Our classroom readings will introduce you to the imaginative writings of African Americans.\u00a0 We will explore the repetitions, tropes, and intertextuality that help to define the African-American literary tradition. As literary scholar Melvin Dixon argues \u201c what was important yesterday becomes a landmark today. Invoking memory of that time or that person is the only way to orient oneself today\u201d (20). On issues ranging from family, work, education, to\u00a0 migration and religion, we will examine how literary texts function as historical landmarks.<\/p>\n
Additionally, we will explore how literary texts are meaningful in the construction of interpretative communities. That is, this course presupposes that the reader and the reading process are integral to creating meaning. As such, we will view literary meaning and value as dialogic.<\/p>\n
Using this reader-response method of investigation, we will explore the following: to what extent is reading governed by the cultural circumstances of the reader?\u00a0 How do responses of the general public change over time?\u00a0 And can texts bridge the historical and cultural gaps between reader and writer?<\/p>\n
Although written texts will be our primary emphasis, we will also examine the significance of oral traditions. The study of oral traditions will provide us with \u201can alternative record of critical discussion\u201d (20). Ultimately, the study of both the African-American oral and literary traditions will enable us to have a better understanding of the roles that literacy and orality play in the construction of a particular community\u2019s worldviews and experiences.<\/p>\n
Primary Texts:<\/strong> Secondary Sources:<\/strong> Course Schedule:<\/strong> American Mosaic Spring 2001 Professor Seldon \u201cLiterary Landmarks: the Creation of Real and Imagined Communities\u201d Our classroom readings will introduce you to the imaginative writings of African Americans.\u00a0 We will explore the repetitions, tropes, and intertextuality that help to define the African-American literary tradition. As literary scholar Melvin Dixon argues \u201c what was important yesterday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":9,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/steelton2001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/steelton2001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/steelton2001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/steelton2001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/steelton2001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/steelton2001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/steelton2001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17\/revisions\/18"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/steelton2001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mosaics.dickinson.edu\/steelton2001\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nConjure Tales and Stories of the Colorline<\/em> by Charles Chestnutt
\nThe Sport of the Gods<\/em> by Paul Laurence Dunbar
\nThe Autobiography of Ida B. Wells<\/em> edited by
\nThe Bluest Eye<\/em> by Toni Morrison
\nThe Invisible Man<\/em> by Ralph Ellison
\nGo Tell It On the Mountain<\/em> \u00a0and\/or<\/strong> The Fire Next Time<\/em> by James Baldwin
\nNative Son<\/em> by Richard Wright
\nI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings<\/em> by Maya Angelou
\nThe Autobiography of Malcolm X<\/em> edited by Alex Haley
\nMakes Me Wanna Holler<\/em> by Nathan McCall
\nOf Mules and Men<\/em> by Zora Neale Hurston
\nBlack Ice<\/em> by Lorene Carey
\nSelected readings from Growing Up Ethnic in America<\/em> edited by Maria and Jennifer Gillan
\n\u201cNotes of a Native Son\u201d by James Baldwin
\n\u201cThe Death of Rhythm and Blues\u201d by Nelson George
\n\u201cMusic is my Mistress\u201d by Duke Ellington<\/p>\n
\nThe Signifyn\u2019 Monkey<\/em> by Henry Louis Gates
\n\u201cThe Black Writer\u2019s Use of Memory\u201d by Melvin Dixon
\n\u201cMy Statue, My Self: Autobiographical Writings of Afro-American Women by Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
\nSelected readings from The Content of Form<\/em> by Hayden White
\nSelected readings from Reader Response Criticism<\/em> edited by Jane Tompkins
\nSelected readings from Imagined Communities<\/em> by Benedict Anderson
\nSelected readings from Is There a Text in This Class?<\/em> by Stanley Fish<\/p>\n
\nMethodology and Overview<\/strong><\/em>
\nWeek 1: intro to course, reader response exercise, read\/discuss Tompkins
\nWeek 2:read\/discuss White, Anderson, and Dixon
\nPutting It all into (Con)text: Turn of the Century Black Voices<\/strong> <\/em>
\nWeek 3: read\/discuss selections from Conjure Tales and The Sport of the Gods
\nWeek 4: read\/discuss Ida B. Wells and Fox-Genovese essay
\nWeek 5: read Hurston, Ellington, selected Chapters from the Signifying Monkey and the George Essay
\nConstructing Communities From the Depression Era to the Civil Rights Movement: Growing Up Black In America<\/strong><\/em>
\nWeek 6: read\/discuss Go Tell It On the Mountain or the Fire Next Time<\/em> (?)
\nWeek 7: read\/discuss Invisible Man<\/em>
\nWeek 8: read\/discuss Native Son<\/em> and Notes of a Native Son
\nWeek 9: read\/discuss The Bluest Eye<\/em>
\nWeek 10:read\/discuss I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>
\nPost Civil Rights Babies: Redefining the Black Community<\/strong><\/em>
\nWeek 11:read\/discuss Makes Me Wanna Holler<\/em>
\nWeek 12:read\/discuss Black Ice<\/em>
\nWeek 13:read\/discuss selections from Growing Up Ethnic In America<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"