Course: LIT 2000 Course Title: Introduction to Literature Course Credits: 3 hrs Instructor: Preston Taylor Stone Instructor email: pstone@mdc.edu
Course Description
Black As the Most Exquisite Color (2019), Kenturah Davis Pippy Houldsworth Gallery (houldsworth.co.uk)
From Hamlet to Turn of the Screw, the ghost has been a consistent part of literatures written in the English language. What appeals about them depends upon who you ask and about which era or movement you inquire. Unlike previous eras, in contemporary times, ghosts are figures that most think are likely not real—even if we are fascinated by their representation in novels, poems, stories, and film. Indeed, we even use ‘ghost’ in our relationship slang, as in “He ghosted me after one date.” This course begins with this observation and asks why?Why do we so love the figure of the ghost? What appeals to authors in their construction of their own stories about the ghost? What sort of metaphorical work does the ghost do in stories or films in contemporary time? While encountering a variety of cultural texts—including films, novels, stories, poems, television miniseries, and paintings—from the 1970s through the present, this course will focus on pieces that contain the ghost in some form to answer some of the above questions. Students will, therefore, be exposed to a variety of genres of cultural production and will learn and employ the literary critical tools as they develop argumentative writing for the course. All students, regardless of major or familiarity with literary texts listed below, are encouraged to join the course. This course fulfills the Gordon rule.
Untitled (parade) (2016), Kevin Beasley Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM.org)
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Summer 1-2, 2022
Course Title: Marxism in America: History, Theory, Culture Duration: 12 Weeks Course: Spring 1 and 2 of 2022 Dates: Jan 14-April 15 (with break Feb 19-March 6) Time: Fridays 3:00pm-4:45pm
Course Description:
Contrary to popular belief, socialist ideas are not new to the American political scene. Throughout American history, there have been several left-leaning political movements who found their inspiration from Karl Marx’s writings and the philosophers and political economists who came after calling themselves Marxists. The so-called ‘red scare’s of American history reveal concerted efforts by the U.S. government to both publicly and secretly stifle left-leaning political movements that would encourage class solidarity or redistribution of wealth in America. Unfortunately, what this has meant is that the majority of people in today’s United States do not have an accurate understanding of Marxism, its philosophy of history or its politics of economy. This course attempts to right this wrong.
We will consider the economic, historical, and anthropological as well as sociological inspirations and outcomes in the American political system of Marxist thought. In short, the class will provide students with a deeper understanding of Marx, the Marxist view of history, philosophy, and political economy, and the internationalist and anti-imperialist politics that developed in the United States inspired by Marxist ideologies throughout the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. By reading the work of writer-activists like Emma Goldman, Claudia Jones, Huey P. Newton, George Jackson, Angela Y. Davis and many others, we will connect the theoretical terms Marx and other philosophers developed to different political movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, we will consider the contemporary moment: what kind of Marxist politics are developing in America in the 21st century? What version of left-leaning politics can exist in the U.S. after the supposed ‘fall’ of communism in the early 1990s? Where and how does Marxism reside in the U.S. today? To confront these final questions, we will engage with both fictional and documentary films in the 21st century, including Bee Movie, Spirited Away, Chicken Run, 13th, Children of Men, In Time, and others.
Suggested Purchases
Paul Buhle, Marxism in the United States: A History of the American Left (2013), ~$31
Michael Harrington, Socialism: Past and Future (1989), ~$16
Schedule
(readings are meant to be done before the class during which they will be discussed)
Ch. 1 “Immigrant Socialism” of Paul Buhle’s Marxism in the United States: A History of the American Left
Ch. 4 “The Creation of a Geoculture: Ideologies, Social Movements, Social Science” from World Systems Analysis: An Introduction by Immanuel Wallerstein
Ch. 2 “Socialisms” of Michael Harrington’s Socialism: Past and Future
Ch. 2 “The Politics of Accumulation: Struggle for Benefits” from Historical Capitalism by Immanuel Wallerstein
Introduction “Socialism in American Jewish History” from A Fire In Their Hearts: Yiddish Socialists in New York by Tony Michels
Watch Spirited Away (film)
May 20 – Distinctly American Socialism
Reading:
Ch. 2 “American Socialism, American Culture” from Marxism in the United States: A History of the American Left by Paul Buhle
Ch. 1-3 of The S Word: A Short History of An American Tradition…Socialism by John Nichols
Institution: University of Miami Course: English Composition II Course Credits: 3 hrs Instructor: Preston Taylor Stone Email: ptstone@miami.edu Office Hours: By appt. (Zoom)
This course begins with a queer ghost story set in the Caribbean: Haiti, where the United States staked formal occupation from 1915-1934. Yet, many argue the U.S. was and has remained a ghostly presence in the country long before and long after this timespan. Through the interrogation of cultural and theoretical texts on the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East this course poses the U.S. as not only a formal imperial power in the region but as a ghost, haunting its colonial provinces with on-going political, gendered, and racial violence.
Students will encounter cultural and theoretical texts, including narrative, film, poetry, and anthropological or ethnographic studies, and will develop several pieces of short writing that put these in conversation. By the end of the course, students will have a ready grasp of American imperial projects in the Caribbean, Middle East, and Southeast Asia from 1898-to-present and will have a portfolio of academic and research writing on this subject. Emphasis will be placed on the skills of close-reading, interrogating theory, and research. By the end of the course, students will demonstrate the ability to combine material from several relevant sources into pieces of academic writing, use formal citation techniques accordingly, and participate in multiple rounds of revising their academic writing using peer review.
Course Goals and Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students will exhibit the ability to
Demonstrate effective written communication skills in relation to specific rhetorical tasks.
Construct original, well-reasoned arguments using a range of materials
Find, evaluate, integrate, and synthesize appropriate and relevant primary and secondary sources in their writing
Engage in close-reading of texts
Cite sources formally (using MLA, APA, Chicago, or other citation formats)
Required Materials
Regular access to a computer and portable storage (flash drive, email, cloud, etc)
Access to YouTube
Most texts will be provided on Google Drive and linked on the schedule section of this document. You will be expected to print and bring these to class or have full access to them during class. As far as textbooks for this class are concerned, there are two required purchases. All others will be shared via PDF.
Students are required to attend class, come to class on time and prepared (having done the reading/s or assignment/s), at least attempt all classwork activities, turn in assigned work when due, participate fully in good faith in any peer work, participate in class discussion, focus on the work at hand, and conduct oneself in a manner appropriate to the college classroom.
Rubric for class participation
5
Student is always attentive and contributes relevant insight very often, completing all in-class assignments in a collaborative and receptive manner
4
Student is attentive and completes all in-class assignments in a collaborative and receptive manner
3
Student is distracted but completes all in-class assignments
2
Student is often distracted and off-task, hesitant and unreceptive to collaboration
1
Student does not complete in-class assignments
0
Student is absent
Face coverings are mandatory at all times (with the exception of when drinking water) while in on-campus class sessions. Failure to follow this requirement is grounds for disciplinary action and may lead to removal from the classroom and/or the course. Single-layer cloth masks are not considered protective against the omicron variant. Surgical masks or multi-layered, tightly woven cloth masks should be used. Masks should fit snugly, cover nose and mouth, and preferably have an adjustable wire nose bridge. Surgical masks will be available at various on-campus locations.
The seat you select on the first day of class must be from among those identified as meeting the physical distance requirements for COVID-19; this seat will be your assigned seat for the remainder of the semester. This will enable the most effective COVID-19 contact tracing, should it be required.
Any student who is fully vaccinated and who has provided proof of vaccination to the University via their MyUHealthChartaccount will be exempt from COVID-19 surveillance testing during the semester. Any student who is not fully vaccinated or has not provided proof of vaccination will be required to take a COVID-19 test at least twice per week. Students will receive email or text message alerts to schedule their on-campus testing appointments. Students who do not comply with the testing requirement will be referred to the Dean of Students office and may have their campus access—including any on-campus living assignment—revoked and face appropriate disciplinary sanctions.
Completing vaccination is extremely important for every student who is able. As multiple variants continue to develop, scientists warn that this may result in a variant of the coronavirus that is immune to vaccines. As a solution to this problem, the more people who are vaccinated and protected from the virus, the fewer chances the virus has to replicate and change into another variant. If you are physically able to receive the vaccine, you are strongly encouraged to do so and upload proof of vaccination to the MyUHealthChart health app. To find a vaccination location, go to Miami-Dade County’s vaccine locator or the University of Miami’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information website. What we know is this: the Omicron variant (the most common in Florida currently) of SARS-CoV-2 is at least twice as contagious as the Delta variant of the virus, and even vaccinated people can spread the Omicron variant. Additionally, while the Delta variant is likely not more deadly than the Delta variant, hospitals are likely to become overwhelmed by patients with comorbid conditions infected with the virus. Vaccination is the only proven way to combat severe symptoms of COVID-19.
On Writing and Reading
This class will ask a lot of you in terms of writing and reading. You are likely to do more reading in a quicker time in this course than any other course you have taken before. I will, before class, ask that you respond to several informal prompts on Blackboard in the hopes you will at least attempt to do this work. Homework is a small part of your participation grade but will be immensely helpful to you in thinking about the texts we are discussing and formulating a topic for your final paper. I understand this is not your only class and I respect that you have a personal life beyond our classroom. Nonetheless, I expect you will come to class having at least attempted to do the assigned reading and writing all the way through and having prepared notes, ideas, or questions to discuss with the class.
Revision is a central and integral part of this course and any writing course of merit. In order for your writing to be consistently improving, you must bring it through multiple drafts of revision. Revision, then, is a requirement of this course. You will upload free-write, journaling, even outlines and sketches, to your Google Drive folder. Failure to do so will cast a burden of proof on your having done consistent revision in good faith for each assignment, and this will be reflected in your grades.
Attendance
Each student is allotted 4 unexcused absences (two whole weeks) and 3 tardies. Absences beyond this may result in deductions from the student’s final grade. Excessive absences will result in the student failing the course. After a student has been late (tardy) 3 times, each following time the student is late will result in 1/3 an absence. This means once a student has been late to class 6 times, they will receive an absence. Students who are consistently distracted in class (texting, browsing the internet, etc.) will be warned to pay closer attention to class. After this warning, if a student is continuously distracted in class, they will be marked absent. Students who acknowledge holy days on the same day(s) we have class will be excused if they have alerted the professor of all of these by the end of three days after you are enrolled in class. Absences do not excuse any due dates or work missed.
Electronics Policy and Google Drive vs. Blackboard
Each student is required to bring a tablet, laptop, or similar electronic device to class to take notes, complete and submit in-class writing assignments, access readings or notes for class discussion, and participate in peer review.
No electronic device should be a distraction from the activities of the classroom for any student.
The use of laptops or tablets is allowed only to complete classroom-related activities.
If electronic devices become a distraction or a means by which students avoid class participation, the student(s) in violation will receive an absence for class that day.
We will spend most of our class time working in Google Drive, a cloud-based file sharing system to which each student at the University of Miami has access. To log-in to your Google Drive:
Use the same credentials you use to access your email, Canelink, and Blackboard interfaces.
You will have your own folder within the classroom’s folder (“ENG 103 SS21”). Drive is where you will submit your all writing assignments, reflections, and peer reviews with the noted exception of Blackboard posts, which are submitted via the Blackboard Discussion Board.
It is up to the student to make sure they always have access to your Blackboard and Google Drive accounts and folders. Inability to access Google Drive or Blackboard will not be a sufficient excuse for not turning in assignments on time. For IT help, UMIT is located on the third floor of the Richter Library or may be accessed at it.miami.edu.
Legal Disclosures for Class Recordings, Content Sharing:
Students are expressly prohibited from recording any part of this course. Meetings of this course might be recorded by the University. Any recordings will be available to students registered for this class as they are intended to supplement the classroom experience.
Students are expected to follow appropriate University policies and maintain the security of passwords used to access recorded lectures.
Recordings may not be reproduced, shared with those not in the class, or uploaded to other online environments.
If the instructor or a University of Miami office plans any other uses for the recordings, beyond this class, students identifiable in the recordings will be notified to request consent prior to such use.
This instructor is the copyright owner of the courseware; individual recordings of the materials on Blackboard and/or of the virtual sessions are not allowed. Such materials cannot be shared outside the physical or virtual classroom environment without express permission.
Academic Honor Code
As a student of the University of Miami, you have agreed to uphold the Honor Code. Violation of this code includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, or academic dishonesty. The Undergraduate Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook defines each of these violations:
“Cheating – Implies the intent to deceive. It includes all actions, devices and deceptions used in the attempt to commit this act. Examples include, but are not limited to, copying answers from another student’s exam, and using a cheat sheet or crib notes in an exam.
Plagiarism – is representing the words or ideas of someone else as your own. Examples include, but are not limited to, failing to properly cite direct quotes and failing to give credit for someone else’s ideas.
Collusion – is the act of working together on an academic undertaking for which a student is individually responsible. Examples include, but are not limited to, sharing information in labs that are to be done individually.
Academic Dishonesty – includes any other act not specifically covered that compromises the integrity of a student or intrudes, violates, or disturbs the academic environment of the university community. Examples are attempting or agreeing to commit, or assisting in or facilitating the commission of, any scholastic dishonesty violation, failing to appear or testify without good cause when requested by the Honor Council, failing to keep information about cases confidential, supplying false information to the Honor Council and accusing a student of a violation of this Code in bad faith.” (Title II, B)
Any student who violates the Honor Code will fail not only the assignment but the entire course. Each of you has the ability to think through your own unique ideas. If you are thinking of violating the Honor Code because you are overwhelmed or in distress, speak with me and we will come up with a better solution.
On Accessibility and Acceptance
Every student, no matter their identity, ideology, or ability, is welcome and valued in this class. This class will require that we confront political, social, and ideological questions that may be deemed controversial. I encourage you not to shy away from this opportunity to think through these issues. No matter what, no student should ever feel unwelcome or unsafe in this classroom. If you find that you feel inappropriately uncomfortable, consistently unsafe, or need help, please let me know immediately and I will direct you to the resources that may help. The University of Miami Counseling Center (UMCC) provides professional support to students no matter their gender expression, sexual preferences, sex, race, financial or immigration status. You can make an appointment by calling 305-284-5511, by visiting counseling.studentaffairs.miami.edu, or by visiting the counseling center on Merrick Dr. (across from the Pavia Garage).
Students with accessibility requirements are provided for by the University of Miami’s Office of Disability Services (ODS) and may contact this office at 305-284-2374 or disabilityservices@miami.edu to make any requests for accessibility. If you have trouble contacting the ODS, let me know and I will help you. If you have contacted the ODS and have any requirements of me, please be sure to let me know as soon as possible.
Turning in assignments
Papers should be submitted on Blackboard or Google Drive on the day and at the specified time they are due. Each day a paper is late, there will be a deduction of 10% from the grade. All assignments are assigned in due time to be completed by each student on time. It is your own job to make sure you do not forget deadlines and that you turn your assignments into the correct platform (Blackboard, email, or Google Drive). Every deadline is listed on this document in the schedule section, on the assignment sheets themselves, and verbally said in class. If you require an extension(s) for your assignment(s), you must request them of the instructor at least three class periods (over a week) prior to the due date of the assignment. Under no circumstances is the instructor required to grant you an extension(s). No late blackboard posts will be accepted.
The Writing Center (www.as.miami.edu/writingcenter) can help you at any stage of the writing process. Appointments are suggested, but they also accept ‘walk-in’ visits. If I think it’s necessary, I will ask you to use the Writing Center on a regular basis. Please note that all appointments are currently being held online until further notice. To make an online appointment, make an account at the above link/sign in as usual and choose an available time.
Extra Credit is only available or permitted in this course at the discretion of the professor. I personally do not enjoy the use of extra credit because I believe it is unfair to those who have committed to the work required of this class if others are able to do extra work for credit. Moreover, extra credit requires extra effort and time to which I am unable to commit for reading, annotating, grading, and categorizing within the gradebook. However, in the event that you visit the writing center (see above), I am alerted via email by the center that you attended a meeting with a tutor. (I do not have access to what you and the tutor discussed or worked on, only that you worked on something from my class). In the case that you visit the writing center, you can receive up to and not exceeding five (5) points on that essay assignment.
On Communication
I will make a point to learn each of your names and I expect you will learn to use one another’s name in conversation, as well (“I agree with what ___ said”). This will create a welcoming and meaningful culture for our classroom. If you have a question about the policies or assignments for this class, you may speak to me before, during, or after class, via email, or in office hours. I will make a point to reply to your email within 24-to-48 hours. If you have not received a response from me after two days, you should email me again. Please do not email me to ask questions about an assignment one or two days before it is due as this will not allow due time for me to respond and for you to use this answer in writing your assignment.
Grades
If you have a question or concern about an assignment or participation grade, please come and see me during my office hours or talk with me before or after class to arrange a meeting. Due to federal requirements, UM faculty are not permitted to discuss grades via email or phone, so we will need to meet in person and in private via Zoom.
A – Exemplary B – Effective C – Sufficient D – Unsatisfactory F – Failure
Assignments
Blackboard Posts (On-going)
Directions: Most days, you will have a discussion board post due on Blackboard that asks you to think through something we discussed in-class and/or a reading we have done. Sometimes, these responses will ask you to create a scholarly question for the class. A good example of a scholarly question takes a quotation from the text and then expands upon that in order to pose a new question that the text does not itself consider. In-class or Out-of-Class: Out of class Due Date: All posts are due before class time. Requirements: 150-250 words ea. To earn full points on your reading responses, you will need to write thoughtful answers in full sentences and/or paragraphs and submit your post before class time. Objective: These responses are designed to stimulate your thinking about a text and/or the course themes and help prepare you for class discussion. They are also great places to start generating ideas for your other written assignments. These posts will be graded based on completion, but thoughtful responses will enrich our class discussions and help you develop confidence in your ideas, critical reading skills, and writing.
Through-Line Thursdays, TLT (On-Going)
Assignment Directions: On most Thursdays, we will have ‘Through-line Thursday’ where you and a partner will connect a minimum of two and a maximum of four sources, one of which must include the reading for that Thursday. The other sources could be something we have previously discussed in this course or something you read, saw, heard outside of class. In-Class or Out-of-Class: In-class Due Date: Most Thursdays Requirements: 250-350 words ea. These assignments are written in groups and while quotations will be helpful to make your connections between sources, this must be original work so most of the writing should be that of yourself and your group member(s). Objective: The point of this assignment is to practice making connections between different texts, a skill you will be required to showcase courses beyond this one. Whereas the Blackboard reading responses test comprehension (that you understand what we read/talked about), these in-class writing responses will test argumentation (that you have thoughts about what you’ve read).
Assignment Directions: This project asks each student to annotate readings and post questions about the readings. This is an on-going assignment throughout the first half of the semester—you have until the end of the semester to complete 1200 words of annotations and log them onto your annotation sheet that you turn in. The instructor will explain how to do this logging; however, doing these annotations should be fairly simple. For each reading, the link embedded in the Course Schedule will take you to a PDF in Google Drive. Highlighting certain words and phrases will result in a comment button appearing next to where you have highlighted words. You can annotate by clicking on this “Add Comment” button. Due Date: End of Semester Requirements: 1200 words in total (all annotations combined) Objective: The purpose of this assignment is to practice annotating scholarly readings, especially those with complex topics that introduce controversial cultural issues and questions. Annotating allows us to deal with our initial reactions to the text and pose questions to what we are reading. In general, annotations should be bridging the content to our thoughts in the same way Blackboard posts allow us to flesh through our thoughts more thoroughly.
Quizzes (no more than 3)
Assignment Directions: Throughout the semester, we may have brief quizzes on common grammatical mistakes and citation formatting. All of these will be reviewed ahead of time and all will be open-notes, so you should not stress about these. However, because you will only be allotted a certain amount of time to complete these quizzes, you should still familiarize yourself with the material before the day of the quiz. In-Class or Out-of-Class: In-class Due Date: All will be announced ahead of time (and on Course Schedule below) Requirements: Answer questions in under 35 minutes. Objective: The point of this assignment is to help students classify different types of citation styles quickly and to test comprehension of grammatical lessons covered in class. Quizzing is a tool that trains students to access knowledge quickly, ‘on-the-fly’, which is an important skill in academic settings and will prepare students for interrogating complex academic writing.
Assignment Directions: This brief analysis paper will require you to select a passage from a written text we read in class or another piece of digital media (music video, poetry reading, speech, performance art) and examine how the writer/artist uses language and rhetorical strategies. You may choose to do a close reading of a cultural text (short story, poem, film, mini-series, documentary, music video) or an academic text (peer reviewed article, monograph chapter). Note that this is not a report on what the author is saying nor is it a summary of the cultural text. While it will be important to understand the cultural text, this assignment is meant to explain how the artist conveys their story or argument (the types of evidence they use, the methods of presenting, the poetic or allegorical language used, the form of presentation). In-Class or Out-of-Class: Out of class (one-page paper and peer review in-class) Due Date: Friday, March 11 Requirements: 1200 words minimum Objective: Close-reading is an essential course outcome of ENG 106 at the University of Miami, as it is a skill necessary for success in and outside of college. Close-reading, or interpretive reading, has been and continues to be relevant to better understand cultural norms, power structures, and other rhetorical and material realities.
Literature Review (Rough & Final Draft)
Assignment Directions: This assignment will act as an addendum to the Reading Annotations Assignment and Through-Line Thursday posts. Using either sources from the course syllabus or those found through conducting research, you will provide an overview of the existing body of research on a specific topic. This involves tracing the different schools of thought or approaches to the topic, summarizing what other scholars have said, and examining how they agree, disagree, and relate to each other. This is, in short, a report on all of the relevant, recent scholarship about a given topic (or as much as one can find). Think of this as if you are stepping into the ongoing scholarly conversation about this topic and your goal is to outline each of the strands of that conversation. In-Class or Out-of-Class: Out of class (peer review in-class) Due Date: Friday, April 15 Requirements: Minimum of 8 peer-reviewed sources; 1300 words minimum Objective: This performance of research and abridging arguments of other scholars is an important part of recognizing there is an ongoing interest in a topic you are researching and it will be very important to do as you continue in your academic career. The literature review will help you situate your own thoughts within existing scholarly research.
Assignment Directions: This assignment asks you to use a theoretical or conceptual text as a framework to read a primary text, such as a creative or fictional work. One way to approach this is to imagine yourself as the author of the theoretical text and respond to the second text from their perspective. Therefore, the goal of this assignment is to use the concepts and ideas of the theoretical text as a “lens” to evaluate and interpret the cultural text. In-class or out-of-class: Out of class (one-page paper and peer review in-class) Due Date: Tuesday, May 10 Requirements: Your paper may be given in multimodal form (with graphics, animations, etc.) or in a traditional written format. Your essay should be 1250 words minimum. Objective: All ENG 106 students are required to do this assignment for the very reason that it requires complex thinking to explain a theoretical concept or set of theoretical concepts and then apply these to a given context. It is called a lens assignment because you are using the theoretical concepts as a lens to understand or critique an object of study.
Course Schedule
Course subject to change. When changes are made, students will be notified in writing.
Week 1
R 1/20 “What is an argument?” Activity (Didion quote) Review Syllabus (esp. Major Assignments, Minor Assignments) Introduce Debate: Are Ghosts Real?
Homework: Research ghosts, ghostliness, specters, revenants, spirits
Week 2
T 1/25Quiz #1 (Syllabus) Work on debate materials with team, including research
Homework: Prep for debate next class
R 1/27 Last Day to Register/Add Course * * Debate: Are Ghosts Real? * *
Homework: Read “Of Ghosts and Shadows” by Roxane Gay; answer BB post
Week 3
T 2/1 Who are the ghost(s) in Gay’s story?
Homework: Read “Black-Eyed Women” by Viet Thanh Nguyen; answer BB post
R 2/3 Last Day to Drop a Course Without a “W” The Ghost(s) and ghost-writing in Viet Thanh Nguyen’s story
Homework: Read Forward and Introduction to the New Edition of Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination by Avery F. Gordon; answer BB post
Week 4
T /28 Introduce Avery F. Gordon’s Ghostly Matters How does Gordon approach ghosts?
Homework: Read Ch. 1, ‘her shape and his hand’ of Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination by Avery F. Gordon; answer BB post
R 2/10 Close-Reading, the method of literary and cultural studies How is what Gordon doing close-reading? Reintroduce Close-Reading Assignment
Homework:Read Ch. 1, “Jordan–Afghanistan–GTMO: July 2002–February 2003” (pp. 43-87 in PDF) of Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi; answer BB post
Week 5
T 2/15 Watch The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib in-class Guantánamo Diary by Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Homework: Read “Introduction: My Muslim American Life” from This Muslim American Life: Dispatches from the War on Terror by Moustafa Bayoumi; answer BB post
R 2/17 Discussion of Slahi, Abu Ghraib, Bayoumi
Homework: Read “The Hole” by Hassan Blasim; answer BB post
Week 6
T 2/22Quiz #2 (Grammar & MLA) Hassan Blasim’s “The Hole”
Homework: Read “Legitimizing the ‘War on Terror’: Political Myth in Official-Level Rhetoric” by Joanne Esch; answer BB post
Homework:Close-Reading Assignment Final Draft due before Sunday, March 20th; Over the break, Read “Necropolitics” (Ch. 3) from Necropolitics by Achille Mbembe, and respond to BB post
**March 12-20Spring Recess**
Week 9
T 3/22Quiz #3 (Grammar & APA) Mbembe’s Necropolitics Introduce Literature Review Assignment
Homework: Read “Imperial Ghosting and National Tragedy: Revenants from Hiroshima and Indian Country in the War on Terror” by Anne McClintock; answer BB post
** Tues. March 22 Last Day to Drop a Course, Receive “W” **
R 3/24 Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, and ‘ghosting’ Imperial ‘Ghosting’
Homework: Read “Introduction: At the Navel of the Americas” of Colonial Phantoms: Belonging and Refusal in the Dominican Americas, from the 19th Century to the Present by Dixa Ramírez; answer BB post
Week 10
T 3/29 What does ‘ghosting’ mean for Ramírez?
Homework:“Ghosts of Dominican Past, Ghosts of Dominican Present” by Katerina Gonzalez Seligmann; answer BB post
R 3/31 Secondary sources and bibliographic narratives
Homework: Read all of Who Sings the Nation-State? By Judith Butler & Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak; answer bb post
Week 11
T 4/5 Nationalism
Homework: Read Ch. 2, “Photographies of Mourning: Melancholia and Ambivalence in Van DerZee, Mapplethorpe, and Looking for Langston” from Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics by José Esteban Muñoz
R 4/7 Melancholy, Mourning, and Superimposition in Photography
Homework:Prepare rough draft of Literature Bibliography for workshop
Week 12
T 4/12 Literature Review workshop
Homework: Rent and watch Candyman (2021), dir. Nia DaCosta and/or Candyman (1992), dir. Bernard Rose
R 4/14Quiz #4 (Grammar & Chicago) Candyman (2021) vs. Candyman (1992) Gentrification – Toni Morrison’s opening of Sula
Homework:Literature Review final draft due before midnight Sunday; read half of Ch. 4, “not only the footprints but the water too and what is down there” of Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination by Avery F. Gordon; answer BB post
Week 13
T 4/19 Margaret Garner, Toni Morrison and the Slave Narrative Reintroduce Lensing Assignment
Homework: Read the remainder of Ch. 4, “not only the footprints but the water too and what is down there” of Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination by Avery F. Gordon; answer BB post
R 4/21Beloved by Toni Morrison What does it mean ‘to be haunted’?
Homework: Read Ch. 4, “there are crossroads” of Ghostly Matters: Haunting and the Sociological Imagination by Avery F. Gordon; answer BB post
Week 14
T 4/26 Gordon
Homework: Read “Introduction: What Was to Come” from The Other Side of Terror: Black Women and the Culture of US Empire by Erica R. Edwards
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Spring 1-2. 2021
Course Title: “Introduction to Native American and Indigenous Studies” Duration: 12 Weeks Course: Spring 1 and 2 of 2022 Dates: Jan 14-April 15 (with break Feb 19-March 6) Time: Fridays 3:00pm-4:45pm
Course Description: As the Native American and Global Indigenous Studies (NAGIS) program at the University of Miami is still in its preliminary phases of creation, this course will bring OLLI ‘into the loop’ so to speak by providing students with an introductory grasp on major concepts, theoretical highlights, and important figures and histories of Native American and Indigenous Studies, also known as American Indian Studies or First Nations Studies. The discipline began after Native student-activists of the late 1960s demanded their universities represent their histories as well as the dominant white histories that had already been part of the educational ‘canon.’ In this course, we will attend to the building of the interdisciplinary field known as Native American and Indigenous Studies with special attention to the Americas, what Amerindians called Turtle Island or Abya Yala. Each week, we will deal with a keyword in Native Studies and then discuss the histories, politics, and disciplinary concerns with the keyword.
Suggested purchases:
Native Studies Keywords, ed. Stephanie Nohelani Teves, Andrea Smith, and Michelle H. Raheja (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2015).
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, Roxane Dunbar-Ortiz (2015 American Book Award Winner) (2014)
Schedule
(readings are meant to be done before the class during which they will be discussed)
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2015 American Book Award Winner) [I have found the PDF of the Dunbar-Ortiz book, so if you are okay reading the text digitally, I’ve included it attached to this email.]
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (2015 American Book Award Winner), “Ghost Dance Prophecy: A Nation is Coming” pp. 178-197
Selections from When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (2020) ed. Joy Harjo with Leanne Howe, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Contributing Editors
Two essays from Native American Performance and Representation (2009) ed. S.E. Wilmer
“Indigenous Futurisms in North American Indigenous Art” by Kristina Baudemann
April 1 – Keywords: Queer, 2-Spirit or, previously (derogatory), berdache
Chapter 6, “Measuring Identity” from Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation by Malinda Maynor Lowery
Chapter 3, “Conceptualizing and Constructing African Indian Racial and Cultural Identities in Antebellum Indian Territory” in African Cherokees in Indian Territory: From Chattel to Citizens by Celia E. Naylor
Introduction of Otherwise Worlds: Against Settler Colonialism edited by by Tiffany Lethabo King, Jenell Navarro, and Andrea Smith
“Building Maroon Intellectual Communities” by Chris Finley (also in Otherwise Worlds)
Introduction of The Black Shoals: Offshore Formations of Black and Native Studies by Tiffany Lethabo King
Course: ENG 106, Sections S1 and T1 Institution: University of Miami Course Location: *Check CaneLink* Course Time: T/TH 4:20-5:35pm (S1), T/TH 6:00-7:15pm (T1) Course Credit hours: 3 Instructor: Preston Taylor Stone Email:ptstone@miami.edu Office Hours: By appointment (Virtual)
Contrary to popular belief, socialist ideas are not new to the American political scene. Throughout American history, there have been several left-leaning political movements who found their inspiration from Karl Marx’s writings and the philosophers and political economists who came after calling themselves Marxists. The so-called ‘red scare’s of American history reveal concerted efforts by the U.S. government to both publicly and secretly stifle left-leaning political movements that would encourage class solidarity or redistribution of wealth in America. Unfortunately, what this has meant is that the majority of people in today’s United States do not have an accurate understanding of Marxism, its philosophy of history or its politics of economy. This course attempts to right this wrong. We will consider the economic, historical, and anthropological as well as sociological inspirations and outcomes in the American political system of Marxist thought. In short, the class will provide students with a deeper understanding of Marx, the Marxist view of history, philosophy, and political economy, and the internationalist and anti-imperialist politics that developed in the United States inspired by Marxist ideologies throughout the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. By reading the work of writer-activists like Emma Goldman, Claudia Jones, Huey P. Newton, George Jackson, Angela Y. Davis and many others, we will connect the theoretical terms Marx and other philosophers developed to different political movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, we will consider the contemporary moment: what kind of Marxist politics are developing in America in the 21st century? What version of left-leaning politics can exist in the U.S. after the supposed ‘fall’ of communism in the early 1990s? Where and how does Marxism reside in the U.S. today? To confront these final questions, we will engage with both fictional and documentary films in the 21st century, including Bee Movie, Spirited Away, Chicken Run, 13th, Children of Men, In Time, and others.
As the purpose of ENG 106 at the University of Miami is to prepare students to enter the academic community of the university through writing, students will be required to read, interpret, research, contextualize, and write about the works introduced in the course. Students will be introduced to primary and secondary research strategies, argumentation and contextualization, and citation styles required of all successful researchers. All of these skills will pertain to the central theme of the course, in this case Marxism.
Course Goals and Learning Outcomes
At the end of this course, students will exhibit the ability to
Demonstrate effective written communication skills in relation to specific rhetorical tasks.
Construct original, well-reasoned arguments using a range of materials
Find, evaluate, integrate, and synthesize appropriate and relevant primary and secondary sources in their writing
Engage in close-reading of texts
Cite sources formally (using MLA, APA, Chicago, or other citation formats)
Required Materials
Regular access to a computerandportable storage (flash drive, email, cloud, etc)
Access to Netflix streaming services and YouTube
Most texts will be provided on Google Drive and linked on the schedule section of this document. You will be expected to print and bring these to class or have full access to them during class. As far as textbooks for this class are concerned, there are two required purchases. All others will be shared via PDF.
The Socialist Manifesto:The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality by Bhaskar Sunkara (2020 Edition) AbeBooks Bookshop Amazon
Participation Students are required to attend class, come to class on time and prepared (having done the reading/s or assignment/s), at least attempt all classwork activities, turn in assigned work when due, participate fully in good faith in any peer work, participate in class discussion, focus on the work at hand, and conduct oneself in a manner appropriate to the college classroom.
Rubric for class participation
5
Student is always attentive and contributes relevant insight very often, completing all in-class assignments in a collaborative and receptive manner
4
Student is attentive and completes all in-class assignments in a collaborative and receptive manner
3
Student is distracted but completes all in-class assignments
2
Student is often distracted and off-task, hesitant and unreceptive to collaboration
1
Student does not complete in-class assignments
0
Student is absent
On Writing and Reading This class will ask a lot of you in terms of writing and reading. You are likely to do more reading in a quicker time in this course than any other course you have taken before. I will, before class, ask that you respond to several informal prompts on Blackboard in the hopes you will at least attempt to do this work. Homework is a small part of your participation grade but will be immensely helpful to you in thinking about the texts we are discussing and formulating a topic for your final paper. I understand this is not your only class and I respect that you have a personal life beyond our classroom. Nonetheless, I expect you will come to class having at least attempted to do the assigned reading and writing all the way through and having prepared notes, ideas, or questions to discuss with the class.
Revision is a central and integral part of this course and any writing course of merit. In order for your writing to be consistently improving, you must bring it through multiple drafts of revision. Revision, then, is a requirement of this course. You will upload free-write, journaling, even outlines and sketches, to your Google Drive folder. Failure to do so will cast a burden of proof on your having done consistent revision in good faith for each assignment, and this will be reflected in your grades.
Attendance Each student is allotted 4 unexcused absences (two whole weeks) and 3 tardies. Absences beyond this may result in deductions from the student’s final grade. Excessive absences will result in the student failing the course. After a student has been late (tardy) 3 times, each following time the student is late will result in 1/3 an absence. This means once a student has been late to class 6 times, they will receive an absence. Students who are consistently distracted in class (texting, browsing the internet, etc.) will be warned to pay closer attention to class. After this warning, if a student is continuously distracted in class, they will be marked absent. Students who acknowledge holy days on the same day(s) we have class will be excused if they have alerted the professor of all of these by the end of three days after you are enrolled in class. Absences do not excuse any due dates or work missed.
Electronics Policy and Google Drive vs. Blackboard Each student is required to bring tablet, laptop, or similar electronic device to class in order to take notes, complete and submit in-class writing assignments, access readings or notes for class discussion, and participate in peer review. No electronic device should be a distraction from the activities of the classroom for any student. The use of laptops or tablets is allowed only to complete classroom-related activities. If electronic devices become a distraction or a means by which students avoid class participation, the student(s) in violation will receive an absence for class that day.
We will spend most of our class time working in Google Drive, a cloud-based file sharing system to which each student at the University of Miami has access. To log-in to your Google Drive, visit google.miami.edu and use the same credentials you use to access your email, Canelink, and Blackboard interfaces. You will have your own folder within the classroom’s folder (“ENG 106 S20”). Drive is where you will submit your drafts, revisions, in-class writing assignments, reflections, and peer reviews. The only thing you will not submit to this folder is your final draft to each assignment, which must be uploaded to Blackboard. It is up to you to make sure you have access to your Blackboard and Google Drive accounts and folders at all times. Inability to access Google Drive or Blackboard will not be sufficient excuse for not turning in assignments on time. For IT help, UMIT is located on the third floor of the Richter Library.
Academic Honor Code As a student of the University of Miami, you have agreed to uphold the Honor Code. Violation of this code includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, or academic dishonesty. The Undergraduate Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook defines each of these violations:
Cheating – Implies the intent to deceive. It includes all actions, devices and deceptions used in the attempt to commit this act. Examples include, but are not limited to, copying answers from another student’s exam, and using a cheat sheet or crib notes in an exam.
Plagiarism – is representing the words or ideas of someone else as your own. Examples include, but are not limited to, failing to properly cite direct quotes and failing to give credit for someone else’s ideas.
Collusion – is the act of working together on an academic undertaking for which a student is individually responsible. Examples include, but are not limited to, sharing information in labs that are to be done individually.
Academic Dishonesty – includes any other act not specifically covered that compromises the integrity of a student or intrudes, violates, or disturbs the academic environment of the university community. Examples are attempting or agreeing to commit, or assisting in or facilitating the commission of, any scholastic dishonesty violation, failing to appear or testify without good cause when requested by the Honor Council, failing to keep information about cases confidential, supplying false information to the Honor Council and accusing a student of a violation of this Code in bad faith.
Title II, B
Any student who violates the Honor Code will fail not only the assignment but the entire course. Each of you has the ability to think through your own unique ideas. If you are thinking of violating the Honor Code because you are overwhelmed or in distress, speak with me and we will come up with a better solution.
On Accessibility and Acceptance Every student, no matter their identity, ideology, or ability, is welcome and valued in this class. This class will require that we confront political, social, and ideological questions that may be deemed controversial. I encourage you not to shy away from this opportunity to think through these issues. No matter what, no student should ever feel unwelcome or unsafe in this classroom. If you find that you feel inappropriately uncomfortable, consistently unsafe, or need help, please let me know immediately and I will direct you to the resources that may help. The University of Miami Counseling Center (UMCC) provides professional support to students no matter their gender expression, sexual preferences, sex, race, financial or immigration status. You can make an appointment by calling 305-284-5511, by visiting counseling.studentaffairs.miami.edu, or by visiting the counseling center on Merrick Dr. (across from the Pavia Garage).
Students with accessibility requirements are provided for by the University of Miami’s Office of Disability Services (ODS) and may contact this office at 305-284-2374 or disabilityservices@miami.edu to make any requests for accessibility. If you have trouble contacting the ODS, let me know and I will help you. If you have contacted the ODS and have any requirements of me, please be sure to let me know as soon as possible.
Turning in assignments Papers should be submitted on Blackboard or Google Drive on the day and at the specified time they are due. Each day a paper is late, there will be a deduction of 10% from the grade. All assignments are assigned in due time to be completed by each student on time. It is your own job to make sure you do not forget deadlines and that you turn your assignments into the correct platform (Blackboard, email, or Google Drive). Every deadline is listed on this document in the schedule section, on the assignment sheets themselves, and verbally said in class. If you require an extension(s) for your assignment(s), you must request them of the instructor at least three class periods (over a week) prior to the due date of the assignment. Under no circumstances is the instructor required to grant you an extension(s). No late blackboard posts will be accepted.
The Writing Center (www.as.miami.edu/writingcenter) can help you at any stage of the writing process. Appointments are suggested, but they also accept ‘walk-in’ visits. If I think it’s necessary, I will ask you to use the Writing Center on a regular basis. Please note that all appointments are currently being held online until further notice. To make an online appointment, make an account at the above link/sign in as usual and choose an available time.
Extra Credit is not available or permitted in this course. I do not allow extra credit for several reasons: put simply, it is unfair to those who have committed to the work required of this class if others are able to do extra work for credit. Moreover, extra credit requires extra effort and time to which I am unable to commit for reading, annotating, grading, and categorizing within the gradebook.
On Communication I will make a point to learn each of your names and I expect you will learn to use one another’s name in conversation, as well (“I agree with what ___ said”). This will create a welcoming and meaningful culture for our classroom. If you have a question about the policies or assignments for this class, you may speak to me before, during, or after class, via email, or in office hours. I will make a point to reply to your email within 24-to-48 hours. If you have not received a response from me after two days, you should email me again. Please do not email me to ask questions about an assignment one or two days before it is due as this will not allow due time for me to respond and for you to use this answer in writing your assignment.
Grades If you have a question or concern about an assignment or participation grade, please come and see me during my office hours or talk with me before or after class to arrange a meeting. Due to federal requirements, UM faculty are not permitted to discuss grades via email or phone, so we will need to meet in person and in private.
Overall Grade Distribution:
Attendance
10%
Blackboard Posts/Class Participation
15%
Quizzes
10%
Reading Annotations
15%
Annotated Bibliography
20%
Research Essay
15%
Lensing Assignment
15%
Total
100%
Grading Scale:
A
940-1000
A-
900-939
B+
870-899
B
830-869
B-
800-829
C+
770-799
C
730-769
C-
700-729
D+
670-699
D
600-669
F
0-599
A – Exemplary B – Effective C – Sufficient D – Unsatisfactory F – Failure
Assignment Directions: Most days, you will have a discussion board post due on Blackboard that asks you to think through something we discussed in-class and/or a reading we have done. Sometimes, these responses will ask you to create a scholarly question for the class. A good example of a scholarly question takes a quotation from the text and then expands upon that in order to pose a new question that the text does not itself consider.
In-class or Out-of-Class: Out of class
Due Date: All posts are due before class time.
Requirements: 150-250 words ea. To earn full points on your reading responses, you will need to write thoughtful answers in full sentences and/or paragraphs and submit your post before class time.
Objective: These responses are designed to stimulate your thinking about a text and/or the course themes and help prepare you for class discussion. They are also great places to start generating ideas for your other written assignments. These posts will be graded based on completion, but thoughtful responses will enrich our class discussions and help you develop confidence in your ideas, critical reading skills, and writing.
Assignment Title: Through-line Thursdays (TLT)
Assignment Directions: On most Thursdays, we will have ‘Through-line Thursday’ where you and a partner will connect a minimum of two and a maximum of four sources, one of which must include the reading for that Thursday. The other sources could be something we have previously discussed in this course or something you read, saw, heard outside of class.
In-Class or Out-of-Class: In-class
Due Date: Most Thursdays
Requirements: 250-350 words ea.These assignments are written in groups and while quotations will be helpful to make your connections between sources, this must be original work so most of the writing should be that of yourself and your group member(s).
Objective: The point of this assignment is to practice making connections between different texts, a skill you will be required to showcase courses beyond this one. Whereas the Blackboard reading responses test comprehension (that you understand what we read/talked about), these in-class writing responses will test argumentation (that you have thoughts about what you’ve read).
Assignment Title: Quizzes
Assignment Directions: Throughout the semester, we may have brief quizzes on common grammatical mistakes, citation formatting, and comprehension of reading assignments. All of these will be reviewed ahead of time and all will be open-notes, so you should not stress about these. However, because you will only be allotted a certain amount of time to complete these quizzes, you should still familiarize yourself with the material before the day of the quiz. To access terminology for the course go to this Quizlet deck: https://quizlet.com/_981jz7?x=1jqt&i=3edmtt.
In-Class or Out-of-Class: In-class
Due Date: All will be announced ahead of time (and on Syllabus)
Requirements: Answer questions in under 30 minutes.
Objective: The point of this assignment is to help students classify different types of citation styles quickly and to test comprehension of theoretical knowledge from readings. Quizzing is a tool that trains students to access knowledge quickly, ‘on-the-fly’, which is an important skill in academic settings and will prepare students for interrogating complex academic writing.
Assignment Directions: This project asks each student to annotate readings and post questions about the readings. This is an on-going assignment throughout the first half of the semester—you have until October 1 to complete 1000 words of annotations and log them onto your annotation sheet that you turn in. The instructor will explain how to do this logging; however, the annotation that you do should be fairly simple. For each reading, the link will take you to a PDF in Google Drive. Highlighting certain words and phrases will result in a comment button appearing next to where you have highlighted words. You can annotate by clicking on this “Add Comment” button.
In-Class or Out-of-Class: Out of class
Due Date: October 1st
Requirements: 1000 words in total (all annotations combined)
Objective: The purpose of this assignment is to practice annotating scholarly readings, especially those with complex topics that introduce controversial cultural issues and questions. Annotating allows us to deal with our initial reactions to the text and pose questions to what we are reading. In general, annotations should be bridging the content to our thoughts in the same way Blackboard posts allow us to flesh through our thoughts more thoroughly.
Assignment Directions: This assignment will act as Part 1 of your research project. After selecting a topic for your project, you will conduct research and provide an overview of the existing body of research on the topic—trace the different schools of thought or approaches to the topic, summarize what other scholars have said, and examine how they agree, disagree, and relate to each other. This is, in short, a report on all of the relevant, recent scholarship about a given topic (or as much as you can find). Think of this as if you are stepping into the ongoing scholarly conversation about your topic and your goal is to outline each of the strands of that conversation.
In-Class or Out-of-Class: Out of class (peer review in-class)
Due Date: November 3rd before 3pm
Requirements: Minimum of 10 peer-reviewed sources; 1500 words
Objective: This performance of research and abridging arguments of other scholars is an important part of recognizing there is an ongoing interest in the topic you are researching and it will be very important to do as you continue in your academic career. The annotated bibliography will help you situate your own argument (that of your research paper) within the existing scholarly research. Aspects of this will become crucial during your research paper since you will need to reference sources in this list in your paper. Therefore, as you are researching, you would be wise to think about what others are not saying so that you can provide the missing link.
Assignment Directions: You will produce a research paper in a scholarly format on a topic of your interest that relates to our focus of study: Marxism in America. I encourage you to think about topics addressed by your area of study. This is not a report or summary of different sources (which is called a literature review). Though you will use your annotated bibliography to situate your own argument, the majority of your paper should be dedicated to developing your own argument and situating your own contribution to (or criticism of) the arguments of others. Your argument does not necessarily need to be complex or challenge the very definition of established theoretical knowledge. However, you ought to consider what seems to you to be left out of a lot of the sources you encounter and then make an argument for fixing this lapse.
In-class or Out-of-class: Out of class (one-page paper and peer review in-class)
Due Date: November 29th before midnight
Requirements: Your essay must use research from scholarly sources (minimum of 7 peer-reviewed sources), put forward a clear and convincing position on your topic, and follow a single citation style, format, and set of conventions (MLA, Chicago, or APA). Your essay should be 1500 words minimum.
Objective: The purpose of this assignment is not only to show again your ability to condense complex scholarly knowledge into your own words, but also to show that you can use this knowledge to make an argument of your own. Argumentation is one of the major abilities of all strong academics. In addition, strong academic writers are able to condense information efficiently and in order to contribute to a larger goal (an argument).
Assignment Directions: This assignment asks you to use a theoretical or conceptual text as a framework to read a primary text, such as a creative or fictional work. One way to approach this is to imagine yourself as the author of the theoretical text and respond to the second text from their perspective. Therefore, the goal of this assignment is to use the concepts and ideas of the theoretical text as a “lens” to evaluate and interpret the cultural text.
In-class or out-of-class: Out of class (one-page paper and peer review in-class)
Due Date: December 17th before midnight
Requirements: Your paper may be given in multimodal form (with graphics, animations, etc.) or in a traditional written format. Your essay should be 1250 words minimum.
Objective: All ENG 106 students are required to do this assignment for the very reason that it requires complex thinking to explain a theoretical concept or set of theoretical concepts and then apply these to a given context. It is called a lens assignment because you are using the theoretical concepts as a lens to understand or critique an object of study.
Schedule*
Week 1
T 8/24 PPT for reviewing Syllabus, Drive, Topic
Scholarly Questions
(If time permits) “What is an argument?” assignment
Homework: Read from Bhaskar Sunkara, The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, Ch. 2: “Gravediggers”; listen to RevLeft Radioep. From Oct 1 2020; discussion board post
Homework: Read from Bhaskar Sunkara, The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, Ch. 3: “The Future We Lost”; discussion board post
R 9/16 Quiz #2
Continental Socialism After Marx
Homework: Read from Bhaskar Sunkara, The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, Ch. 7: “Socialism and America”; discussion board post
Geographies of Racial Capitalism (Short Documentary)
Homework: Read from Terry Eagleton, Why Marx Was Right Preface of Second Edition, Original Preface and Ch. 1-2; discussion board post; watch Bee Movie on Netflix
Week 12
T 11/9 Grammar III
Eagleton Preface i, ii and Ch. 1-2
Homework: Read from Terry Eagleton, Why Marx Was Right Ch. 3 and watch In Time (2011) – links below
Homework: Watch Children of Men (2006) on Peacock for free, or rent on other platform; Read from Terry Eagleton, Why Marx Was Right Ch. 4; discussion board post
Homework: Read from Bhaskar Sunkara, The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, Ch. 1 “A Day in the Life of a Socialist” and watch Saving Capitalism on Netflix; discussion board post
R 12/2 Ch. 9 of Eagleton
Homework: Read from Bhaskar Sunkara, The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality, Ch. 8 “Return of the Mack” and watch Requiem for the American Dream on YouTube; discussion board post
Week 15
T 12/7 Return of the Mack
“How We Win” Group Activity
Final Reflections
Homework: Draft of Lensing Assignment due no later than Monday, May 3rd in order to receive comments from professor
*Course schedule is fluid and may require alterations throughout the semester depending on different, unforeseen events or complications. All changes will be announced both in class and via Blackboard/email announcements in due time for students to receive and adjust their plans accordingly.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Fall 1. 2021
Course Title: “Introduction to Latin American Studies” Duration: 12 Weeks Course: Fall 1 and 2 of 2021 Dates: Sept 3-Dec 10, 2021 (with break Oct 9-24) Time: Fridays 3:00pm-4:45pm
Course Description: Latin American Studies critically analyzes the conceptual boundaries of what Latin America is, who Latin America represents, and how this all came to be. A multi-disciplinary field, Latin American Studies combines international relations, policy and law, cultural studies, history, and literary studies. This course will outline many of the theoretical currents of Latin American Studies as a discipline. We will begin by asking the question “What is Latin America?” which is to say, “how did Latin America become Latin America?” We will then piece together the discipline, including approaches in LAS to visual and literary arts, sexuality and gender, colonialism and history, and finally end with contemporary field approaches.
Suggested purchase:
The Companion to Latin American Studies (2003), ed. by Philip Swanson
New Approaches to Latin American Studies: Culture and Power (2018), ed. by Juan Poblete
Schedule
(readings are meant to be done before the class during which they will be discussed)
Sept 3 – What is Latin American Studies (LAS)?: Disciplinary Introduction, History, and Concerns
“Intimacy and Empire: Indian-African Interaction in Spanish Colonial New Mexico, 1500-1800.(Indian-Black Relations in Historical and Anthropological Perspective” by Dedra S. McDonald. The American Indian Quarterly 22, no. 1-2 (January 1, 1998): 143–156.
“A Non‐essentialist Theory of Race: The Case of an Afro‐indigenous Village in Northern Peru” by Tamara Hale. Social Anthropology 23, no. 2 (May 2015): 135–151.
“Who Is Black, White, or Mixed Race? How Skin Color, Status, and Nation Shape Racial Classification in Latin America” by Edward Telles and Tianna Paschel. American Journal of Sociology 120, no. 3 (November 1, 2014): 864–907.
“Race, culture, and history: Charles Wagley and the anthropology of the African Diaspora in the Americas” by Fred Hay. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi. Ciências humanas, 2014-12, Vol.9 (3), p.695-705.
Nov 12 – Afro-Diasporic Religions in the Caribbean
“Of Ghosts and Shadows” and “There is no E in Zombi, Which Means There Can Be No You or We” from Ayiti (2011) by Roxane Gay
Introduction & Ch. 1 of Queering Black Atlantic Religions (2019) by Roberto Strongman
“On the Materiality of Black Atlantic Rituals” in Materialities of Ritual in the Black Atlantic (2014), ed. by Akinwumi Ogundiran, and Paula Saunders
“Ritual Life of an Altar-Home A Photographic Essay on Transformational Places and Technologies” by Raquel Romberg. Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft, vol. 13, no. 2, (Summer 2018)
“‘Maricón,’ ‘Pájaro,’ and ‘Loca’: Cuban and Puerto Rican Linguistic Practices, and Sexual Minority Participation, in U.S. Santería” by Salvador Vidal-Ortiz. Journal of Homosexuality, vol. 58 (2011)
Nov 19– U.S. Imperialism and Hegemony in Latin America
“Inverse Coloniality” from Imperialism and theWiderAtlantic: Essays on theAesthetics, Literature, and Politics of Transatlantic Cultures (2017), ed. Tania Gentic, and Francisco LaRubia-Prado
Passages from The Ideology of Creole Revolution: Imperialism and Independence in American and Latin American Political Thought, Joshua Simon
“Denaturalizing the Monroe Doctrine: The rise of Latin American legal anti-imperialism in the face of the modern US and hemispheric redefinition of the Monroe Doctrine” (2020) by Juan Pablo Scarf
“The Negative Effects of U.S. Imperialism in Central America” by Michael Hendricks
Dec 3 – The Subaltern: Hegemony, Cultural Studies, and Decoloniality
Course: ENG 106 Institution: University of Miami Course Location: Course Time: Course Credit hours: 3 Instructor: Preston Taylor Stone Email: ptstone@miami.edu Office Hours: By appointment (Virtual)
Course Description:
The University of Miami’s English Composition program has two required introductory writing courses: ENG 105 and ENG 106. Both courses are largely skills-based classes. In ENG 105, students learn inquiry and argumentation. In ENG 105, students continue to develop argumentation strategies and incorporate academic research and interpretation techniques. In this course section of ENG 106, we will focus these skills on a centering topic: queer studies. Developing after the institutionalization of LGBT Studies, queer studies comes to us from a variety of places: rejection of identity politics as liberal fantasy, embrace of solidarity, and on-the-ground activism. In this course, we will begin by asking What was queer studies?, a question of history. Reading important pieces of theory from the late 1990s and the 2000s, we will then turn to different cultural texts, including films, songs, music videos, poems, and television. Finally, we will ask the question What is queer culture? and develop a theoretical and cultural lexicon and network of queer culture.
In order to develop the skills of close-reading, research and annotation, interpretation, and citation, this course will use queer theoretical texts and cultural texts. Throughout the course, we will have in-class and online discussions about the social legibility of gender, sexuality, race, and class as well as the project of justice and solidarity. Those who are interested in LGBTQ studies or culture and those who are within the following disciplines/majors are strongly encouraged to join: gender and sexuality studies, English, sociology, anthropology, sociology, political science, modern languages and literatures, American studies, Africana studies, history, philosophy, psychology, art, theatre arts, cinematic arts, communication studies, pre-law, journalism, and music.
Course Goals and Learning Outcomes At the end of this course, students will exhibit the ability to
Demonstrate effective written communication skills in relation to specific rhetorical tasks.
Construct original, well-reasoned arguments using a range of materials
Find, evaluate, integrate, and synthesize appropriate and relevant primary and secondary sources in their writing
Engage in close-reading of texts
Cite sources formally (using MLA, APA, Chicago, or other citation formats)
Required Texts and Materials:
Regular access to a computer
Portable storage (flash drive, email, cloud, etc)
Most texts will be provided on Google Drive and linked on the schedule section of this document. You will be expected to print and bring these to class or have full access to them during class. The text that will not be provided via PDF will be required purchases for students. These required purchases is listed below:
Queer Theory Now: From Foundations to Future by Hannah McCann & Whitney Monaghan
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
IndieBound
Policies & Assignments
Participation Students are required to attend class, come to class on time and prepared (having done the reading/s or assignment/s), at least attempt all classwork activities, turn in assigned work when due, participate fully in good faith in any peer work, participate in class discussion, focus on the work at hand, and conduct oneself in a manner appropriate to the college classroom.
Rubric for class participation
5
Student is always attentive and contributes relevant insight very often, completing all in-class assignments in a collaborative and receptive manner
4
Student is attentive and completes all in-class assignments in a collaborative and receptive manner
3
Student is distracted but completes all in-class assignments
2
Student is often distracted and off-task, hesitant and unreceptive to collaboration
1
Student does not complete in-class assignments
0
Student is absent
Face coverings are mandatory at all times (with the exception of when drinking water) while in on-campus class sessions. Failure to follow this requirement is grounds for disciplinary action and may lead to removal from the classroom and/or the course.
The seat you select on the first day of class must be from among those identified as meeting the physical distance requirements for COVID-19; this seat will be your assigned seat for the remainder of the semester. This will enable the most effective COVID-19 contact tracing, should it be required.
Students are required to use the Daily Symptom Checker and be cleared to attend class each day. Students may be asked to show the green “Good to Go” notice. You may be required to produce your notice at any time while on campus. Students who fail to comply or to produce their “Good to Go” notice will be asked to leave the classroom.
Attendance – Rubric (click here) Each student is allotted 5 unexcused absences (one and a half weeks) and 3 tardies. Absences beyond this may result in deductions from the student’s final grade. Excessive absences will result in the student failing the course. After a student has been late (tardy) 3 times, each following time the student is late will result in 1/3 an absence. This means once a student has been late to class 6 times, they will receive an absence. Students who are consistently distracted in class (texting, browsing the internet, etc.) will be warned to pay closer attention to class. After this warning, if a student is continuously distracted in class, they will be marked absent. Students who acknowledge holy days on the same day(s) we have class will be excused if they have alerted the professor of all of these by the end of three days after you are enrolled in class. Absences do not excuse any due dates or work missed.
Unless you are approved to take this course under the Remote Learning Option, physical attendance in the classroom is required as scheduled. You are expected to participate with your video enabled during your non-classroom days. If at some point in the semester you cannot physically attend class sessions due to illness, injury, or other approved absence, you must contact the instructor for permission to temporarily attend the course online. Unexcused absences from the classroom may affect your grade or lead to failing the course.
On Writing and Reading This class will ask a lot of you in terms of writing and reading. You are likely to do more reading in a quicker time in this course than any other course you have taken before. I will, before class, ask that you respond to several informal prompts on Blackboard in the hopes you will at least attempt to do this work. Homework is a small part of your participation grade but will be immensely helpful to you in thinking about the texts we are discussing and formulating a topic for your final paper. I understand this is not your only class and I respect that you have a personal life beyond our classroom. Nonetheless, I expect you will come to class having at least attempted to do the assigned reading and writing all the way through and having prepared notes, ideas, or questions to discuss with the class.
Revision is a central and integral part of this course and any writing course of merit. In order for your writing to be consistently improving, you must bring it through multiple drafts of revision. Revision, then, is a requirement of this course. You will upload free-write, journaling, even outlines and sketches, to your Google Drive folder. Failure to do so will cast a burden of proof on your having done consistent revision in good faith for each assignment, and this will be reflected in your grades.
Electronics Policy and Google Drive vs. Blackboard Each student is required to bring a tablet, laptop, or similar electronic device to class in order to take notes, complete and submit in-class writing assignments, access readings or notes for class discussion, and participate in peer review. No electronic device should be a distraction from the activities of the classroom for any student. The use of laptops or tablets is allowed only to complete classroom-related activities. If electronic devices become a distraction or a means by which students avoid class participation, the student(s) in violation will receive an absence for class that day.
We will spend most of our class time working in Google Drive, a cloud-based file sharing system to which each student at the University of Miami has access. To log-in to your Google Drive, visit google.miami.edu and use the same credentials you use to access your email, Canelink, and Blackboard interfaces. You will have your own folder within the classroom’s folder (“ENG 105 D3 – Fall 2020”). Drive is where you will submit your drafts, revisions, in-class writing assignments, reflections, and peer reviews. It is up to you to make sure you have access to your Blackboard and Google Drive accounts and folders at all times. Inability to access Google Drive or Blackboard will not be sufficient excuse for not turning in assignments on time. For IT help, UMIT is located on the third floor of the Richter Library or may be accessed at it.miami.edu.
Students are expressly prohibited from recording any part of this course. Meetings of this course might be recorded by the University. Any recordings will be available to students registered for this class as they are intended to supplement the classroom experience. Students are expected to follow appropriate University policies and maintain the security of passwords used to access recorded lectures. Recordings may not be reproduced, shared with those not in the class, or uploaded to other online environments. If the instructor or a University of Miami office plans any other uses for the recordings, beyond this class, students identifiable in the recordings will be notified to request consent prior to such use. This instructor is the copyright owner of the courseware; individual recordings of the materials on Blackboard and/or of the virtual sessions are not allowed. Such materials cannot be shared outside the physical or virtual classroom environment without express permission.
Academic Honor Code As a student of the University of Miami, you have agreed to uphold the Honor Code. Violation of this code includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, or academic dishonesty. Title II, B of the Undergraduate Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook defines each of these violations:
Cheating – Implies the intent to deceive. It includes all actions, devices and deceptions used in the attempt to commit this act. Examples include, but are not limited to, copying answers from another student’s exam, and using a cheat sheet or crib notes in an exam.
Plagiarism – is representing the words or ideas of someone else as your own. Examples include, but are not limited to, failing to properly cite direct quotes and failing to give credit for someone else’s ideas.
Collusion – is the act of working together on an academic undertaking for which a student is individually responsible. Examples include, but are not limited to, sharing information in labs that are to be done individually.
Academic Dishonesty – includes any other act not specifically covered that compromises the integrity of a student or intrudes, violates, or disturbs the academic environment of the university community. Examples are attempting or agreeing to commit, or assisting in or facilitating the commission of, any scholastic dishonesty violation, failing to appear or testify without good cause when requested by the Honor Council, failing to keep information about cases confidential, supplying false information to the Honor Council and accusing a student of a violation of this Code in bad faith.
Any student who violates the Honor Code will fail not only the assignment but the entire course. Each of you has the ability to think through your own unique ideas. If you are thinking of violating the Honor Code because you are overwhelmed or in distress, speak with me and we will come up with a better solution.
On Accessibility and Acceptance Every student, no matter their identity, ideology, or ability, is welcome and valued in this class. This class will require that we confront political, social, and ideological questions that may be deemed controversial. I encourage you not to shy away from this opportunity to think through these issues. No matter what, no student should ever feel unwelcome or unsafe in this classroom. If you find that you feel inappropriately uncomfortable, consistently unsafe, or need help, please let me know immediately and I will direct you to the resources that may help. The University of Miami Counseling Center (UMCC) provides professional support to students no matter their gender expression, sexual preferences, sex, race, financial or immigration status. You can make an appointment by calling 305-284-5511, by visiting counseling.studentaffairs.miami.edu, or by visiting the counseling center on Merrick Dr. (across from the Pavia Garage).
Students with accessibility requirements are provided for by the University of Miami’s Office of Disability Services (ODS) and may contact this office at 305-284-2374 or disabilityservices@miami.edu to make any requests for accessibility. If you have trouble contacting the ODS, let me know and I will help you. If you have contacted the ODS and have any requirements of me, please be sure to let me know as soon as possible.
Turning in assignments Papers should be submitted on Blackboard or Google Drive on the day and at the specified time they are due. Each day a paper is late, there will be a deduction of 10% from the grade. All assignments are assigned in due time to be completed by each student on time. It is your own job to make sure you do not forget deadlines and that you turn your assignments into the correct platform (Blackboard, email, or Google Drive). Every deadline is listed on this document in the schedule section, on the assignment sheets themselves, and verbally said in class. If you require an extension(s) for your assignment(s), you must request them of the instructor at least three class periods (over a week) prior to the due date of the assignment. Under no circumstances is the instructor required to grant you an extension(s). No late blackboard posts will be accepted.
The Writing Center (www.as.miami.edu/writingcenter) can help you at any stage of the writing process. Appointments are suggested, but they also accept ‘walk-in’ visits. If I think it’s necessary, I will ask you to use the Writing Center on a regular basis. Please note that all appointments are currently being held online until further notice. To make an online appointment, make an account at the above link/sign in as usual and choose an available time.
Extra Credit is not available or permitted in this course. I do not allow extra credit for several reasons: put simply, it is unfair to those who have committed to the work required of this class if others are able to do extra work for credit. Moreover, extra credit requires extra effort and time to which I am unable to commit for reading, annotating, grading, and categorizing within the gradebook.
On Communication I will make a point to learn each of your names and I expect you will learn to use one another’s name in conversation, as well (“I agree with what ___ said”). This will create a welcoming and meaningful culture for our classroom. If you have a question about the policies or assignments for this class, you may speak to me before, during, or after class, via email, or in office hours. I will make a point to reply to your email within 24-to-48 hours. If you have not received a response from me after two days, you should email me again. Please do not email me to ask questions about an assignment one or two days before it is due as this will not allow due time for me to respond and for you to use this answer in writing your assignment.
Grades If you have a question or concern about an assignment or participation grade, please come and see me during my office hours or talk with me before or after class to arrange a meeting. Due to federal requirements, UM faculty are not permitted to discuss grades via email or phone, so we will need to meet in person and in private.
Overall Grade Distribution:
Attendance/Class participation
100pts
Close-reading
150pts
Blackboard Posts/Reading Annotations
150pts
Comparative Context Analysis project
100pts
Literature Review
200pts
Research Paper
150pts
Lensing Assignment
150pts
Total
1000pts
Grading Scale:
A
940-1000
A-
900-939
B+
870-899
B
830-869
B-
800-829
C+
770-799
C
730-769
C-
700-729
D+
670-699
D
600-669
F
0-599
A – Exemplary B – Effective C – Sufficient D – Unsatisfactory F – Failure
Assignments
Blackboard reading responses – Rubric (click here) The night before most reading assignments are due, you will be asked to respond to a specific prompt or question related to the reading. These responses are designed to stimulate your thinking about the text and the course themes and help prepare you for class discussion. They are also great places to start generating ideas for your essays and research projects. These posts will be graded based on completion, but thoughtful responses will enrich our class discussions and help you develop confidence in your ideas, critical reading skills, and writing. All posts are due before class time. To earn full points on your reading responses, you will need to write thoughtful answers in full sentences and/or paragraphs and submit your post before class time. *200-300 words each*
In-class writing responses Each Thursday, we will have ‘Through-line Thursday’ where you and a partner will connect a minimum of two and a maximum of four sources, one of which must include the reading for that Thursday. The other sources could be something we have previously discussed in this course or something you read, saw, heard outside of class. The point of this assignment is to practice making connections between different cultural texts, a skill you will be required to showcase in the research paper (discussed below). Whereas the Blackboard reading responses test reading comprehension (that you understand what you read), these in-class writing responses will test argumentation (that you have thoughts about what you’ve read). These assignments are written in groups and while quotations will be helpful to make your connections between sources, this must be original work so the majority of the writing should be that of yourself and your group member(s). These assignments are turned in on Blackboard. *350-500 words each*
Close reading This brief analysis paper will require you to select a passage from a written text we read in class or another part of digital media (music video, poetry reading, speech, performance art) and examine how the writer/artist uses language and rhetorical strategies. Note that this is not a report on what the author is saying nor is it a summary of the cultural text. While it will be important to understand the cultural text, this assignment is meant to explain how the artist conveys their story or argument (the types of evidence they use, the methods of presenting, the poetic language used, the form of presentation). You may choose to do a close reading of a cultural text (short story, poem, film, mini-series, documentary, music video) or an academic text (peer-reviewed article, monograph chapter). *1000 words min.*
Comparative Context Analysis project For this assignment, your group will choose a piece from the special collections in the Kislak Center and compare/contrast how this piece has been or might be discussed in three different rhetorical contexts, genres, or academic disciplines. For instance, you might look at the zine The Popstitutes, 86-95: boredom = death and discuss how it might be approached by social sciences, humanities, economics, or healthcare fields and in a popular source such as a magazine, newspaper, or film. You should then use your analysis to make recommendations for writing persuasively in each of these contexts. *group presentation of approx. 20-25 mins*
Annotated Bibliography – Rubric (click here) This assignment will act as Part 1 of your research project. After selecting a topic for your project, you will conduct research and provide an overview of the existing body of research on the topic—trace the different schools of thought or approaches to the topic, summarize what other scholars have said, and examine how they agree, disagree, and relate to each other. This is, in short, a report on all of the scholarship about a given topic (or as much as you can find). Think of this as if you are stepping into the ongoing scholarly conversation about your topic and your goal is to outline each of the strands of that conversation. This performance of research and abridging arguments of other scholars is an important part of recognizing there is an ongoing interest in the topic you are researching and it will be very important to do as you continue in your academic career. The annotated bibliography will help you situate your own argument (that of your research paper) within the existing scholarly research. Aspects of this will become crucial during your research paper since you will need to reference sources in this list in your paper. Therefore, as you are researching, you would be wise to think about what others are not saying so that you can provide the missing link. *minimum of 10 peer-reviewed sources*
Research paper – Rubric (click here) You will produce a research paper in a scholarly format on a topic of your interest that relates to our focus of study: black feminism. I encourage you to think about topics addressed by your area of study. This is not a report or summary of different sources (literature review). Though you will use your literature review to situate your own argument, the majority of your paper should be dedicated to developing your own argument and situating your own contribution to (or criticism of) the arguments of others. Your essay must use research from scholarly sources (min. of 7 peer-reviewed sources), put forward a clear and convincing position on your topic, and follow a single citation style, format, and set of conventions (MLA, Chicago, or APA). *1500 words min.*
Lensing assignment – Rubric (click here) This assignment asks you to use a theoretical or conceptual text as a framework to read a primary text, such as a creative or fictional work. One way to approach this is to imagine yourself as the author of the theoretical text and respond to the second text from their perspective. Therefore, the goal of this assignment is to use the concepts and ideas of the theoretical text as a “lens” to evaluate and interpret the cultural text. *1500 words min.*
ENG 106 Fall 2021 Course Schedule
(subject to change—any changes will be announced with due notice. Homework is due for the next class session)
Week 1
T 8/18
R 8/20
Homework:
Homework:
Week 2
T 8/25
R 8/27
Homework:
Homework:
Week 3
T 9/1
R 9/3
Homework:
Homework:
Week 4
T 9/8
R 9/10
Homework:
Homework:
Week 5
T 9/15
R 9/17
Homework:
Homework:
Week 6
T 9/22
R 9/24
Homework:
Homework:
Week 7
T 9/29
R 10/1
Homework:
Homework:
Week 8
T 10/6
R 10/8
Homework:
Homework:
Week 9
T 10/13
R 10/15
Homework:
Homework:
Week 10
T 10/20
R 10/22
Homework:
Homework:
Week 11
T 10/27
R 10/29
Homework:
Homework:
Week 12
T 11/3
R 11/5
Homework:
Homework:
Week 13
T 11/10
R 11/12
Homework:
Homework:
Week 14
T 11/17
R 11/19
Homework:
Homework:
Week 15
*
Week 16
**FINAL DRAFT OF LENSING ASSIGNMENT DUE TO GOOGLE DRIVE NO LATER THAN 11:59 P.M. ON **
Course: ENG 106, Sections T2 and U3 Institution: University of Miami Course Location: Dooly 211 Course Time: T/TH 6:00-7:15pm (T2), T/TH 7:40-8:55pm (U3) Course Credit hours: 3 Instructor: Preston Taylor Stone Email:ptstone@miami.edu Office Hours: By appointment (Virtual)
Course Description: Contrary to popular belief, socialist ideas are not new to the American political scene. Throughout American history, there have been several left-leaning political movements who found their inspiration from Karl Marx’s writings and the philosophers and political economists who came after calling themselves Marxists. The so-called red scares of American history reveal a concerted effort by government officials and their proxies to stifle left-leaning political movements that would encourage class solidarity or redistribution of wealth in America. Unfortunately, what this has meant is that the majority of people in today’s United States do not have an accurate understanding of Marxism, its philosophy of history or its politics of economy. This course attempts to right this wrong. We will consider the economic, historical, and anthropological as well as sociological inspirations and outcomes in the American political system of Marxist thought. In short, the class will provide students with a deeper understanding of Marx, the Marxist view of history, philosophy, and political economy, and the internationalist and anti-imperialist politics that developed in the United States inspired by Marxist ideologies throughout the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries.
By reading the work of writer-activists like Emma Goldman, Eugene V. Debs, Claudia Jones, Huey P. Newton, George Jackson, Angela Y. Davis and many others, we will connect the theoretical terms Marx and other philosophers developed to different political movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. Finally, we will consider the contemporary moment: what kind of Marxist politics are developing in America in the 21st century? What version of left-leaning politics can exist in the U.S. after the ‘fall’ of communism in the early 1990s? Where and how does Marxism reside in the U.S. today?
As the purpose of ENG 106 at the University of Miami is to prepare students to enter the academic community of the university through writing, students will be required to read, interpret, research, contextualize, and write about the works introduced in the course. Students will be introduced to primary and secondary research strategies, argumentation and contextualization, and citation styles required of all successful researchers. All of these skills will pertain to the central theme of the course, in this case Marxism.
Course Goals and Learning Outcomes At the end of this course, students will exhibit the ability to
Demonstrate effective written communication skills in relation to specific rhetorical tasks.
Construct original, well-reasoned arguments using a range of materials
Find, evaluate, integrate, and synthesize appropriate and relevant primary and secondary sources in their writing
Engage in close-reading of texts
Cite sources formally (using MLA, APA, Chicago, or other citation formats)
Required Materials
Regular access to a computer
Portable storage (flash drive, email, cloud, etc)
Most texts will be provided on Google Drive and linked on the schedule section of this document. You will be expected to print and bring these to class or have full access to them during class.
Access to Netflix streaming services and YouTube
As far as textbooks for this class are concerned, there are two required purchases. All others will be shared via PDF
Marxism in the United States: A History of the American Left by Peter Buhle (2013 Edition) Verso Bookshop Amazon
Participation Students are required to attend class, come to class on time and prepared (having done the reading/s or assignment/s), at least attempt all classwork activities, turn in assigned work when due, participate fully in good faith in any peer work, participate in class discussion, focus on the work at hand, and conduct oneself in a manner appropriate to the college classroom.
Rubric for class participation
5
Student is always attentive and contributes relevant insight very often, completing all in-class assignments in a collaborative and receptive manner
4
Student is attentive and completes all in-class assignments in a collaborative and receptive manner
3
Student is distracted but completes all in-class assignments
2
Student is often distracted and off-task, hesitant and unreceptive to collaboration
1
Student does not complete in-class assignments
0
Student is absent
On Writing and Reading This class will ask a lot of you in terms of writing and reading. You are likely to do more reading in a quicker time in this course than any other course you have taken before. I will, before class, ask that you respond to several informal prompts on Blackboard in the hopes you will at least attempt to do this work. Homework is a small part of your participation grade but will be immensely helpful to you in thinking about the texts we are discussing and formulating a topic for your final paper. I understand this is not your only class and I respect that you have a personal life beyond our classroom. Nonetheless, I expect you will come to class having at least attempted to do the assigned reading and writing all the way through and having prepared notes, ideas, or questions to discuss with the class.
Revision is a central and integral part of this course and any writing course of merit. In order for your writing to be consistently improving, you must bring it through multiple drafts of revision. Revision, then, is a requirement of this course. You will upload free-write, journaling, even outlines and sketches, to your Google Drive folder. Failure to do so will cast a burden of proof on your having done consistent revision in good faith for each assignment, and this will be reflected in your grades.
Attendance Each student is allotted 4 unexcused absences (two whole weeks) and 3 tardies. Absences beyond this may result in deductions from the student’s final grade. Excessive absences will result in the student failing the course. After a student has been late (tardy) 3 times, each following time the student is late will result in 1/3 an absence. This means once a student has been late to class 6 times, they will receive an absence. Students who are consistently distracted in class (texting, browsing the internet, etc.) will be warned to pay closer attention to class. After this warning, if a student is continuously distracted in class, they will be marked absent. Students who acknowledge holy days on the same day(s) we have class will be excused if they have alerted the professor of all of these by the end of three days after you are enrolled in class. Absences do not excuse any due dates or work missed.
Electronics Policy and Google Drive vs. Blackboard Each student is required to bring tablet, laptop, or similar electronic device to class in order to take notes, complete and submit in-class writing assignments, access readings or notes for class discussion, and participate in peer review. No electronic device should be a distraction from the activities of the classroom for any student. The use of laptops or tablets is allowed only to complete classroom-related activities. If electronic devices become a distraction or a means by which students avoid class participation, the student(s) in violation will receive an absence for class that day.
We will spend most of our class time working in Google Drive, a cloud-based file sharing system to which each student at the University of Miami has access. To log-in to your Google Drive, visit google.miami.edu and use the same credentials you use to access your email, Canelink, and Blackboard interfaces. You will have your own folder within the classroom’s folder (“ENG 106 S20”). Drive is where you will submit your drafts, revisions, in-class writing assignments, reflections, and peer reviews. The only thing you will not submit to this folder is your final draft to each assignment, which must be uploaded to Blackboard. It is up to you to make sure you have access to your Blackboard and Google Drive accounts and folders at all times. Inability to access Google Drive or Blackboard will not be sufficient excuse for not turning in assignments on time. For IT help, UMIT is located on the third floor of the Richter Library.
Academic Honor Code As a student of the University of Miami, you have agreed to uphold the Honor Code. Violation of this code includes but is not limited to cheating, plagiarism, collusion, or academic dishonesty. The Undergraduate Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook defines each of these violations:
Cheating – Implies the intent to deceive. It includes all actions, devices and deceptions used in the attempt to commit this act. Examples include, but are not limited to, copying answers from another student’s exam, and using a cheat sheet or crib notes in an exam.
Plagiarism – is representing the words or ideas of someone else as your own. Examples include, but are not limited to, failing to properly cite direct quotes and failing to give credit for someone else’s ideas.
Collusion – is the act of working together on an academic undertaking for which a student is individually responsible. Examples include, but are not limited to, sharing information in labs that are to be done individually.
Academic Dishonesty – includes any other act not specifically covered that compromises the integrity of a student or intrudes, violates, or disturbs the academic environment of the university community. Examples are attempting or agreeing to commit, or assisting in or facilitating the commission of, any scholastic dishonesty violation, failing to appear or testify without good cause when requested by the Honor Council, failing to keep information about cases confidential, supplying false information to the Honor Council and accusing a student of a violation of this Code in bad faith.
Title II, B
Any student who violates the Honor Code will fail not only the assignment but the entire course. Each of you has the ability to think through your own unique ideas. If you are thinking of violating the Honor Code because you are overwhelmed or in distress, speak with me and we will come up with a better solution.
On Accessibility and Acceptance Every student, no matter their identity, ideology, or ability, is welcome and valued in this class. This class will require that we confront political, social, and ideological questions that may be deemed controversial. I encourage you not to shy away from this opportunity to think through these issues. No matter what, no student should ever feel unwelcome or unsafe in this classroom. If you find that you feel inappropriately uncomfortable, consistently unsafe, or need help, please let me know immediately and I will direct you to the resources that may help. The University of Miami Counseling Center (UMCC) provides professional support to students no matter their gender expression, sexual preferences, sex, race, financial or immigration status. You can make an appointment by calling 305-284-5511, by visiting counseling.studentaffairs.miami.edu, or by visiting the counseling center on Merrick Dr. (across from the Pavia Garage).
Students with accessibility requirements are provided for by the University of Miami’s Office of Disability Services (ODS) and may contact this office at 305-284-2374 or disabilityservices@miami.edu to make any requests for accessibility. If you have trouble contacting the ODS, let me know and I will help you. If you have contacted the ODS and have any requirements of me, please be sure to let me know as soon as possible.
Turning in assignments Papers should be submitted on Blackboard or Google Drive on the day and at the specified time they are due. Each day a paper is late, there will be a deduction of 10% from the grade. All assignments are assigned in due time to be completed by each student on time. It is your own job to make sure you do not forget deadlines and that you turn your assignments into the correct platform (Blackboard, email, or Google Drive). Every deadline is listed on this document in the schedule section, on the assignment sheets themselves, and verbally said in class. If you require an extension(s) for your assignment(s), you must request them of the instructor at least three class periods (over a week) prior to the due date of the assignment. Under no circumstances is the instructor required to grant you an extension(s). No late blackboard posts will be accepted.
The Writing Center (www.as.miami.edu/writingcenter) can help you at any stage of the writing process. Appointments are suggested, but they also accept ‘walk-in’ visits. If I think it’s necessary, I will ask you to use the Writing Center on a regular basis. Please note that all appointments are currently being held online until further notice. To make an online appointment, make an account at the above link/sign in as usual and choose an available time.
Extra Credit is not available or permitted in this course. I do not allow extra credit for several reasons: put simply, it is unfair to those who have committed to the work required of this class if others are able to do extra work for credit. Moreover, extra credit requires extra effort and time to which I am unable to commit for reading, annotating, grading, and categorizing within the gradebook.
On Communication I will make a point to learn each of your names and I expect you will learn to use one another’s name in conversation, as well (“I agree with what ___ said”). This will create a welcoming and meaningful culture for our classroom. If you have a question about the policies or assignments for this class, you may speak to me before, during, or after class, via email, or in office hours. I will make a point to reply to your email within 24-to-48 hours. If you have not received a response from me after two days, you should email me again. Please do not email me to ask questions about an assignment one or two days before it is due as this will not allow due time for me to respond and for you to use this answer in writing your assignment.
Grades If you have a question or concern about an assignment or participation grade, please come and see me during my office hours or talk with me before or after class to arrange a meeting. Due to federal requirements, UM faculty are not permitted to discuss grades via email or phone, so we will need to meet in person and in private.
Overall Grade Distribution:
Attendance/Class participation
10%
Blackboard Posts
15%
Quizzes
10%
Reading Annotations
15%
Annotated Bibliography
20%
Research Essay
15%
Lensing Assignment
15%
Total
100%
Grading Scale:
A
940-1000
A-
900-939
B+
870-899
B
830-869
B-
800-829
C+
770-799
C
730-769
C-
700-729
D+
670-699
D
600-669
F
0-599
A – Exemplary B – Effective C – Sufficient D – Unsatisfactory F – Failure
Assignments
Blackboard reading responses The night before most reading assignments are due, you will be asked to respond to a specific prompt or question related to the reading. These responses are designed to stimulate your thinking about the text and the course themes and help prepare you for class discussion. They are also great places to start generating ideas for your essays and research projects. These posts will be graded based on completion, but thoughtful responses will enrich our class discussions and help you develop confidence in your ideas, critical reading skills, and writing. All posts are due before class time. To earn full points on your reading responses, you will need to write thoughtful answers in full sentences and/or paragraphs and submit your post before class time. *200-300 words each*
In-class writing responses Often on Thursday, we will have ‘Through-line Thursday’ where you and a partner will connect a minimum of two and a maximum of four sources, one of which must include the reading for that Thursday. The other sources could be something we have previously discussed in this course or something you read, saw, heard outside of class. The point of this assignment is to practice making connections between different cultural texts, a skill you will be required to showcase in the research paper (discussed below). Whereas the Blackboard reading responses test reading comprehension (that you understand what you read), these in-class writing responses will test argumentation (that you have thoughts about what you’ve read). These assignments are written in groups and while quotations will be helpful to make your connections between sources, this must be original work so the majority of the writing should be that of yourself and your group member(s). These assignments are turned in on Blackboard. *250-350 words each*
Quizzes Throughout the semester, we will have brief quizzes on common grammatical mistakes, citation formatting, and comprehension of reading assignments. All of these will be reviewed ahead of time and all will be open-notes, so you should not stress about these. However, because you will only be allotted a certain amount of time to complete these quizzes, you should still familiarize yourself with the material before the day of the quiz.
Scholarly Questions & Reading Annotation This project asks each student to annotate readings and post questions about the readings. This is an on-going assignment throughout the first half of the semester—you have until March 1 to complete 1000 words of annotations and log them onto your annotation sheet that you turn in. The instructor will explain how to do this logging; however, the annotation that you do should be fairly simple. For each reading, the link will take you to a PDF in Google Drive. Highlighting certain words and phrases will result in a comment button appearing next to where you have highlighted words. You can annotate by clicking on this “Add Comment” button. For scholarly questions regarding the readings, you should use Dr. Kyla Tompkins’ pointers to make sure that the question you are posing is the best it can be. *1000 words min.*
Annotated Bibliography This assignment will act as Part 1 of your research project. After selecting a topic for your project, you will conduct research and provide an overview of the existing body of research on the topic—trace the different schools of thought or approaches to the topic, summarize what other scholars have said, and examine how they agree, disagree, and relate to each other. This is, in short, a report on all of the scholarship about a given topic (or as much as you can find). Think of this as if you are stepping into the ongoing scholarly conversation about your topic and your goal is to outline each of the strands of that conversation. This performance of research and abridging arguments of other scholars is an important part of recognizing there is an ongoing interest in the topic you are researching and it will be very important to do as you continue in your academic career. The annotated bibliography will help you situate your own argument (that of your research paper) within the existing scholarly research. Aspects of this will become crucial during your research paper since you will need to reference sources in this list in your paper. Therefore, as you are researching, you would be wise to think about what others are not saying so that you can provide the missing link. *minimum of 10 peer-reviewed sources*
Research paper You will produce a research paper in a scholarly format on a topic of your interest that relates to our focus of study: Marxism in America. I encourage you to think about topics addressed by your area of study. This is not a report or summary of different sources (literature review). Though you will use your annotated bibliography to situate your own argument, the majority of your paper should be dedicated to developing your own argument and situating your own contribution to (or criticism of) the arguments of others. Your essay must use research from scholarly sources (min. of 7 peer-reviewed sources), put forward a clear and convincing position on your topic, and follow a single citation style, format, and set of conventions (MLA, Chicago, or APA). *1500 words min.*
Lensing assignment (potential multimodal presentation) This assignment asks you to use a theoretical or conceptual text as a framework to read a primary text, such as a creative or fictional work. One way to approach this is to imagine yourself as the author of the theoretical text and respond to the second text from their perspective. Therefore, the goal of this assignment is to use the concepts and ideas of the theoretical text as a “lens” to evaluate and interpret the cultural text. Your paper may be given in multimodal form (with graphics, animations, etc.) or in a traditional written format. *1500 words min.*
(If time permits) “What is an argument?” assignment
Homework: Read through syllabus to prepare for open-notes quiz, discussion board post: what do you think of when you think of Marxism? What perceptions do you have about it?; Watch Chicken Run on Hulu or Spirited Away on HBO Max
Homework: Read from Paul Buhle, Marxism in the United States: A History of the American Left Ch. 3 (pp. 86-120 — see below, you should try to read as much as you can but focus your energy on the pages assigned to you); discussion board post
Homework: Read from Paul Buhle, Marxism in the United States: A History of the American Left Ch. 4 (pp. 121-154) and “The Black Bolsheviks” in Socialist Worker; discussion board post
Homework: Read from Paul Buhle, Marxism in the United States: A History of the American Left p. 199-220 [for those who do not have the physical book, this is the subheading “Trotskyism and the Search for Alternatives” in Chapter 6 until the end of the chapter]; discussion board post
Homework: Read from Paul Buhle, Marxism in the United States: A History of the American Left Ch. 7 (221-257); Watch The Trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix; discussion board post
Homework: Read from Terry Eagleton, Why Marx Was Right Preface of Second Edition, Original Preface and Ch. 1-2; discussion board post; watch Bee Movie on Netflix
Homework: Watch Children of Men (2006) on Peacock for free, or rent on other platform; Read from Terry Eagleton, Why Marx Was Right Ch. 4; discussion board post
R 4/15 Ch. 4 Eagleton
Homework: Research essay due no later than Fri., 4/16 at 11:59pm; Read from Terry Eagleton, Why Marx Was Right Ch. 7 and watch 13th on Netflix; discussion board post
*Course schedule is fluid and may require alterations throughout the semester depending on different, unforeseen events or complications. All changes will be announced both in class and via Blackboard/email announcements in due time for students to receive and adjust their plans accordingly.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Summer 2. 2021
Course Title: “Introduction to Critical Theory” Duration: Six Weeks Course: Summer 2 of 2021 Dates: June 11-July 16, 2021 Time: Fridays 3:00pm-4:45pm
Course Description: The contemporary world has seen more changes in status of citizenship, nationality, legal personhood, and migration than ever before. It is, therefore, important that we discuss how these changes impact our lives and the lives of others with whom we share this world. This course will center around arguments of citizenship, migration, and incarceration. We will read different accounts of experience, theory, and law surrounding these themes in order first to have a better and more holistic understanding of the issues of our present day and second to deconstruct the arguments and evidence each of the readings put forward so that we can understand how to make compelling arguments of our own. No previous knowledge is required for enjoyment of this course.
Suggested purchases (in order of importance); Please note #2 is a PDF linked to another website and #3 and #4 are PDFs linked to this website, so purchase only necessary if student wishes to have physical copies:
The Penguin Book of Migration Literature (2019) ed. by Dohra Ahmad
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). Summer 1. 2021
Course Title: “Introduction to Critical Theory” Duration: Six Weeks Course: Summer 1 of 2021 Dates: April 23-May 28, 2021 Time: Fridays 3:00pm-4:45pm
Course Description: Black Feminism largely developed out of the writings and speeches of nineteenth century black women abolitionists like Ida B. Wells and Sojourner Truth. Since then, it has developed into an academic form of study that focuses largely on the systems of power that structure the institutions of our society: the economy, the state, culture, race and gender. This series will familiarize attendants with the writings and teachings of black feminists like Truth and Wells. At the root of Black Feminism is the notion that lived experience is itself theory. We will trace the historical and rhetorical development of black feminist practice and theory by discussing the work of scholars like Claudia Jones, M. Jacqui Alexander, Barbara Smith, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Patricia Hill Collins, Angela Y. Davis, bell hooks, and Hazel V. Carby, along with writers like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Audre Lorde, Roxane Gay, Claudia Rankine and musical and cultural artists like Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Beyoncé, Janelle Monáe, Nicki Minaj, Young M.A., Megan Thee Stallion, and SZA.
Ch 1 & all of Part III from Seeking the Beloved Community
“Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book” by Hortense J. Spillers
“The Social Construction of Black Feminist Thought” by Patricia Hill Collins
“Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics” by Kimberlé Crenshaw
“Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” by Cathy J. Cohen
“But Some of Us Are Brave Lesbians: The Absence of Black Lesbian Fiction” by Jewelle Gomez
Selections from Wayword Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women and Queer Radicals by Saidiya Hartman
“Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power” by Audre Lorde
“Queer Black Feminism: The Pleasure Principle” by Laure Alexandra Harris
Preston Taylor Stone 