CMLIT 101

The Theme of Identity in World Literature: Race, Gender, and Other Issues of Diversity

(Spring 2004)

Instructor: Dr Pius Adesanmi

Office: N 425 Burrowes Building

Office Hours: T 10:00 am – 12:00 pm

Office Phone: 863 4933

Meeting Time: T R 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm

Meeting Place: 322E HH DEV-E

Email:

Overview

Welcome! This course offers an overview of major aspects of cultural diversity in the contemporary global context and how such issues are represented in various artistic media. We shall study a broad range of world texts (Africa, Europe, the Americas, the Orient, the Caribbean) straddling various genres (prose, film, and music) in order to fully appreciate the dynamics and the pressures occasioned by the politics of identity.

Expectations and Course Goals

At the end of the course, it is expected that students would have gained an increased understanding of issues of identity and difference in our current multicultural dispensation, especially in terms of representations of those themes in non-Western literatures and discourses.

Requirements and Procedures

Requirements: read and reflect on each text well ahead of the date we begin to analyze it in class. We shall divide the class into five groups for biography presentations on the following world cultural icons: Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Frantz Fanon, Aimé Césaire, Edward Said, and Ward Churchill. You will sign up to belong to a group during our first meeting. Each presenting group will research – mostly on the internet – the life, times, and works of the subject they are presenting on as well as the significance of that subject to twentieth century cultural/identity politics. Presentations will be group graded.

Attendance: as this course strongly requires students’ active participation, regular attendance is imperative. The course shall be delivered in such a way that continuous student’s involvement shall be necessary at every stage. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of the class period. Circumstances occasionally force people to be late. By all means do come to class if you are late and be sure to talk to me after the class so that I can mark you present. Absence will be excused only for certifiable medical reasons and religious observances. After one unexcused “grace” absence, a one-point (1) subtraction is the penalty for every subsequent unexcused absence.

Assignments: it is required that students do all assigned tests and examinations according to the instructor’s specifications. Except in cases where necessary permission is granted, or a student is able to present evidence of illness or any form of incapacitation, any student who fails to submit assignments/examinations on schedule will lose a determined percentage of his/her final grade points.

Conduct: we will strive to create a convivial class atmosphere in which you will be at ease to express your opinions and partcipate fully in the learning process. Any disruptive conduct will, however, not be tolerated. You are required to avoid habitual tardiness, reading newspapers, working hurriedly on an assignment due for submission in your next class, falling asleep, leaving the classroom before the end of the class period, chatting with others on issues not related to the present discussion, or any other behaviour that interferes with the learning process and distracts everybody else.

Academic integrity: academic dishonesty will be dealt with according to College and University Policies.

Access Statement: the Pennsylvania State University encourages qualified persons with disabilities to participate in its programmes and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accomodation in this course or have questions about physical access, please tell the instructor as soon as possible.

Registration Policy: during the drop/add period at the beginning of the semester, the Department of Comparative Litertaure encourages students to visit this and other courses in order to make informed judgements a bout which courses to take. After the first week, however, only students registered in the course may remain; no student may late-add (or restore a dropped registration) after the third week of semester without petitioning the department on a form available in the office, 311 Burrowes.

Communication: we shall use several lines of communication to ensure a vibrant rapport throughout the course. They include: (1) personal emails to the instructor. Students are welcome to send me mails regarding any issue they like to discuss. Sometimes this facility may be used for assignments with the instructor’s permission; (2) students can see me at my office or give me a phone call during my office hours, or leave a message on my answering machine, and I’ll return calls as necessary.

Examination and Assignments

Biography presentation: 10%

First in-class test (essay answers) 20%

Second in-class test (essay answers) 20%

Final exam (take home research essay) 50%

Grade Distribution

93 and above = A

90-92 = A-

87-89 = B+

83-86 = B

80-82 = B-

75-79 = C+

70-74 = C

60-69 = D

59 & below = F

Required Texts

Edward Said, Orientalism

Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks

Caryl Phillips, The European Tribe

Ward Churchill, Fantasies of the Master Race

Mary Crow Dog, Lakota Woman

Aime Cesaire, Discourse on Colonialism

Course Outline

Jan 13
15
20
22
27
29 / Introduction: colonialism, identity, and the question of representation
Identities of resistance/resistance identities
Fela Anikulapo Kuti (biography presentation and discussion)
“Shuffering and Shmiling” and “Gentleman”
“VIP” and “Sorrow, Tears, and Blood”
Europe and the sign of Blackness
Frantz Fanon (biography presentation and discussion)
Black Skin, White Masks: Introduction and Chapter One
Feb 3 / Black Skin, White Masks: Chapter Two and Conclusion
5 / Caryl Phillips: “Introduction” and “A black European Success”
10
12
17
19
24
26
Mar 2
4
9
11
16
18
23
25 /

Caryl Phillips: “In the ghetto”, “Autumn in Paris”, “The European tribe”

Aimé Césaire (biography presentation and discussion)

Discourse on colonialism

Discourse on Colonialism

First Test

The Orient under Western Eyes

Edward Said (biography presentation and discussion)
Orientalism: “Preface” and “Introduction”
Orientalism: “Chapter One” and “Afterword”
Spring Break
Spring Break
Cultural retention in the Americas
The Orishas: from Africa to Brazil and Cuba
Film: Bahia: Africa in the Americas
Discussion of film/ assessement of orisha survivals in modern music
Second Test
Native America and the identity question
30 / Ward Churchill (Biography presentation and discussion)
Apr 1 / “Introduction” and “Literature and the Colonization of American Indians”
6 / “It did happen here” and “Hi-Ho Hillerman”
8 / “Fantasies of the Master Race” and “And they did it Like Dogs in the Dirt”
13
15 / Lakota Woman: Chapters One, Two, and Three
Lakota Woman: Chapters Four and Five
20
22 / Nationalism, Language, and Identity: Québec
Is Québec colonised? (Distribution of final research essay questions)
Film: Canada: True North – A Song for Québec
27 / Discussion and analysis of film
29 / Conclusion of course and submission of final research essays

1