Module Information
Course Delivery
Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
---|---|
Seminars / Tutorials | 10 x 2hr seminars |
Assessment
Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
---|---|---|
Semester Assessment | 2 X 3000 WORD ESSAYS | 100% |
Supplementary Assessment | Resubmit or resit failed elements and/or make good any missing elements. |
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
demonstrate knowledge of a range of African American Literature with reference to cultural and historical context;
identify genres within the scope of African American Literature with a particular emphasis on women's fiction and black drama;
describe the development of the novel from 19th century slave-narratives;
articulate the impact on African American Fiction and drama of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s;
read literary texts in an informed and critical manner;
engage in coherent oral discussion of the texts and their contexts;
write about the subject in a well-structured and argued manner with reference to cultural and historical context.
Brief description
_Seminar 1: Introduction: Slave narratives; lyrics of early blues and spirituals
- Required reading: Helena Grice et al, Beginning Ethnic American Literatures, chapters 1+2; Frederick Douglass, The Narrative of An American Slave (1845)
- Optional further reading: Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues; Screening the Blues; James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man (1912); Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, in Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol. 1
- Required reading: Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God (1939)
- Optional further reading: Hurston, Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), Dust Tracks on A Road (1942), Mules and Men (1935); Video: African America in The Great Depression
- Required reading: Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
- Optional further reading: Going to the Territory (1984)
- Required reading: Invisible Man, contd.;
- Optional further reading: Ellison, Shadow and Act (essays) (1967); Richard Wright, Native Son (1940); Black Boy and American Hunger (1944)
- Required reading: James Baldwin, The Amen Corner (1955, 1965)
- Optional further reading: Baldwin, Go Tell It On The Mountain (1954); Blues for Mister Charlie (1964); The Fire Next Time (1963)
- Required reading: Leroi Jones, Dutchman (1964); August Wilson, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984)
- Optional further reading: Alice Childress, Wine in the Wilderness (1968); Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959); Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice (1969); August Wilson, Fences (1985); Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1987); The Piano Lesson (1990); Two Trains Running (1992)
- Suggested Viewing: Spike Lee (Dir.) Do The Right Thing; Malcolm X
- Required reading: Alice Walker, Meridian (1976)
- Optional further reading and viewing: Walker, Living by the Word (1988); Paule Marshall, Praise-Song for the Widow (1983); Anniversary broadcasts for Martin Luther King; The Words of Martin Luther King (1983); selected chapters from The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)
- Required reading: Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (1977)
- Optional further reading: Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987); Jazz (1992) (there are also video and audio resources available)
- Required reading: Gloria Naylor, The Women of Brewster Place (1982)
- Optional further reading: Gloria Naylor, Linden Hills (1985); Thulani Davies (1959): A Novel (1992)
- Required Reading: Terry McMillan, Waiting to Exhale (1995) [+ film showing]
Content
_Seminar 1: Introduction: Slave narratives; lyrics of early blues and spirituals
- Required reading: Helena Grice et al, Beginning Ethnic American Literatures, chapters 1+2; Frederick Douglass, The Narrative of An American Slave (1845)
- Optional further reading: Paul Oliver, The Story of the Blues; Screening the Blues; James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man (1912); Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, in Heath Anthology of American Literature Vol. 1
- Required reading: Zora Neale Hurston Their Eyes Were Watching God (1939)
- Optional further reading: Hurston, Jonah's Gourd Vine (1934), Dust Tracks on A Road (1942), Mules and Men (1935); Video: African America in The Great Depression
- Required reading: Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)
- Optional further reading: Going to the Territory (1984)
- Required reading: Invisible Man, contd.;
- Optional further reading: Ellison, Shadow and Act (essays) (1967); Richard Wright, Native Son (1940); Black Boy and American Hunger (1944)
- Required reading: James Baldwin, The Amen Corner (1955, 1965)
- Optional further reading: Baldwin, Go Tell It On The Mountain (1954); Blues for Mister Charlie (1964); The Fire Next Time (1963)
- Required reading: Leroi Jones, Dutchman (1964); August Wilson, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1984)
- Optional further reading: Alice Childress, Wine in the Wilderness (1968); Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun (1959); Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice (1969); August Wilson, Fences (1985); Joe Turner's Come and Gone (1987); The Piano Lesson (1990); Two Trains Running (1992)
- Suggested Viewing: Spike Lee (Dir.) Do The Right Thing; Malcolm X
- Required reading: Alice Walker, Meridian (1976)
- Optional further reading and viewing: Walker, Living by the Word (1988); Paule Marshall, Praise-Song for the Widow (1983); Anniversary broadcasts for Martin Luther King; The Words of Martin Luther King (1983); selected chapters from The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965)
- Required reading: Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (1977)
- Optional further reading: Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987); Jazz (1992) (there are also video and audio resources available)
- Required reading: Gloria Naylor, The Women of Brewster Place (1982)
- Optional further reading: Gloria Naylor, Linden Hills (1985); Thulani Davies (1959): A Novel (1992)
- Required Reading: Terry McMillan, Waiting to Exhale (1995) [+ film showing]
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6