Staff profile

Fall 2016 Courses

ENG 323/800-When you imagine a picture of what’s British, don’t you immediately think Dowton Abbey, the Queen, jam, tea, and scones? Similarly, when we think of British literature, we immediately think of Shakespeare and Jane Austen. However, in the twentieth century, what constitutes Britain and British literature has changed as much as America and American literature…it is only our fantasy of Britain that hasn’t changed. In this class, we will examine the ways in which Diasporic people, such as Caribbean and Indian immigrants who arrived in Britain after WWI and WWII questioned, challenged, and remade what we think of as British identity. The authors we will read are the embodiment of the “global transnational”: they are at home in Britain – and at times, deeply embedded in “English” culture – but they are also able to see through the false constructions behind Englishness, precisely because of their outsider/Other status in the island. Through their writing, we will look at how literature and storytelling has become an intrinsic part of refashioning what is “British”. In order to better understand the literature, we will also tackle a number of themes and issues including: patterns of migration, representations of identity and difference, “ethnic” cultural production, diasporic youth cultures, gendered dimensions of race-relations, relationship between class and race, and state policies in twentieth century Britain. 

ENG 360/810-Typically when we speak of literature, we speak of ‘national’ literatures like British, American, or French literature, or of broader regional entities like ‘Western’ literature or ‘Latin American’ literature. But there have also been attempts to think of literature in a global setting – as travellers and migrants, taking ideas, goods, customs, reading habits with them as they move from continent to continent. Thinking globally has become only more urgent with the increasing technological advances of this century. And being critical readers, thinkers, and writers in this competitive new world of fast-moving Netizens is essential to being a successful and dynamic graduate, no matter where your degree will take you. The purpose of this course is to help students become more globally-aware by exploring a selection of contemporary literature—novels and memoirs different from the ‘classics’ to which you may have been previously exposed—helping us understand the individual’s role in rapidly evolving societies and landscapes. The novels and memoirs we read in this class will help us become critical thinkers and help us understand the individual’s role in society. We will read also learn how to respond to though our own informed, well-designed, and well-researched writing.

Assignments will include the use of literary discussion to structure well-reasoned arguments, using standard English grammar, spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure in order to write excellent analytical papers. It’s not a course designed to teach you basic grammar and mechanics. I’m so aware of the competition you will be up against from students in other parts of the world that I can’t permit the usual whining and the regular rounds of excuses. Arrive with a strong work ethic and respect for the education for which you are paying—think of the class as a job, and preparation for the working world.

ENG 465/830-Many of you may have never read a book by an African author. Don’t be afraid. The books we read in this course are going to surprise you in terms of subject matter, style, and poetic language. Together, we will develop a greater appreciation of cultural, thematic, and aesthetic differences in contemporary African Literature. We will begin by discussing how themes addressed and styles of writing used differ markedly from that of the writers from the early 1960s, when many African Writers wrote polemically against the abuses of their colonial powers, and responded to the transformations and disappointments that came with political independence.

The works we study will be by authors who were born in Kenya, Nigeria, Sudan, South Africa, but all of them are what theorists call “transnationals”: feet in a couple of countries, arms embracing many cultures, and eyes looking towards philosophers and thinkers from their own countries of birth, other African nations, and from South Asia, Europe, and the Americas. England remains a symbol of power (as a former coloniser), and America is an elusive, but very real source of inspiration and delight. We will explore the issues that preoccupy the characters in each text, understanding the world in the book as a reflection of real life in the contexts that they are written. How do these writers use English, and appropriate ‘Western’ literary conventions—do they even see these devices of language as ‘Western’ or do they simply see it as part of their repertoire, as part of being modern? As with any advanced literary study, we will read critical and analytical papers about each author’s works to help contextualise our reading; these papers will, in turn, help you as you write your research paper.

ENG 523/800-When you imagine a picture of what’s British, don’t you immediately think Dowton Abbey, the Queen, jam, tea, and scones? Similarly, when we think of British literature, we immediately think of Shakespeare and Jane Austen. However, in the twentieth century, what constitutes Britain and British literature has changed as much as America and American literature…it is only our fantasy of Britain that hasn’t changed. In this class, we will examine the ways in which Diasporic people, such as Caribbean and Indian immigrants who arrived in Britain after WWI and WWII questioned, challenged, and remade what we think of as British identity. The authors we will read are the embodiment of the “global transnational”: they are at home in Britain – and at times, deeply embedded in “English” culture – but they are also able to see through the false constructions behind Englishness, precisely because of their outsider/Other status in the island. Through their writing, we will look at how literature and storytelling has become an intrinsic part of refashioning what is “British”. In order to better understand the literature, we will also tackle a number of themes and issues including: patterns of migration, representations of identity and difference, “ethnic” cultural production, diasporic youth cultures, gendered dimensions of race-relations, relationship between class and race, and state policies in twentieth century Britain.