Topic: All Mixed Up: Reading Multiracial America

Appropriate for First Year students.

TimeDaysLocationInstructorGERCreditOPUS Class NumberSyllabus (Tentative)
4:00pm-5:15pm
TuTh
Callaway Center N204
Risam, Roopika. FWRT. 44219 TBA.

January 13, 2010- April 26, 2010

Catalog Description: Every semester. Intensive writing course that trains students in techniques of writing and literary analysis through writing about literature. Readings and format vary in different sections. Satisfies first-year English writing requirement.

Semester Details:

Content: This writing-intensive course examines literary representations of mixed racial heritage in the United States. By reading novels and other writings that engage with American racial politics beyond black and white, we will examine how ethnicity and national identity have been defined in the United States, from the early 20th century to our so-called "post-racial" contemporary moment.

Texts: Texts may include Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, Danzy Senna's Caucasia, Dinaw Mengestu's The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, and Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father, as well as excerpts from Claudine O'Hearn's Half and Half: Writers on Growing Up Biracial and Bicultural, Pearl Fuyo Gaskins' What Are You?: Voices of Mixed-Race Young People, and Chandra Prasad's Mixed: An Anthology of Short Fiction on the Multiracial Experience.

Particulars: Assignments designed for developing students' critical reading and writing skills will include weekly writing assignments, contributions to the course word wiki, and a writing portfolio of longer analytical essays and revisions.

The schedule of courses on O.P.U.S. is the official listing of courses, including days and times they meet and the General Education Requirements they satisfy. Students should use course descriptions as general guidelines. Course requirements, grading details, book lists, and syllabi are subject to change.