1:25p-2:15p MWF (30) 3 cr.
TOPIC: AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN’S AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
This course examines a range of nineteenth and twentieth century
autobiographical narratives
by African American women. We will pay close attention to the ways in
which race, class,
gender and sexuality affect various constructions of a literary
"self." We will also
consider how literary and social conventions; questions of address,
audience, and reception;
and the material circumstances of textual production shape these
narratives, influencing
what can and cannot be said.
Authors include Harriet Jacobs, Jarena Lee, Sojourner Truth, Zora
Neale Hurston, Marita
Golden, Maya Angelou, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, and Elaine Brown,
among others. Students
will write two papers (one 5-6 page, one 10-12 page) and be
responsible for a group
presentation. In addition, I will assign brief, ungraded writing
assignments throughout the
semester.