you attend an event listed on this blog, you may post a one- to four- sentence comment to that post, relating the event to our class, by the beginning of the next class meeting. Your comment may respond to a classmate's previous one, but yours must still make a fresh connection between the event and our class. All other commentary criteria apply. Similarly, you may respond to a blog article (like the one on gender and sports) by relating it to the course. The same criteria for responding to an event apply to responding to an article. I will count an online comment as your weekly commentary grade. This week only, if you post a comment and let me know via email that you'd like to do so, I will replace your lowest existing commentary grade with the online comment grade. Replacement commentaries are due by the start of class time, Friday, October 9th.

Learning Activities

During the semester, you will complete one of five possible learning activities. You will choose the learning activity that you wish to complete. Each possible learning activity is listed on the class schedule of the syllabus and below. Each Learning Activity must be completed by the due date listed on the class schedule. You may elect to submit a draft of the activity for review and feedback before the final paper is submitted. Optional draft due dates are listed in the class schedule.

The Learning Activities below are designed to get you to think more critically about certain key themes from the assigned readings and films as they relate to the larger aims of the course and to the university’s liberal arts charter of fostering a sense of global citizenship in each student. While various learning activities ask you to perform non-writing or non-linear writing tasks, the final paper you submit will ultimately be a short (three- to four-page) essay. You will append any written lists, interview questions, etc., to the end of the formal essay. I will grade Learning Activity essays on evidence of critical thinking that reaches well beyond the realm of class discussion (depth of engagement with the material), relevance to the course, clarity of expression, and adherence to assignment directions. See the course grading criteria handout for further format and content criteria.

Learning Activity Options

· Kid’s Stuff? We have learned that oral narratives and ancient writing systems are both art and tools that teach children how to behave and communicate in their respective cultures. We know that these art/tools can also teach adults. If they can teach both children and adults, then what value do they pose to each group? Can you think of any examples of art forms from your own culture of origin that are also artistic and pedagogical (that is, they teach)? Make a list of five or so and briefly summarize or describe each. Do the items on your list teach both children and adults? If so, how? If not, why might this be? What does this experiment suggest to you about the relationship between art and learning?

· Reading “Africa,” “South Asia,” “the Caribbean,” “Central America,” and “South America.” As de Landa demonstrates, early missionaries, imperialists (and, later, colonists) justified their exploitation of natives by creating or reinforcing negative stereotypes about those natives. Many such race- and gender-based stereotypes persist in the former motherlands today in the media, art, and ideology. Choose one of the regions listed in the title of this Learning Activity. Make a list of all the terms or concepts you have come to associate with that region as a result of your accumulated exposure to Western (North American and Western European) media, art, social interaction, etc. Conduct an informal survey of ten people in your residence hall or other organization on their understandings of the same region. What is their initial reaction when you ask them about the region? Do they know that the region in question is a group of many countries rather than just one? How many countries from the region in question can they name? What five words or concepts have they come to associate with this particular region as a result of their accumulated exposure to Western media, art, social interaction, etc.? What, if any, personal or peripheral experience do your interviewees have with this region? Compare your own impressions with those of your interviewees. Do you notice any themes among the impressions you collect? If so, what are they? In what ways, if any, do you think Western media, art, and ideology shapes our/your understandings of this particular region? Are these understandings historically based? Explain. What is the relationship between your social understanding of this region and the one you have gained in this class? What do you conclude based on your research?

· Gender and War. On Terisa Turner’s website, read the Foreword to Mau Mau Women, which is an interview with Muthoni Likimani; the abstract for “Feminism in the Mau Mau Resurgence;” and the comic “Nakedness and Power.” Consider these in light of the arguments made here in the United States for restricting women’s service in the military. Did such arguments ultimately hold water in Mau Mau-era Kenya? How does the website define “war” by suggesting that Mau Mau women are still actively fighting? If “war” can take on various forms, then what war or wars have U.S. military women fought? Do they fight any wars today? Describe them, if any.

· “Poetry of Revolt.” Fanon argues that overthrow of oppressors requires two things: arms and the creation of a national literature, which he calls “poetry of revolt.” Understanding that Fanon did not mean to specify only poems as revolutionary, which other readings or films in this class qualify as poetry of revolt? What makes these examples revolutionary? Can you think of other examples from your other readings outside this class? Does this newly defined “poetry of revolt” genre feature any common themes? What does a “poem” of revolt do? Can/Why/How does it help a people gain independence as powerfully as do guns? What is its usefulness, if any, outside a traditionally-defined revolutionary setting?

· Know a Country. Research a country we have studied. Research its history, capitol city, major industries, climate, topography, geographic size, population—in other words, find out the standard numbers and facts included in any guidebook or elementary-school research report. Now, based solely on this research, what do you know about the people who live in this country? What do they want? What do they fear? What do they think about themselves? Their homeland? The rest of the world? What do they believe? How do they relate to each other? Is this population dispersed across national borders? How does the population feel about its dispersion? Based on your facts-and-figures research combined with your literary and cinematic study, what do you know about answering the questions I’ve posed? Given your experience of this exercise, what do you surmise to be the value of its literature to a given people? Does it matter who reads a given literature? How so? Is how one reads literature that reflects experiences different from one's own important? How so? What are your suggestions for productive reading?

Group Community Service Project and Presentation

In the various literatures we are studying from across the world and across historical periods, we see that art has a public purpose. It is generally educational, often political, and sometimes both. If art has a purpose, then our study of it must include an examination of artistic motivation. During the semester, each student will form a group with three other classmates to design and carry out a service project in the community. The project should demonstrate the group’s in-depth understanding of the course material and objectives. The project’s focus must arise from the group’s shared interest in a particular theme, issue, text, or film from the course.

Subject Area: Begin with a point or idea that relates to any course reading, class assignment, or discussion which the group would like to explore in a way that was not covered in class. How does the idea or topic relate to a need in any community of which you are a member? How might you translate this interest and identified need into a form of community service? What motivates your choices in group formation and for crafting your particular project? What is your project’s artistic and educational purpose?

Format: Your project may assume one of two forms: (1) design and carry out an original project, or (2) engage with an organized service program either at JMU or in Harrisonburg. Consider: Does a service option exist in the JMU or surrounding community to meet the need you identify? (See the service links on this blog for some examples.) If not, then what service could you design to do so? Because you are free to design your own project, your choice of available project topics is nearly limitless.

Project Purpose: The project is designed to help students better understand the artists and the art we study by considering these questions: What social conditions motivate these artists to create? How do they choose their subjects, media, and audiences? How do these artists define “art”? How might the creative lessons you learn from the artists we study—artists whose creations benefit the community—inform your own community involvement?

Timing: All groups must submit a project proposal (see course schedule for due date), and projects must receive my approval to proceed. I am happy to consult during and beyond the proposal stage with groups on both original and university/community-sponsored projects. Please consult with me if you have any doubts or questions regarding an appropriate project topic, scope, or approach. After submission of and approval of a project proposal, the group will complete the project during the semester. The group will make a presentation to the class at the end of the semester in which its members will describe (and, if applicable, display) the project. The presentation will outline the project’s goals, methodology, outcome, and lessons learned. Groups will sign up for presentation times after midterms.

Evaluation: Projects should above all benefit the community, but projects and presentations should be well planned, relevant, well researched, creative, and intellectually productive.

Required Elements:

#1: The Proposal (see course schedule for due date): Your project proposal must be typed and include the following elements:
A. The names of all group members
B. The nature of the proposed project: its scope, timeline, research involved, type and amount of work required to complete the project, sketch of each group member’s responsibilities toward the project, expected lessons learned
C. Is the project an original creation or does the group plan to join an established service organization? Explain the reasoning behind the group’s choice.
D. The community, as the group defines it, that will benefit from this project
E. The project’s purpose
F. The element from the course from which the project idea derived

#2: The Project (consider these when crafting the group’s proposal): Your project must include the following elements:
A. An educational (and/or political) purpose
B. A public element: that is, the project must serve the public good. If you organize a showing, reading, or performance of some kind, you must invite the rest of the class to attend.
C. A specific audience: who will benefit from your group’s work?
D. Collaboration: this course acknowledges the importance of community. Can you work both as part of a community (group cohesion) and for the community?

#3: The Presentation: This is your opportunity to report to the class on your project. Your presentation must include the following elements:
A. Length: 10 minutes
B. Audio-visual (e.g., music, film, art display or creation, overhead slides, etc.)
C. Evidence of research (provide bibliography)
D. An excerpt, summary, or sample of/from your project

Due Date: Your project must be completed in time for you to craft a well-planned presentation on it on the presentation date and time you schedule at the end of the semester. Presentations will take place at the end of the semester. You will sign up for presentation dates after the midterm. There are no make-ups for missed presentation dates or times for any reason.

Studies in World Literature, Fall 2009

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Toni Morrison Discusses and Reads "A Mercy"

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Archive

Background on Course Materials

Some Local Service Organizations

Smart Web Usage

Course Instructor

To see more of Michelle Brown's work:

Search This Blog

Followers