Last homework - May - Refugee poetry

Share a poem on the situation of refugees (or relatable to it) and discuss it in the post (tip: foregroud and analyze the passages that strike you most).

HW for April 29 - intertextual Oscar Wao

Think of a book or popular culture artefact that you can relate with Oscar Wao and explain why. You can develop your proposal in the blog, so as to complete your participation credits. In any case, make sure to bring your proposal to the class of the 29th and be ready to discuss it. Thank you!

Junot Diaz and metafiction

a nice blogpost here: https://litreactor.com/columns/thats-so-meta-writing-a-story-about-writing-a-story

Wonderful Q & A by Junot Diaz

Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA8X6TUA83k

HW - for April 22 - Questions on Oscar Wao

Use the comment boxes to ask all the questions you would like to see discussed about Oscar Wao - and try to explain why those questions have come to your mind.

HW for Apr 20 (Oscar Wao part 1)

Answer one of these:

1. Discuss the relevance of the epigraph by Derek Walcott

2. Comment on narrative control: what layers of narration are there in this 1st part and how do they affect your access and immersion in the story?

Oscar Wao anotado

For the benefit of all of us here is a guide to the "nerdy" pop cultural references (and others)  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, http://www.annotated-oscar-wao.com/intro1.html

From Claudia Rankine's Citizen (2014)

“Not long ago you are in a room where someone asks the philosopher Judith Butler what makes language hurtful…Our very being exposes us to the address of others, she answers. We suffer from the condition of being addressable. Our emotional openness, she adds, is carried by our addressability. Language navigates this.

For so long you thought the ambition of racist language was to denigrate and erase you as a person. After considering Butler’s remarks, you begin to understand yourself as rendered hypervisible in the face of such language acts. Language that feels hurtful is intended to exploit all the ways that you are present. Your alertness, your openness, and your desire to engage actually demand your presence, your looking up, your talking back and, as insane as it is, saying please." (p. 49)

A page of Carmen Machado's latest work

for DC Comics, The Low, Low Woods

HW for Mar 30: "The Husband Stitch"

This short story by Carmen Maria Machado is a good example on the interweaving of stories and on the performative aspects of storytelling. Comment on either:

a) the story (or scrap of story) that you liked more and on its function within the larger narrative

b) how performance functions in metaliterary terms in this story or as a way to engage (or upset) the audience.

Final Paper

This is a project where you take one or more of the literary texts in the syllabus (other than the one of your oral presentation) and you approach it from any convenient angle and in a research paper format of your choice, as long as previously agreed with the teacher. 

Max. length: no longer than 2000 words, excluding bibliography (if you work in pairs, the limit is 3500 words)

You will have to work on a plan, get some orientation from the teacher, and then work on your project and attend an (online or offline) orientation class where classmates will give and take feedback from one another. 

deadline to present plans: April 8 plans should consist of idea, topics of development., and annotated bibliography (the last requirement is necessary even if you are doing a more creative kind of work; if you click above you will find some samples of this requirement, keep your mind that you should have about 150 words for each entry, and your plan should include 2-5 entries). Plans should not be longer than 1,5 pages. If you are in doubt about the acceptability of your idea/plan, be sure to correspond with teacher about it before April 8. Teacher will give feedback of all plans until April 17.

paper exchange and peer revision (teachers will divide students in groups of three for this): April 27

deadline for delivery of final papers: May 4

TIP: For an academic paper, you might want to choose between these formats: literary text review (read guidelines from "Assumptions" onwards), comparative essay, and research paper with an argumentative topic

Site for bibliographic references: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
(you can choose a stylesheet other than MLA, as long as it is coherent)

Latina Feminist Movement

Carolyn Forché reads "The Colonel"

Chicano Literature - Cultural Roots

1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe - Hidalgo: Texas boundary redefined by Rio Grande; ownership of California by the US, as well as parts of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado

turn of the century (c. 1910) - massive Mexican immigration to the US due to dictatorship and coups in Mexico

the term Chicano: Many Mexican Americans who were naturalized Americans after the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo used the term “Chicano” derisively to identify working-class Mexicans not fully accepted by their Mexican compatriots because they were mestizo, they lacked education, and they spoke a mixture of English and Spanish, forming clever neologisms. The term “Chicano” itself was also embraced by a growing base of Chicanos, who rejected Latin American, Mexican American, Hispanic, and even Latino (“I don’t speak Latin, therefore I am not Latino”) during the nascent Chicano movement.

c. 1960s / El Movimiento - Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Formation of the "Raza Unida Party"

Chicano literature is therefore written by a group of people who identify with the political, cultural, and social Chicano movement, and who use expository writing, autobiography, fiction, poetry, drama, and film to document the history of Chicano consciousness in the United States. 

1969 "I am Joaquin" by  Rodolfo Corky Gonzales (1928-2005)

1972: Rudolfo Anaya. Bless Me, Ultima.

1987: Gloria Anzaldúa [and the Xicana Movement]: Borderlands / La Frontera (1987)

HW for March 18-23 - Hispanic-American Literature

Compare the poem (excerpt) "Yo Soy Joaquín" (anthology, p. 64)* by R. Gonzalez with Gloria Anzaldúa's chapter 5 of Borderlands / La Frontera (anthology, pp. 66-72) in terms of one, or both of these tensions:

1. Silence and heterolingualism (the representation of a different language in a work of literature)

2. Cultural assimilation (by the US) and ethnic traditions.

* Here the movie of the same title by Luis Valdez, with the full poem

HW for March 16: commentary practice (once more)

Comment on this stanza of the poem "Whereas statement" from Layli Long Soldier's collection Whereas (2017):

"If I'm transformed by language, I am often
crouched in footnote or blazing in title.
Where in the body do I begin;"

.     contextualize the quotation and explain what you understand by it

2.     develop contrary and/or subsequent arguments

3.     establish relations with at least two other texts studied in class

4.     Express your opinion and justify it.

5.     Use sentence connectors to help you structure your commentary

6.     Mind the paragraphs

7.     Conclude. If possible, with a golden key.

It may help to know more about Layli Long Soldier's artistic stance and particularly her project Whereas. Listen, therefore, to the interview you can find, along with other information, here:

https://onbeing.org/programs/layli-long-soldier-the-freedom-of-real-apologies-oct2018/

Class of March 11 Study Guide to "What You Pawn I will Redeem"

Answer to at least two of the following questions:

1. The narrator of Sherman Alexie's short story affirms: “we Indians are great storytellers and liars and mythmakers.” Support this affirmation with literary devices/strategies found in the short story.

2. What do you think is the symbolism of the three Aleut Indians in the narrative?

3. Euphoric and dysphoric elements in the short story: how do they balance each other? Justify with evidence.

4.  Do you think Jackson Jackson is a round character or a flat character? Try to justify with textual evidence of his psychological traits throughout the story. 

Native-Americans in the US: Key Dates

1824 - Creation of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs)

1830 - Indian Removal Act

July 1845 - phrase "Manifest Destiny" is coined

1851 - Indian Appropriations Act (allocating funds to move to Western reservations)

1864 - Sandy Creek Massacre

1871 - rider to Indian Appropriations Act: no recognition of additional Native tribes or subsequent treaties

1876 - Battle of Little Big Horn

1890 - Sitting Bull is killed; Wounded Knee Massacre

1907 - Charles Curtis becomes the first Native American US Senator (will later become vice-President in 1929)

1968 - Indian Civil Rights Act by President Lindy Johnson

1969: Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn wins the Pulitzer Prize and a powerful new wave of Native American writing surges. Native-American Renaissance: read more about it here http://nativeamericanlit.com/

and finally, for this century's most well-known Native American writer (Sherman Alexie) see what he has to say about his tradition:

HW for March 11 - commentary practice (again)

Comment on this excerpt from Sherman Alexie's "What you pawn I will redeem"

"I am living proof of the horrible damage that colonialism has done to us Skins. But I'm not going to let you know how scared sometimes I get of history and its ways. I'm a strong man, and I know that silence is the best way of dealing with white folks." (anthology, p. 56)

1.     contextualize the quotation and explain what you understand by it

2.     develop contrary and/or subsequent arguments

3.     establish relations with at least two other texts studied in class

4.     Express your opinion and justify it.

5.     Use sentence connectors to help you structure your commentary

6.     Mind the paragraphs

7.     Conclude. If possible, with a golden key.

Commentary (model text)

"We'll work with anybody, anywhere, at any time, who is genuinely interested in tackling the probem head on, nonviolenty as long as the enemy is nonviolent, but violent when the enemy gets violent. We'll work with you on the voter-registation drive, we'll work with you on rent strikes, we'll work with you on school boycotts — I don't believe in any kind of integration; I'm not even worried about it because I know you're not going to get it anyway. (... ) But we'll work with you on the school boycotts because we are against any segregated school system."

- Malcolm X, "The Ballot or the Bullet" (1964)

This quote appears towards the end of Malcolm X's speech, "The Ballot or the Bullet” (1964), in the part devoted to segregation, which explains why it is such a serious problem for the African American community. While the quote begins with an appeal to the combination of the efforts of all (“anybody, anywhere, anytime”), its contextualization situates the appeal at the time of racial strife in the United States, and of opposed views on how to put an end to the unfair treatment of African-Americans. Without being mentioned, Martin Luther King and his defense of aiming for integration with pacific civil disobedience are undermined, creating an opposition between “you” and “I”, which belied the initial affirmation of union: “I don't believe in any kind of integration; I'm not even worried about it because I know you're not going to get it anyway.”

The problem, therefore, lies in opposed views about segregation in the US and how to fight it. Malcolm X believed this fight shoud be taken " head on, nonviolenty as long as the enemy is nonviolent, but violent when the enemy gets violent." He therefore scorned M. L. King’s Christian belief “we shall overcome”, rather espousing the more belligerent attitude of Negro Nationalism, which also defended separation instead of integration, with African-Americans controlling the centers of decisions in their communities. For the latter, then, school boycotts would be more a way of overthrwoing the institutional status quo than of attempting to mix chidren colourfully and peacefully as in Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream.” In fact, as illustrated in the short story “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison that simple dream of color-blind schools was much more complex and entailed forced dislocation of children and parents which were resented by both whites and blacks.

While sympathizing with Malcolm X’s anger, and sometimes doubting the effectiveness of passive resistance (even Thoreau, the quiet man of the woods, who was the first public civil disobedient for political reasons, would towards the end advocate the belligerent turn of John Brown), I want to rationally and morally support Martin Luther King’s view. This is because I strongly believe that violence begets violence, and hatred more hatred, and the end of the cyclce can only be met with suffering, compassion and dignity. Also, those who passively resist are more equipped for collaboration with their former antagonists, once justice is restored, as demonstrated by Miné Okubo’s role in the formation of US citizenship after her artful denunciation of the internment camps.

Also, for me the undertone of arrogance undermines Malcolm X’s otherwise strong potential for leadership. The phrase “you’re not going to get it anyway” also shows some defeatism and lack of hope or imagination for alternatives.

To conclude, although I understand Malcolm X’s frustration, I also want to believe in the capacity for regeneration of multicultural America. History, however, is yet to prove that the civil rights movement permitted “to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood” as in the vision of Martin Luther King.

1.     contextualize the quotation and explain what you understand by it

2.     develop contrary and/or subsequent arguments

3.     establish relations with at least two other texts studied in class

4.     Express your opinion and justify it.

5.     Use sentence connectors to help you structure your commentary

6.     Mind the paragraphs

7.     Conclude. If possible, with a golden key.

Malcolm X

Um excerto de The Autobiography of Malcolm X, publicado postumamente em 1965, com edição do jornalista Alex Haley.
E aqui o polémico documentário sobre The Nation of Islam, por Mike Wallace e Louis Lomax, The Hate that Hate Produced

finally, the trailer of Spike Lee's 1992 movie:

HW for March 9 - commentary practice

"We'll work with anybody, anywhere, at any time, who is genuinely interested in tackling the probem head on, nonviolenty as long as the enemy is nonviolent, but violent when the enemy gets violent. We'll work with you on the voter-registation drive, we'll work with you on rent strikes, we'll work with you on school boycotts — I don't believe in any kind of integration; I'm not even worried about it because I know you're not going to get it anyway. (... ) But we'll work with you on the school boycotts because we are against any segregated school system."

- Malcolm X, "The Ballot or the Bullet" (1964)

1.     contextualize the quotation and explain what you understand by it

2.     develop contrary and/or subsequent arguments

3.     establish relations with at least two other texts studied in class

4.     Express your opinion and justify it.

5.     Use sentence connectors to help you structure your commentary

6.     Mind the paragraphs

7.     Conclude. If possible, with a golden key.

African American Affirmation in the US - an Overview

1859-65 - Civil War, Slavery Abolished

1870 - 15th Amendment: African American men are granted the right to vote (women would only earn it in the19th Amendment of 1920).

HOWEVER, the conditions to be eligible for voting (ballot-toll, literacy, etc) prevented in practice the majority of Afro-Americans from casting their votes.  Also in the South active seggregation was enforced through the so-called Jim Crow laws from 1876 to 1965.

1910 - Foundation of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) with the monthly magazine Crisis 

1914 - Marcus Garvey establishes the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), whose motto is 'One God, One Aim, One Destiny'. 

1919 - W. E. B. Dubois organizes de Pan-African Congress in Paris

1920-1933 - Prohibition 

1920's: the jazz wave hits Beale Street (Memphis Blues: Armstrong, Muddie Waters, Albert King...)
 1921 - Langston Hughes enrolls in Columbia Univ (will leave one year later on account of racial prejudice) and publishes  "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" in Crisis.

1920's: emergência da onda do jazz na Beale Street (Memphis Blues: Armstrong, Muddie Waters, Albert King...)

1922 - Publication of the anthology The Book of American Negro Poetry.

1924 - Countee Cullen wins the Witter Bynner Poetry Competition

1925 - Anthology The New Negro (ed. Alain Locke), with Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston. consecrates the Harlem Renaissance.

1930 - Foundation of the Nation of Islam, associated with Black Nationalism

1934 - Elijah Muhammad directs the Nation of Islam. 

1937 - Zora Neale Hurston publishes Their Eyes Were Watching God.

1952 - Malcolm X earns parole from prison and quickly rises to become one of the Nation of Islam's most influential leaders

1954 - Brown v. Board decision declares segregation in public schools illegal. However, desegregation was not a peaceful choice (neither for whites nor blacks, since the former preferred racial balance to open social arrangements of where to study, work, live, etc.)

1955- The Montgomery Bus Boycott begins on December 5 after Rosa Parks is arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on the bus.

1957- The Southern Christian Leadership Conference establishes and adopts nonviolent mass action as its cornerstone strategy to gain civil rights and opportunities for blacks. Working initially in the South under the leadership of Martin Luther King, by the mid 1960's King enlarges the organization's focus to address racism in the North.

1963 - March to Washington and "I have a dream" speech.

1963 (Nov. 22) - John Kennedy is assassinated.

1964, Apr. 3 - Malcolm X delivers "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech, after having parted with the Nation of Islam, but still defending separatism rather than integration.

1964, July2 - Civil Rights Act (Lindy Johnson) - civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

1965 - On February, Malcolm X is assassinated. On March, blacks begin a march to Montgomery in support of voting rights but are stopped at the Pettus Bridge by a police blockade. Fifty marchers are hospitalized after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The incident is dubbed "Bloody Sunday" by the media. The march is considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later. 

1968 - Martin Luther King is murdered.

HW for March 4: Toni Morison, "Recitatif"

Please comment here on character description, race, class, stereotypes, expectations, assumptions, and whatever else you find meaningful

HW for March 2

Take the time of Carnaval break to read Langston Hughes's poems in the anthology and Toni Morison's "Recitatif". Answer at least to one of the following:

1. Choose your favorite poem by Langston Hughes and analyze it with close reading skills.

2. Comment on points of contact or contrast between any poem and Toni Morrison's short story.

Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Toni Morrison (1931-2019)

HW for Feb 19: compare text-image analysis

In this blog you will find an interesting, but not very technical, analysis of some pages of Citizen 13660:
http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2010/10/27/mine-okubo-citizen-13660/

Choose one of the instances and use your skills to improve on that analysis!

You will find the analyzed instances in the following pages of Citizen 13660

p. 74 – toilent partitions

p. 82 – Acme beer

p. 162-163 – pregnant women