Asian American Literature
English 181/381 brought students to San Francisco for a week during Spring Term 2006. The course examined the voices and the politics of identity location of Asian Americans through a representative selection of novels, poems, and drama. The course asked who and what constitute the "Asian" in "Asian American" and explored how Asian American writers have negotiated an identity along issues of race, gender, language, nationalities, and, crucially, geography.
In San Francisco, the students visited the Asian Art Museum, San
Francisco Museum
of Modern Art, Yerba Bueno Island, Angel Island, Chinatown, and
Japantown to learn the richness of Asian American footprints and
cultural flavor. The
major texts for the course included Amy Tan's The Joy Luck
Club, David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly,
Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior, and Mitsuye Yamada's poem in
Camp Notes. You can view the course website at http://othello.alma.edu/~chen/asianamerican
English 181/381
Associate Professor Chih-Ping Chen
Posted: Thu, September 15th, 2005 at 4:17AM
Shakespeare & Co. in London
Professor John Ottenhoff traveled to London, Stratford,
and Dublin during Spring Term 2006 for a feast of great
theater. See the
class home page for pictures, lists, and more from the 2004 trip.
Posted: Wed, September 14th, 2005 at 4:47PM
Tales of the City: Chicago - Coming Spring 2007
This course investigates the complex
interactions between the social and political movements that shaped Chicago and
the images of urban life reflected in art after the Great Fire of 1871. Writers
include
Theodore Dreiser, Richard Wright, Upton Sinclair, Jane Addams,
Gwendolyn Brooks, Carl Sandburg, and Studs Terkel.
This course
includes a week-long trip to the city itself. During our stay, we
will explore Chicago's rich heritage as a center for immigration, business,
and the arts. We will stay in the International Cultural Center in the
Uptown neighborhood, experience a taste of Chicago's diverse ethnic
neighborhoods (and their cuisines) with the help of community-based
guides; attende blues clubs, galleries, and theaters; learn urban
"street smarts"; and work with a local agency on community-based
service project. We will also take a closer look at Chicago's
world-famous architecture...by boat. Cross-listed with AMS 301.02. English 180/380
Assistant Professor Laura von Wallmenich
Posted: Thu, September 23rd, 2004 at 8:28AM
The Middle Ages in England--coming Spring 2007
English 183/383: the Middle
Ages in England let us study medieval English literature on site in 2005.
Though our home base was London and we visited many medieval
places there, we frequently ventured to other parts of the country
connected in a significant way to the literary works we read. A
trip to Wales, for example, helped us envision the remoteness and
beauty of the section of the British Isles that spawned many of the
medieval Celtic legends of heroism and magic. In addition to such day
trips, this course also offered one extended excursion to emphasize an
important aspect of medieval English culture. This time I planned a
trip to Glastonbury, the place where, according to legend, Arthur and
Guinevere are buried.
See the slideshow from the 2003 trip!
English 183/383
Professor Ute Stargardt
Posted: Wed, September 22nd, 2004 at 4:08PM
Writers of Key West--coming Spring 2007
A thematic approach to understanding, analyzing and appreciating
literature, drawing on the work of Key West novelists Ernest Hemingway
and Jane Bowles, playwright Tennessee Williams, and poet Elizabeth
Bishop, all writers who lived for a time in this southernmost city. The
travel course spent a month in Key West reading, writing and
touring the city's literary and historic landmarks, as well as exploring
its architectural roots and off-the-beaten-path natural worlds.
English 134
Professor Carol Bender
