[
Wesleyan Home Page
] [
WesMaps Home Page
] [
WesMaps Archive
]
[
Course Search
] [
Course Search by CID
]
Academic Year 2005/2006
Psychoanalysis and Race: Studies in Latino/a and African American Literatures
ENGL 290 FA
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
Contact
wesmaps@wesleyan.edu
to submit comments or suggestions. Please include a url, course title, faculty name or other page reference in your email
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459