Faculty profile

SPRING 2020 COURSES

ENG 102 COMPOSITON II: Practice in college level writing, includes preparation of a research paper.

ENG 360 LITERATURE IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT: In this class, we will be reading literature that conveys the experiences of travellers and migrants. The characters in each novel have moved across continents and oceans, taking ideas, goods, food, customs, and reading habits with them as they move from continent to continent. Their displacement from the places in which their families and ancestors lived gives them broader, and richer understanding of the world; but they also encounter resistance from their new locations, and—as a result—also experience confusion, alienation, and loneliness. They also find fortitude, resilience, and creative methodologies for surviving institutional and individually-directed violence. 

The purpose of this course is to help each of us, as readers, thinkers, and social-political beings, become more aware of the politics of being a stranger—and why those who are seen as ‘other’ encounter so much resistance (or: why we, as the ‘native’, feel so threatened by the ‘other’). These are urgent issues for us to think about at this moment in history—not just in the United States, but also in several other geo-political locations in which economic distress has been accompanied by a rise of ‘nativism’ (or nationalism), and persecution of the ‘other’. Exploring the experiences of fictional ‘others’ in a small selection of contemporary literature—novels and memoirs different from the ‘classics’ to which you may have been previously exposed—may help us better understand our reactions and roles at this particular juncture in history. The novels and memoirs we read in this class will help us become critical thinkers and help us understand our individual roles in society. We will also learn how to respond to though our own informed, well-designed, and well-researched writing.

My job, as a professor, is to prepare you with necessary skills, workplace expectations, and professionalism expected at any job. I’m acutely aware of the competition you will be up against from students from other universities in the US, and from other parts of the world—so much so that I don’t believe it is ethical for me as an educator to permit the usual excuses all students make. So: 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. Written assignments will include the use of literary discussion to structure well-reasoned arguments, using standard English grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. in order to write excellent analytical papers. It’s not a course designed to teach you basic grammar and mechanics. 

ENG 365 JUNIOR SEMINAR: AUTHOR, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 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, produced by a particular author—Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. 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—then address the continuations and differences inherent in Adichie’s works. We will also familiarise ourselves with the scholarship surrounding Adichie, as well as the writing she produces on blogs, her public talks (available on video), and in popular (and literary) publications.

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. In addition, we may also explore art and photography produced by contemporary artists from the locale (Lagos, Nigeria and West Africa in general), to look at the ways in which written texts and image narratives work together.

My job, as a professor, is to prepare you with necessary skills, workplace expectations, and professionalism expected at any job. I’m acutely aware of the competition you will be up against from students from other universities in the US, and from other parts of the world—so much so that I don’t believe it is ethical for me as an educator to permit the usual excuses all students make. So: 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. Written assignments will include the use of literary discussion to structure well-reasoned arguments, using standard English grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. in order to write excellent analytical papers. It’s not a course designed to teach you basic grammar and mechanics. 

FALL 2019 COURSES

ENG 360 LITERATURE IN A  GLOBAL CONTEXT-

ENG 365 JUNIOR SEMINAR-

ENG 465 SEM ADV LIT-