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Academic Year 2005/2006


Psychoanalysis and Race: Studies in Latino/a and African American Literatures
ENGL 290 FA

Crosslistings:
AMST 252
LAST 290

Although the idea of "race" is discredited as a biological category, the concept continues to function powerfully in American culture, fueling stereotypes, providing fantasies of racial or ethnic difference, but also providing important ways of creating one's identity. This course will consider a cross-cultural selection of literary texts and films in combination with short readings from psychoanalytic theory in order to uncover some of the meanings of "race" and its roles in the construction of identity. Topics include: "race" as fantasy, cross-cultural identifications, whiteness and narcissism, speaking historical trauma, and racial melancholia / grief.

MAJOR READINGS

Herman Melville, BENITO CERENO(1855)
Toni Morrison, RECITATIF, BELOVED (1987)
Nella Larsen, PASSING (1929)
Tino Villanueva, SCENE FROM THE MOVIE GIANT (1993)
Lorna Dee Cervantes, EMPLUMADA (1991)
James Baldwin, GIOVANNI'S ROOM (1956), GOING TO MEET THE MAN (1965)
Nicholasa Mohr, EL BRONX REMEMBERED, esp. A VERY SPECIAL PET (1975)
Richard Rodriguez, HUNGER OF MEMORY (1982)
Gloria Anzaldúa, BORDERLANDS / LA FRONTERA (1987)
Luis Valdez, LOS VENDIDOS (1967)
Sandra Cisneros, WOMAN HOLLERING CREEK (1992)
Abraham Rodriguez, SPIDERTOWN (1993)
Luis Rodriguez, LA VIDA LOCA: GANG DAYS IN L.A (1993)
Films: Bamboozled, Suture, Lone Star, American History X, Paris Is Burning
Course reader will include Freud's texts "On Narcissism," "Mourning and Melancholia," "Remembering, Repeating, Working Through," plus some other short critical articles and essays by Morrison ("Unspeakable Things Unspoken," "Playing in the Dark") and Baldwin ("Color," "Here Be Dragons").

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Ten short response papers (1-2 pp.), one short paper, (5-7 pp.), and one longer final paper (10-13 pp.); class participation.

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion

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-30-2006


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