Spring 2023
Language and Gender
This course is an introduction to the study of gender and language, drawing on work in sociolinguistics and linguistic anthropology, psychology and sociology, queer and gender studies, feminist theory and literature that addresses questions such as the following: How do sociolinguistic theories conceptualize gender differences in language? What is the role of language in creating, reproducing or challenging gender relations? How do performed and stylized displays produce, negotiate, or subvert gender identity? How does sexism and other biases in language (e.g., grammatical gender systems, forms of address and labeling) reinforce gender inequalities? How does gender relate to other aspects of social identity (including racial/ethnic, sexual, class, cultural, age, occupational), social variation and linguistic change? How does contemporary queer feminist poetry legitimate, interrogate and expand our experience of gender? We will approach the material with a focus on linguistic and pedagogical practices which create an inclusive learning environment.
20th Century American Literature
This seminar is designed to help students prepare for their end-of-term examination in 20th century American literature; it is a survey in multi-ethnic American literature. What does it mean to be an American writer? Native American? African American? Latinx? European American? Indian American? Jewish American? How do, race and ethnicity, in connection with gender and sexuality, shape how these writers tell stories? We’ll read poetry and novels that explore the legal, political, spatial, psychic, cultural, and material life of multi-ethnic America. We will examine the ways in which our writers stretch the boundaries of American citizenship, culture and identity. Our authors struggle to envision a composite nation – rewriting and rupturing their narratives of self, nation, and belonging as the century wears on.
Advanced Writing and Composition
After the first term’s introductory course into writing, which focused on paragraph writing and individual genres (rhetorical strategies, treatment of material), this course builds on what has been covered in the first term. After two weeks dedicated to revision, an in-depth treatment of, and practice in argumentation (supporting claims with evidence, being mindful of audience and purpose, strategies as well as fallacies of argumentation) will follow. The third part of the course deals with the theory and practice of summary writing, a skill tested in the end-of-year EYE examination. The fourth major part of the course is the research paper, (library research, documenting sources etc.). There will be weekly assignments (some of which are to be submitted) along with in-class discussion.