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Home > Curriculum > Course Proposal > Descriptions for Course Proposal > Examples of Honors College Identities Colloquia
Examples of Honors College Identities ColloquiaHC 424HInstructors Carla Gary and Joseph Fracchia HC IDENTITIES COLLOQUIUM "Visions of Freedom III: The Violence of Constraint-Theoretical Questions, Lived Experience, and Legal Issues in Race and Class" In our world, in which "violence" is defined as that which "criminals" and "terrorists" do, we might do well to recall the etymology of the English term-from the Greek β?a, meaning bodily strength, but which has the derived meaning: "to constrain." Seen as "constraint," "violence" becomes a much wider and deeper term, referring not just to the exercise of physical force, but as the exercise of any kind of constraint that infringes on a person's or a group's freedom. Seen as "constraint," then, violence is the direct opposite of "freedom"-a term that has become so inflated today that it is applied to, in order to sell, everything from shoes, to cars, to cell phones. In this course we intend to return to this original meaning of "violence" in order to rethink notions of freedom. We will focus primarily on race and class, but also on how race and class are mediated by gender, and study how these socially constructed categories exercise constraints that obstruct the freedom of those whose identity and life-experience are defined by them. By exposing the constraining dimensions of violence, we will be able to define in greater depth the hidden dimensions of freedom. In the first two-thirds of the course we will study first the categories of race and class and then the relations (intersecting, parallel, opposing) between them. In the study of these categories, our inquiry will be concerned with three issues: the social construction of the category; the consequences of its institutionalization; and the lived experience of those whose lives are constrained by them-both the violence suffered and the forms of resistance they develop. In the final third of the course we will turn attention to the problem of social inequalities and the law. We will focus on legal battles over questions of comparable worth, affirmative action, and reparations for slave labor in order to determine what dimensions of freedom are embedded in our constitution and to what dimensions might it be myopic if not blind. Readings include: Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth; Robin D.B. Kelley, Yo Mama's Dysfunctional; Paule Marshall, Praisesong for the Widow; Richard Wright, Native Son: Studs Terkel, Working; W.E.B DuBois, Selected Writings; Barbara Garson, The Electronic Sweatshop; Robert Howard, Brave New Workplace. HC 424H Professor Mia Tuan HC IDENTITIES COLLOQUIUM "Modern American Race Relations" Now more than ever we are in need of people who have invested the time and energy to develop thoughtfulness and sensitivity when it comes to issues of race. We need people who can speak intelligently about racial issues, who know the facts (or can be honest when they don't), and are able to juggle the complicated factors informing such issues. But equally important, we need people who understand first hand just how hard it is to engage with others around race and have developed the stamina and understanding to hang in there even during difficult times. The purpose of this course is to support individuals in developing these complimentary strengths by providing a comprehensive "taste" of the race relations field and ample opportunities to engage with one another around race. Course requirements include weekly reading summaries and personal memos, graded attendance and participation, one 6-8 page paper, and a comprehensive oral final exam. HC 424H Professor Frances Cogan HC IDENTITIES COLLOQUIUM "American Women's Captivity Narrative" During this term we will explore what many have called a purely American genre: the captivity narrative. Growing out of the experiences of women on the frontier captured by Native Americans and held prisoner, such narratives inadvertently helped sketch the characteristics of the American heroine as the captivity narrative became a template for fictional versions (e.g. James F. Cooper et al). Though the classic captivity narrative deals exclusively with American citizens captured by hostile natives, this term we will expand the boundaries of the genre to focus primarily on women captives (the most common) and to expand the normal reading list to include other possible examples of adaptation of the captivity narrative: the slave narrative, tales of kidnapping, POW accounts, and internment narratives. Texts will include: Captured By Indians (anthology ed. VanDerBeets); Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; Houston, Farewell to Manzanar; Hearst-Patty Hearst: Her Own Story; Mahmoody, Not Without My Daughter, Interrupted Lives (collection of 4 excerpts, ed. Nova). There will be a packet as well containing additional narratives (traditional) and an excerpt from Rhonda Cornum's She Went To War, about the P.O.W. experience of Major Rhonda Cornum, a U.S. Army doctor, captured by the Iraqis during the Gulf War. Class will require: 2 medium length (6-8 pg) papers using critical sources, a 10-12 minute oral report on a work on the outside reading list, and a final exam. A project MAY be substituted for the final. Class is a combination of seminar and lecture, with question and answer. |
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