News
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the course. From now on, I'll be putting announcements on this page having to do with course requirements, changes in these web pages, and other matters. I recommend looking here every time you visit the course website--at least once a week.
4/11/00
Hey folks! I've updated the syllabus to reflect the presentation schedule and added a page on the seminar paper. Please feel free to ask any questions about the presentations or about the seminar paper, and I'll add answers, clarifications, and elaborations to the web page.
3/1/00
Hey folks! The critical response essay assignment sheet is up and running, and copies of the Toni Morrison essay from Out There are available in my box in the English department office (Fenton 240) as of 4 pm today. Don't hesitate to ask me any questions that come up as you're writing the critical response essay! And please don't forget Wahneema Lubiano's speech on Toni Morrison that kicks off Women's History Month at 5 pm Friday (S-104 Williams Center)--there's a reception at 4:30, so come for the free food and the chance to meet one of my advisors from Princeton!
2/22/00
I'd like to thank everyone for participating in the virtual seminar the past week. I think we raised a lot of great questions and issues--we sure have our work cut out for us in class today.
I'd also like to announce that I revised the "links" page today to include more Black Studies research and information sites and a few links on individual authors. I'll try to revise this one as often as possible. If you find useful sites, please be sure to send their addresses along to me and I will incorporate the best ones into the "links" page. Thanks in advance, and see you in class!
2/17/00
Live by electricity, die by electricity, eh? Of course the power outage would come on a Tuesday! Sorry we had to miss class, but I trust you all enjoyed the free evening. Rather than trying to reschedule the class, why don't we hold a "virtual seminar" on Phillips's Crossing the River instead? By this, I mean that we each send at least two e-mails on the novel before the discussion questions for Behn's Oroonoko come due on Sunday, one in which we each attempt to answer each other's discussion questions, and another in which we each respond to issues raised by our answers. Sound good? Let me know!
So for class next Tuesday, let's try to conclude our "e-discussion" of Crossing the River and begin our consideration of Oroonoko. Would it be all right if we began at 4:15 and ended at 7:15 for next week only? If Gilroy's The Black Atlantic is still not in, simply read Hall's essay from The House That Race Built as planned and read ahead in the supplemental materials in the Bedford edition of Oroonoko.
2/8/00
As part of a continuing effort to make the syllabus more specific and useful to you, I've made a few small revisions to it today. I've put in some subheadings and specified what pages from Gilroy's The Black Atlantic you should choose to read from next week, assuming that his book is available by then. If not, you may choose another essay from Black Imagination and the Middle Passage in its stead.
1/30/00
As of tonight, I've only received one set of discussion questions from you all. To refresh your memory on the point of discussion questions, please refer to the advice for my EN 209 students; while pitched at an introductory level, I believe it provides a good reminder on fundamentals. I've also changed the website to reflect a later due date for discussion questions: Sunday evening before 10 pm, rather than Sunday afternoon. I will expect you to have read and thought about each others' questions when you come to class on Tuesday.