Fall 2007

E 376M • Contemporary African American Women's Fiction: Writing Memory and Identity

Course Description

In this course we will examine the novels, films and poetry of African American women produced from the 1970s to the present. We will focus on issues of memory and its relation to past violence and violations suffered under systems of racism, misogyny and homophobia. How do our memories shape who we are? How do they construct our relationships with other people? What role should individual accounts have in collecting the history of a people? What does trauma have to do with identity formation? In this course, we will use the work of history and psychoanalytic, cultural, queer and feminist theories to assist our exploration of these questions and issues.

Grading Policy

Three short papers (5-6 pages each; 20% each) 60%
Group Presentation 20%
Attendance and participation 20%

Texts

Audre Lorde, Zami
Alice Walker, Meridian
Gayle Jones, Corregidora
Octavia Butler, Kindred
Jewelle Gomez, Gilda Stories
Edwidge Danticat, Breath, Eyes, Memory
Suzanne Lori Parks, Getting Mother's Body

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