English 190

Book List

Adichie, C: Americanah; Cole, T: Open City; Rhodes-Pitts, S.: Harlem is Nowhere; Smith, Z: N.W.

Other Readings and Media

Course Reader with required essays will be available for purchase. Films and television shows, available for screening in Moffit Library, will include projects by Mira Nair (Salaam Bombay), David Simon (Treme), Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy), and Raoul Peck (Lumumba: Death of a Prophet). 

Description

This is a course that weds postcolonial literary theory to cultural studies to critical geography to art. We'll read novels and watch films from several cities--London, Kingston, Johannesburg, New York, New Orleans, Lagos, Bombay/Mumbai--and think about how artists render urban space when they are also attending to questions of power, desire, memory, and performance. Weekly written responses will help to track our reactions to these course texts, whilst forming the foundation of the course's heart: an independent research project on a Bay Area City of your choice.

Please read the paragraph about English 190 on page 2 of the instructions area of this Announcement of Classes for more details about enrolling in or wait-listing for this course.