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Women and Literature

ENGL 090.401
instructor(s):
MWF 10-11

This course will cover a broad range of literature rom various genre, including fiction, drama, poetry, and non-fiction prose, that represents the ways in which race and ethnicity play a role in gender formation. As such, we will study how U.S. women of color have extended the parameters of feminist literary practice to address racial and ethnic difference. Among the themes we will specifically explore include: motherhood, family, rebellion, assimilation, alienation, mobility, and sexuality. We will also examine the kinds of textual strategies these writers employ to represent the contingency of race and gender. The authors we will read include: Toni Morrison, Velina Hasu Houston, Cherrie Moraga, Sandra Cisneros, Audre Lorde, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Leslie Marmon Silko. This course will be affiliated with Writing Across the University (WATU). Students will thus be required to write two eight page essays for which they must turn in formal drafts and meet with one of the writing tutors assigned to the course to plan revisions. In addition, students will be responsible for taking several unannounced in-class quizzes and a brief take-home essay final.

fulfills requirements