MIT Libraries logoDSpace@MIT

MIT
View Item 
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) - Archived Content
  • MIT OCW Archived Courses
  • MIT OCW Archived Courses
  • View Item
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT OpenCourseWare (MIT OCW) - Archived Content
  • MIT OCW Archived Courses
  • MIT OCW Archived Courses
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

21W.742J / SP.575J / WGS.575J Writing About Race, Spring 2007

Author(s)
Faery, Rebecca Blevins
Thumbnail
Download21w-742j-spring-2007/contents/index.htm (36.33Kb)
Alternative title
Writing About Race
Terms of use
Usage Restrictions: This site (c) Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2014. Content within individual courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is providing this Work (as defined below) under the terms of this Creative Commons public license ("CCPL" or "license") unless otherwise noted. The Work is protected by copyright and/or other applicable law. Any use of the work other than as authorized under this license is prohibited. By exercising any of the rights to the Work provided here, You (as defined below) accept and agree to be bound by the terms of this license. The Licensor, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, grants You the rights contained here in consideration of Your acceptance of such terms and conditions. Usage Restrictions: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), the great cultural critic W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that "...the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line." A century after Du Bois penned those words, most Americans would agree that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the color line remains one of our most pressing social issues. In this course, we will explore the terrain of race in America by reading the works of writers of color and others concerned with the issue of race, by viewing films that address racial issues, and by writing to explore how the fictions and facts of race condition all our lives, social and civic, private and public. We will consider the complex question of racial identity, test the givens of history by uncovering histories that have been more elusive or more thoroughly suppressed, and explore how writing and reading can both reflect and challenge racial categories, hierarchies, and perceptions. We will read the work of such writers as Suzan-Lori Parks, Toni Morrison, Sandra Cisneros, James Baldwin, Louise Erdrich, Amy Tan, Chang-Rae Lee, Jhumpa Lahiri, and William Faulkner, among others, as we consider the story of race in its peculiarly American dimensions. We will also view films such as Skins, The Long Walk Home, and Crash. Both the reading and the writing of members of the class will be the focus of class discussion and workshops. Students explore race and ethnicity in personal essays, pieces of cultural criticism or analysis, or (with permission of instructor) fiction.
Date issued
2007-06
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/90872
Department
MIT Program in Writing & Humanistic Studies; MIT Program in Women's and Gender Studies
Other identifiers
21W.742J-Spring2007
local: 21W.742J
local: SP.575J
local: WGS.575J
local: IMSCP-MD5-c28bc6cfdeb73618e78e441dfadfe9ff
Keywords
race, writing, multiracial, multi-race, mixed-race, multiraciality, multiple descent, hybrid populations, mixed ancestry, race, assimilation, integration, ethnicity, identity, self, heritage, multicultural, mixed heritage, mulato, mestizo

Collections
  • MIT OCW Archived Courses

Browse

All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

Login

Statistics

OA StatisticsStatistics by CountryStatistics by Department
MIT Libraries
PrivacyPermissionsAccessibilityContact us
MIT
Content created by the MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted. Notify us about copyright concerns.