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Academic Year 2001/2002


American Tropics: American Imperial Desires and Postcolonial Realities
ENGL 340 FA

By extending its borders to incorporate tropical lands and peoples through its neo-colonial adventures at the turn of the century, the U.S. nation-state created an "American Tropics" as part of its national identity. How does America imagine the tropics and, in turn, how do the tropics incorporate "America"? As colonized spaces, the islands of Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines also imagine and write "America," turning and distending America's borders upon itself. Reading literary, filmic and cultural texts from America's current and former colonies, we will ask how these works inform American culture and literary tradition. How do we begin to re-write and re-imagine "America" from these colonial outposts? How do we continue speaking about the 100-year-old American legacy in colonial sand, surf and sun in culturally diverse island chains from the Caribbean across the Isthmus and into the Pacific?

MAJOR READINGS

Texts may include:
Edward Said. ORIENTALISM
Frantz Falon. WRETCHED OF THE EARTH
Rafael, Vicente, ed. DISCREPANT HISTORIES
Ana Lydia Vega. TRUE AND FALSE ROMANCES
Alejo Carpentier. KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD
R. Zamora Linmark. ROLLING THE R'S
Bienvenido Santos. SCENT OF APPLES
Film: REAL GLORY, SOUTH PACIFIC, BLUE HAWAII, FLOWER DRUM SONG, WEST SIDE STORY

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Students will submit brief one-page reaction/inquiry papers weekly. Each student will also be required to present an aspect of the class session's reading assignment. Grades will be based on two short papers (4-6 pp.) and one 10-12 pp paper, inquiry papers, presentation and active listening and participation in class discussion.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2002


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