Time Schedule:
Anoop Mirpuri
ENGL 111
Seattle Campus
Study and practice of good writing; topics derived from reading and discussing stories, poems, essays, and plays.
Class description
RACE AND COLONIAL SYSTEMS
In this course you will be asked to engage a specific set of literary, historical, and theoretical texts and participate actively in discussion in order to collectively examine issues related to the core topics for the course: "Race" and "Colonial Systems". More particularly, how is the logic of race/races (and the distinctions between them) produced, rationalized, mobilized, re-created, and solidified through the production of various systems of colonialism and colonial rule. Through our readings, we will focus on specific forms of colonialism, including 19th/early 20th century direct colonial rule in Africa; indirect colonial rule of the Caribbean enacted through the methods of "globalization" and "development"; contemporary U.S. military occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan; and systems of colonial rule enforced by the demands of political-economy and the law, such ghettoes, policing, and prisons.
Finally, in addition to focusing heavily on literature's engagement with these questions, we will spend time looking at the way in which certain forms of popular culture (including journalism, hip hop and spoken word) have engaged with the political realities of their times.
Course readings will include the following:
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness; Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place;
Noam Chomsky, “On Media and Propaganda”; Michel Foucault, “Panopticism”; Matthew Jacobson, “Theories of Development”; Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism; Angela Y. Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete?; Kimberle Crenshaw and Gary Peller, "Reel Time/Real Justice"; Derek Gregory, “‘Civilization’ and ‘Barbarism’”; Susan Sontag, “Regarding the Torture of Others”; Amitava Kumar, "Flight"; Michael Ignatieff, "The Burden";
Life and Debt, (in-class film);
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Recommended preparation
Class assignments and grading
There will be approximately 3-4 pages of writing per week, and a final portfolio due at the end of the quarter.
70% final portfolio 30% participation
