ENG 191T: VOICES OF THE LAND
Stanford University: Winter 2018
Mondays and Wednesdays 10:30 – 12:20
Building 240, Room 110
Instructor: Austin Smith
Office: Margaret Jacks Hall, Room 308
Email:
Office Hours:Mondays from 1:30 to 2:30
Wednesdays from 1:30 to 3:30
By Appointment
“To come devotedly into the depths of a subject, your respect for it increasing in every step and your whole heart weakening apart with shame upon yourself in your dealing with it : To know at length better and better and at length into the bottom of your soul your unworthiness of it : Let me hope in any case that it is something to have begun to learn.”
James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this new course, “Voicesof the Land,”we will read and listen to pieces about the experiences of: tenant farmers in Alabama during the Great Depression; Russians confined to a life of exile in an island prison; the survivors of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl; the quest for justice undertaken by a man whose brother was killed by the Ku Klux Klan; and stories from within the walls of San Quintin State Prison as told by prisoners themselves.
As we consider these texts and podcasts, we will ask the following questions: What exciting possibilities, and difficult challenges, await the writer who chooses to get up from their desk and venture out into the wider world in the hopes of telling an as-yet-untold story? How does the writer go aboutshaping this story uponreturning to their desk? How have writers employed different narrativestrategies and worked in different genres and mediums to tell these stories in the most effective way possible? Finally, how has telling such stories effected the lives of the stories’ subjects?
Students will practice skills such as interviewing subjects, notetaking, photography, story structure, and other techniques of documentary journalism. Students will propose and complete a documentary journalism project of their own, either as individuals or in small groups. If you're excited about exploring the questions above, you're very welcome to join us in “English 191T:Voicesof the Land.”
REQUIRED TEXTS
1. Cotton Tenants: Three Families
By James Agee
Hardcover:224 pages
Publisher:Melville House; 1st edition (May 29, 2013)
Language:English
ISBN-10:1612192122
ISBN-13:978-1612192123
Link:
2. Sakhalin Island
By Anton Chekhov
Series: Alma Classics
Paperback: 528 pages
Publisher: Alma Classics; Annotated edition edition (April 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1847492916
ISBN-13: 978-1847492913
Link:
3. Voices from Chernobyl
By Svetlana Alexievich
Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Picador; 1 edition (April 18, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312425848
ISBN-13: 978-0312425845
Link:
OPTIONAL TEXTS
1. Let Us Now Praise Famous Men
By James Agee and Walker Evans
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Mariner Books; 1st Mariner Books Ed edition (August 14, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0618127496
ISBN-13: 978-0618127498
Link:
REQUIRED PODCASTS
1. Someone Knows Something: Season 3: Dee & Moore
2. Ear Hustle: Season 1
TOOLS REQUIRED FOR FIELDWORK
1. Recording Device
2. Camera
3. Notebook
(An iPhone can cover #’s 1 & 2)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Class Participation: 25%
Absences: Attendance is particularly important in a class such as ours, focused as it is on collaborative work. If you must miss class, you must notify me by email at least an hour prior to the class for it to count as an excused absence. Legitimate reasons for excused absences include: a field trip for another class, a medical appointment, illness, or a sporting event. The maximum number of excused absences is two. Each unexcused absence will reduce your overall grade by 1/3 of a letter grade.
Responses: One part of becoming a better writer is becoming a more perceptive and careful reader. Throughout the quarter students will respond to one another’s work, offering feedback on the proposed projects.
Tardiness: Tardiness will not be tolerated. The penalty for being late to class is the recitation of an original haiku explaining why you’re late. Frequent tardiness will effect your final grade.
Technology: Cell phones must be turned off upon entering the classroom. Use of a phone, even in the period before class or during break, is not permitted unless I have expressly allowed their use for documentary work.
Class Presentations: 15%
Each student will be responsible for introducing one of our readings this quarter, focusing in particular on how we might learn from the approach the writer took in conveying their material.
Final Project: 45%
Inspired by the books we’ll be reading and the podcasts we’ll be listening to, students will propose and complete their own documentary journalism projects (either individually or in groups). In the last weeks of the quarter, students will present their projects to the class, and also hand in a portfolio that demonstrates their process.
Three Readings: 15% (5% each)
Students must attend three readings or talks and send me a very brief, informal email (a few sentences is sufficient) with their thoughts. A list of the readings sponsored by Creative Writing can be found at and
Students with Documented Disabilities
Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of AccessibleEducation (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, andprepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE assoon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066,URL:
Honor Code
The Honor Code is the University's statement on academic integrity written by students in 1921. It articulates University expectations of studentsand faculty in establishing and maintaining the highest standards in academic work:
The Honor Code is an undertaking of the students, individually and collectively:
1. That they will not give or receive aid in examinations; that they will not give or receive unpermitted aid in class work, in the preparation ofreports, or in any other work that is to be used by the instructor as the basis of grading;
2. That they will do their share and take an active part in seeing to it that others as well as themselves uphold the spirit and letter of the HonorCode.
3. The faculty on its part manifests its confidence in the honor of its students by refraining from proctoring examinations and from takingunusual and unreasonable precautions to prevent the forms of dishonesty mentioned above. The faculty will also avoid, as far as practicable,academic procedures that create temptations to violate the Honor Code.
4. While the faculty alone has the right and obligation to set academic requirements, the students and faculty will work together to establishoptimal conditions for honorable academic work.