HW for May 13: Allen Ginsberg (anthology, pp. 163-169) and Anne Waldman (pp. 174-182)

 1. Read the poem "America" and listen afterwards to this partial recording. Were you surprised by this rendition? Speculate, highlight lines, etc, on the difference between your inner reading and the performative one.

2. Read Ginsberg's "The Little Fish deouvrs the Big Fish" and then Waldman's "History will decide". What strikes you about the transnational dimension of these texts? In what ways do they relate to an imperialistic drive of the US that connects with some of the themes of the previous diasporic authors you read in the class? (do not forget, again, this is a literature class- so point to concrete lines you might analyze). 

HW for May 11 (anthology, pp. 160-165) - Erin Mouré's Transelations of Alberto Caeiro

  Here is an interview with Eirin Mouré

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2010/02/poetries-languages-and-selves-the-being-of-erin-moure/

In the light of this and any other factors, namely the preface to Sheep's Vigil by a Fervent Person (anthology, pp. 160-165), comment on text II's "transelation" by Erin Mouré (p. 165)

Independent Beat Waves (May 17-19)

 

Call for volunteers here: https://www.letras.ulisboa.pt/pt/estudantes/voluntariado

HW for May 6: The Mandarin Qustion, by Katherine Vaz

  Answer to either or both:

- This short story is based on the Mandarin Paradox, posed in 1802 by the French writer and philosopher François-René Chateaubriand, and later retaken by Eça de Queirós in his novel "The Mandarin". Look at the qoute by Chateaubriand, as he phrased the paradox, and relate it briefly to at least two diasporic texts read in the class (including, of course, the one by Vaz): 

I ask my own heart, I put to myself this question: "If thou couldst by a mere wish kill a fellow-creature in China, and inherit his fortune in Europe, with the supernatural conviction that the fact would never be known, wouldst thou consent to form such a wish?" (Chateaubriand, 1802)

- Synesthesia has become a stylistic mark for Katherine Vaz. Where do you find it in the story and what are its effects?

Portuguese-Americans in the US

 

Dighton Rock

• Early 1500s–1542: Portuguese navigators/explorers are linked (in the text) to early contact with North American shores; João Rodrigues Cabrilho is noted as the first European to reach California (1542). Miguel Corte-Real may have been in the East Coast in the early 16th C 
• 1634: First documented Portuguese resident in colonial America: Mathias de Sousa
• Peter Francisco, "giant soldier" in the continental army, said to be from the Azores

Wave 1 — 1840s: the whaling corridor into New England

• Main driver / mechanism: Whaling voyages served as a route to America; whalers frequently stopped in the Azores to recruit crew, and many crew members later settled when ships docked in New England.

        Geography: New Bedford, Massachusetts (described as the whaling center by the early              19th century), alongside older whaling areas like Nantucket and Cape Cod

Wave 2 — Late 1890s: Azorean and Madeiran community-building in industrial and coastal New England

• Where (core clusters):

• Rhode Island: Tiverton, East Providence, Valley Falls, Pawtucket

• Southeastern Massachusetts: Taunton, Brockton, Fall River, New Bedford

• Also: Lowell and Lawrence (Northern MA), Southern New Hampshire, and neighborhoods in Boston (East Boston, North End), plus Cambridge and Somerville.

Why those places: Availability of low-skill work, particularly in the textile industry, accessible to newcomers with limited English

Wave 3 — From Capelinhos (1957–58) through the Immigration Act of 1965 and after

• 1957–58: Capelinhos volcano eruption (Faial, Azores) causes major destruction and displacement.
• 1958: Azorean Refugee Act signed, granting 1,500 visas to victims; extended in 1962.
• After WWII into this period: Another migration wave noted especially to the Northeast (NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, MD) and California, including people described as fleeing the Salazar dictatorship; growth of Portuguese clubs for cultural preservation.
• 1965: Immigration and Nationality Act allows legal residents to sponsor family members, described as dramatically increasing Portuguese immigration into the 1970s and 1980s.

Snapshot by 2000

• 2000 U.S. census (as quoted in the text): 1,176,615 Portuguese-Americans, described there as mostly of Azorean descent (the excerpt itself flags that point as needing a citation)

HW for May 4 (anthology, pp. 144-147)

  Answer either or both:

1. Compare the poem "The Genetics of Leaving" and its treatment of the matters of language and memory with any other text read in this class.

2. Choose a favorite poem and try to pinpoint what interests you in it and how does the work on language contribute to enhance your attention.

3. Listen here to Etheridge Knight, research, and speculate on the operation of imitation or parody that Barbosa is doing in her "Welcome Back": https://soundcloud.com/robert-elijah-nesbitt/welcome-back-mr-knight-love-of

Here is the link to the author's page: https://www.shaunabarbosa.com/

HW for April 29: Tessa Hulls, "Feeding Ghosts"

 Answer one or more:

- How does the autobiography serve the telling of this diasporic narrative(s)?

- The flashback history journey that the autobiographical subject decides to embark in takes her through moments of Chinese and of Japanese history. How do these flashback journeys affect what you alresdy knew about Asian-American diaspora in the US?

- Choose the following or any other page (recording its number) to analyse in terms of text (close-reading) and image composition.