Spring 2005

E 360L • Literature and Social Justice

Course Description

The use of English as an international literary lingua franca is an important legacy of the British imperial project in the 19th Century. Its late twentieth-century practice, however, can be as much an act of resistance as a pledge of allegiance to the new global cultural economy, and in our readings we will endeavor to examine the complex role played by the English language in contributing to the remaking of a “world literature,” on continents geographically unconnected with the off-shore European island of England. In focusing on topics of “social justice,” we will consider such questions as truth commissions, genocide, hunger, women’s rights, immigration, and refugees.

Grading Policy

2 research assignments (750 wds each = 1500 wds)
1 panel presentation (750 wds)
1 paper proposal (750 wds)
1 final paper (1800-2400 wds)
=75% of the final grade

Attendance and participation = 25% of the final grade

All students are expected to be/become familiar with the World Wide Web.

Texts

Jonathan Swift, “A Modest Proposal” (Ireland/hunger)
Gerry Adams, The Street and Other Stories (Ireland/everyday)
Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden (Chile/USA/truth commissions)
Sindiwe Magona, Mother to Mother (South Africa/women’s rights)
Philip Gourevitch, This Is To Inform You.... (Rwanda/USA/genocide)
China Keitetsi, Child Soldier (Uganda/children’s rights)
Jonathan Randall, The Dressing Station (South Africa and elsewhere/emergencies)
Benjamin Zephaniah, Refugee Boy (UK/refugees)
Louis Sachar, Holes (USA/prisons)
Course packet

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