| In this course, we will
examine the traditions and texts of women
writers in the southern region of the United States. By close readings
and writing
about these authors from different historical periods, from different
economic and racial backgrounds, writing in a variety of genres,
we will try to understand how writing as a southerner and as a woman
shapes one's work and achievement. We will also try to get some insight
into the
assumptions that have shaped these individuals' personal and cultural
experience
as southerners, as women and as writers. In the process, we will read
works by some of the most distinguished writers of the twentieth
century--including Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, Alice Walker, and
Ellen Douglas, as well as lesser known writers like Julia Peterkin,
Doris Betts, and Elizabeth Keckley, along with several writers of the
twenty-first century, including Valerie Martin, Brenda Osbey or Natasha
Tretheway. And as
we read--and write--we will try
to learn something about our own experiences of the South, of women,
and of
writing.
Requirements
will include reading and reflection on the texts, participation in
weekly discussion forums on Blackboard.com, and the completion of a
multi-part research and writing
project on a southern woman writer, and a final
collaborative electronic
presentation of your work.
*
Though most of the course will be conducted online (requiring access to
Blackboard.com through a browser such as Explorer or Firefox), there
will be two scheduled
on-campus
meetings, including an organizational meeting on Friday evening,
January 15 (6:00
p.m.--8:30 p.m.) and Saturday morning, May 1, in BOBET 100
(The WAC Lab). Please
contact me
after January 1, 2010, if serious hardship
or
unavoidable conflict will keep you from attending the required January
meeting. Students
within driving distance should plan to attend----and students who
attend
will find that the course goes much more smoothly.
Women's Studies Minor
This course can also be taken for credit in the Women's
Studies Minor.
Tentative List of Texts:
The following is a
proposed list of texts and writers, but changes and
substitutions will occur. Some texts may also
be available as e-texts. Don't buy anything yet that you don't want to
read.
Weaks, Mary Lou and Carolyn Perry, eds. Southern Women's Writing: Colonial to
Contemporary. Gainesville: U P of Florida, 1995. ISBN 13:
978-0-8130-1411-1
Allison, Dorothy. Bastard Out of
Carolina. New York: Plume, 1993. ISBN: 0452269571
Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and
Selected Stories. New York: Penguin, 1989. ISBN:
01403900227
Douglas, Ellen. Can’t Quit You, Baby.
New York: Penguin Books, 1989. ISBN: 0140121021
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were
Watching God. 1937. New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics,
2006. ISBN-10: 0061120065
Martin, Valerie. Property.
New York: Vintage, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0375713309
Walker, Alice. Meridian. New
York: Pocket Books, 1990. ISBN: 067172701X
Welty, Eudora. One Writer’s
Beginnings. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1995. ISBN: 0674639278
Also recommended:
Instant Access: The Pocket Reference
for Writers. Michael L. Keene and Katherine H. Adams. New York:
McGraw-Hill, 2003. ISBN: 0072819928
Many of these books will also
be available for purchase at Maple
Street Books (support your local bookstores!) If you're
trying to cut costs, many texts are also available secondhand
through other commercial booksellers. But unless you just want to read
these wonderful books anyway, please
wait until this list is
confirmed before you buy.
Course
Prerequisites
Credit for ENGL T-125, ENGL 205, or their equivalents. Sophomore status
or permission of the instructor is recommended. Online courses require
some maturity and self-discipline; this should probably not be your
first college English course. Contact me if you have any questions
about taking an online course.
Course Requirements
Weekly Comments
(35%)
The heart of this course (apart from reading the texts themselves) will
be our electronic "discussions": asking and answering each other's
questions
and sharing our responses. These discussions will be conducted in one
or
more groups (depending on the size of the class), using the Discussion
Board on Blackboard.com to facilitate exchanges. Students will
be
expected to post a substantive comment (150-300 words) in
response
to the text and my introductory remarks by Saturday midnight. By the
next
Tuesday, everyone in the class will have commented on or reacted to the
responses of least two other people (75-150 words).
Your participation
in these weekly discussions, including the timely submission of
comments
and responses, will be graded contractually (all assignments = A; fewer
= B, etc.) and will constitute your "class attendance."
You will be responsible
for timely and regular contributions to the discussion group every
week.
If any lateness or irregularity persists in your submissions, you will
be asked to drop the course or receive a failing grade.
Keeping up with
these discussions is one of the most challenging parts of an online
course,
and falling behind is the chief reason for attrition--just remember
that
"online" isn't "self-paced."
Writing
Assignments
(25-30%)
The
formal
writing
in this course will be a series of assignments based on the works
covered in the course and their contexts. These assignments, due
throughout the semester and
involving various degrees of research, will provide some of the basic
content
for a final class presentation.
Wiki
Presentation
of Research (15-20%)
One of
the
ways that
we'll reflect and take advantage of the online nature of this course
will
be a final electronic presentation of your research on a southern woman
writer. Some details and criteria may be established
together,
and you will be referred to workshops and other opportunities to learn
the basics (or
share
techniques) for creating wikis and presenting your work
effectively.
Collaboration with other members of the class will be
required(but not
to worry: this will turn out to be more of an advantage than a
disadvantage, even if you are really taking this course "at a
distance"). There will be presentations of your work at our final
meeting on Saturday morning, May 1, 2010
Final Examination
(15-20%)
A comprehensive essay
exam. Due on or about May 1.
IF YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS
IS NOT ACCURATE IN LORA and on
BLACKBOARD, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE
COURSE--even if you register for it.
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