AMST 218
Gender and Sexuality in the Neo-slave Narrative Fall 2017
Division II Writing Skills Exploring Diversity Initiative
Cross-listed WGSS 218 / ENGL 218
This is not the current course catalog

Class Details

Hortense Spillers has noted that ex-slave Harriet Jacobs, “between the lines of her narrative, demarcates a sexuality that is neuterbound” and we live with the aftermath of her observation. “Ungendering,” one of the transformations undergone by bodies subjected to the Middle Passage, is one of the keywords that forms the foundation for a conversation about slavery, gender, and sexuality. Throughout this course we will wrestle with the questions: How does the designation “slave” rupture, reify, or expand our understandings of sexuality and gender? What conditions have necessitated the neo-slave narrative form? Texts include: slave narratives and neo-slave narratives in the forms of novels such as Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred and Jewelle Gomez’s Gilda Stories, comics such as Kyle Baker’s Nat Turner, visual art such as Kerry James Marshall’s Heirlooms and Accessories, and film such as Jordan Peele’s Get Out. This course contributes to the College’s Exploring Diversity Initiative by investigating the power of whiteness in shaping consent and coercion for black subjects and determining belonging and exclusion to the categories of gender and sexuality.
The Class: Format: seminar
Limit: 19
Expected: 19
Class#: 2091
Grading: no pass/fail option, yes fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: weekly keyword responses, one presentation, four papers totaling about 20 pp. including an engaged feedback process, thoughtful class participation
Extra Info: may not be taken on a pass/fail basis
Prerequisites: a 100-level ENGL course, or a score of 5 on the AP English Literature exam, or a score of 6 or 7 on the Higher Level IB English exam
Enrollment Preferences: first- and second-year students, and English majors who have yet to take a Gateway course
Distributions: Division II Writing Skills Exploring Diversity Initiative
Notes: meets Division 1 requirement if registration is under ENGL; meets Division 2 requirement if registration is under AMST or WGSS
This course is cross-listed and the prefixes carry the following divisional credit:
WGSS 218 Division II AMST 218 Division II ENGL 218 Division I
Attributes: ENGL 200-level Gateway Courses

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