Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Mar 1, 2016
This article argues that in her novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), Dionne Brand us... more This article argues that in her novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), Dionne Brand uses archives/archiving as a trope by which to trace slavery's aftereffects on the Caribbean and its diasporas. African diasporic authors and critics have long emphasized the necessity of what Erica Johnson has recently termed the “neo-archive”: works of art and literature that “create history in the face of its absence.” Brand, significantly, adopts the practice not only for purposes of historical recovery, but also to document the psychological and emotional risks of such work. At the Full suggests that though neo-archives can reconstruct silenced histories, such reconstructions cannot always provide catharsis. For instance, Brand's character Eula desires a coherent record of her family's past, yet this desire is thwarted by the scarcity and illegibility of written documents. Her longing for documentary proof only serves to emphasize how much of her history has been lost forever, and her efforts at reconstruction become a source of grief. I argue that Brand's novel suggests that other means of dealing with painful histories—such as compartmentalization or attempting to forget—should be recognized as survival strategies for African diasporic subjects. At the Full depathologizes these strategies, offering them a place within the neo-archive and incorporating them into the history of black life in the New World.
Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belkna... more Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belknap-Harvard UP, 2005. 645 pp. $35.00.While the often tense relationship between African Americans and Jews has received much attention during the past decade in books such as Michael Lerner and Cornel West's Jews and Blacks and Paul Berman's Blacks and Jews: Alliances and Arguments, the conflict has not been simultaneously discussed in historical depth in both literary and sociocultural terms. Eric J. Sundquist's Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America thus follows in the padi of Adam Zachary Newton and Timothy Brennan's Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth Century America in its analysis of the relationship between African Americans and Jews via works of literature. However, Sundquist's impressive scholarship also reaches beyond literature, encompassing sources from disciplines such as history, sociology, politics, and religion. The resulting text achieves an incredibly complex and comprehensive account of the alliances and enmities that have marked the exchanges between African Americans and Jewish Americans throughout the twentieth century.Sundquist carefully traces the intertwined histories of the two groups, particularly post-World War II, categorizing their relationship as "a once vibrant interlocution between two peoples [that] had more or less ceased" by the end of the twentieth century (1). He documents the development of this relationship to discover its roots and the reasons for its failure, frequently using literary texts by James Baldwin, Philip Roth, William Melvin Kelley, and Saul Bellow, among others, to do so. Through these explorations, he hopes to reveal "the ground for shared spiritual, political, and cultural practices, even those governed by resentment and recrimination" (9). Sundquist's analysis moves largely in chronological fashion, although he frequently deviates from this formula to draw connections between disparate authors and events, adding depth and nuance to his argument.Against the backdrop of a dizzying amount of published material on African Americans and Jews, Sundquist wisely begins his book with a chapter that serves to initiate the reader into the occasionally cooperative, often fraught relationship between the two communities. Titled "America's Jews," this chapter makes use of numerous texts and speeches from figures such as Booker T. Washington, Norman Podhoretz, Allen Ginsberg, and Louis Farrakhan to illustrate Jewish-African American interaction over the course of the twentieth century. Sundquist painstakingly synthesizes a copious amount of sources to establish for his readers the basic similarities and differences between African Americans and Jews. He claims that both groups "have shared perspectives on the rewards and dangers of assimilation, the vicissitudes of intermarriage and passing, and the meaning of citizenship in the face of discrimination" (18). However, he notes that despite these similarities, "whiteness" has in many cases allowed Jewish Americans to avoid the levels of discrimination faced by African Americans, who have in Sundquist's estimation become "America's Jews," occupying a space comparable to that of Jews in Europe.After laying this foundation for his larger project, Sundquist moves on to more specific analyses of the ways in which the two groups have engaged in a sort of reluctant racioethnic mimesis-at times using their similarities to create solidarity or attempting to deny those similarities. Sundquist follows the course of various tropes that emerge repeatedly in each community's sense of identity, including Exodus and the search for Zion, Holocaust and genocide, as well as nationalistic movements such as Black Power and Zionism, the latter two of which he views as chiming the ultimate death knell for an alliance between the two groups. …
Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belkna... more Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belknap-Harvard UP, 2005. 645 pp. $35.00.While the often tense relationship between African Americans and Jews has received much attention during the past decade in books such as Michael Lerner and Cornel West's Jews and Blacks and Paul Berman's Blacks and Jews: Alliances and Arguments, the conflict has not been simultaneously discussed in historical depth in both literary and sociocultural terms. Eric J. Sundquist's Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America thus follows in the padi of Adam Zachary Newton and Timothy Brennan's Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth Century America in its analysis of the relationship between African Americans and Jews via works of literature. However, Sundquist's impressive scholarship also reaches beyond literature, encompassing sources from disciplines such as history, sociology, politics, and relig...
Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belkna... more Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belknap-Harvard UP, 2005. 645 pp. $35.00.While the often tense relationship between African Americans and Jews has received much attention during the past decade in books such as Michael Lerner and Cornel West's Jews and Blacks and Paul Berman's Blacks and Jews: Alliances and Arguments, the conflict has not been simultaneously discussed in historical depth in both literary and sociocultural terms. Eric J. Sundquist's Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America thus follows in the padi of Adam Zachary Newton and Timothy Brennan's Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth Century America in its analysis of the relationship between African Americans and Jews via works of literature. However, Sundquist's impressive scholarship also reaches beyond literature, encompassing sources from disciplines such as history, sociology, politics, and religion. The resulting text achieves an incredibly complex and comprehensive account of the alliances and enmities that have marked the exchanges between African Americans and Jewish Americans throughout the twentieth century.Sundquist carefully traces the intertwined histories of the two groups, particularly post-World War II, categorizing their relationship as "a once vibrant interlocution between two peoples [that] had more or less ceased" by the end of the twentieth century (1). He documents the development of this relationship to discover its roots and the reasons for its failure, frequently using literary texts by James Baldwin, Philip Roth, William Melvin Kelley, and Saul Bellow, among others, to do so. Through these explorations, he hopes to reveal "the ground for shared spiritual, political, and cultural practices, even those governed by resentment and recrimination" (9). Sundquist's analysis moves largely in chronological fashion, although he frequently deviates from this formula to draw connections between disparate authors and events, adding depth and nuance to his argument.Against the backdrop of a dizzying amount of published material on African Americans and Jews, Sundquist wisely begins his book with a chapter that serves to initiate the reader into the occasionally cooperative, often fraught relationship between the two communities. Titled "America's Jews," this chapter makes use of numerous texts and speeches from figures such as Booker T. Washington, Norman Podhoretz, Allen Ginsberg, and Louis Farrakhan to illustrate Jewish-African American interaction over the course of the twentieth century. Sundquist painstakingly synthesizes a copious amount of sources to establish for his readers the basic similarities and differences between African Americans and Jews. He claims that both groups "have shared perspectives on the rewards and dangers of assimilation, the vicissitudes of intermarriage and passing, and the meaning of citizenship in the face of discrimination" (18). However, he notes that despite these similarities, "whiteness" has in many cases allowed Jewish Americans to avoid the levels of discrimination faced by African Americans, who have in Sundquist's estimation become "America's Jews," occupying a space comparable to that of Jews in Europe.After laying this foundation for his larger project, Sundquist moves on to more specific analyses of the ways in which the two groups have engaged in a sort of reluctant racioethnic mimesis-at times using their similarities to create solidarity or attempting to deny those similarities. Sundquist follows the course of various tropes that emerge repeatedly in each community's sense of identity, including Exodus and the search for Zion, Holocaust and genocide, as well as nationalistic movements such as Black Power and Zionism, the latter two of which he views as chiming the ultimate death knell for an alliance between the two groups. …
This article argues that in her novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), Dionne Brand us... more This article argues that in her novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), Dionne Brand uses archives/archiving as a trope by which to trace slavery’s aftereffects on the Caribbean and its diasporas. African diasporic authors and critics have long emphasized the necessity of what Erica Johnson has recently termed the “neo-archive”: works of art and literature that “create history in the face of its absence.” Brand, significantly, adopts the practice not only for purposes of historical recovery, but also to document the psychological and emotional risks of such work. At the Full suggests that though neo-archives can reconstruct silenced histories, such reconstructions cannot always provide catharsis. For instance, Brand’s character Eula desires a coherent record of her family’s past, yet this desire is thwarted by the scarcity and illegibility of written documents. Her longing for documentary proof only serves to emphasize how much of her history has been lost forever, and her efforts at reconstruction become a source of grief. I argue that Brand’s novel suggests that other means of dealing with painful histories—such as compartmentalization or attempting to forget—should be recognized as survival strategies for African diasporic subjects. At the Full depathologizes these strategies, offering them a place within the neo-archive and incorporating them into the history of black life in the New World.
ariel: A Review of International English Literature, 2015
This article reads The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) as a critique of metatestimonial f... more This article reads The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) as a critique of metatestimonial fiction and of the tendency to overstate literature’s power to heal cultural traumas. Metatestimonio bears figurative witness to historical atrocities and interrogates who is or is not allowed to speak of such events. Although Junot Díaz’s narrator Yunior gathers testimony from multiple survivors of the Trujillo regime, he mediates their experiences through his own authorial voice. The novel suggests that in refusing to allow testimony to speak for itself, Yunior (and by extension metatestimonio as a genre) replicates the discursive practices of the regime it denounces. Furthermore, by referencing specific comic book series, the artwork accompanying the 2007 Riverhead edition of the novel generates a counter-narrative critiquing Yunior’s project. This graphic counter-narrative illustrates that ending the Trujillato’s hold on Dominicans is impossible—that certain traumas cannot be healed once and for all. Oscar Wao thus suggests that in claiming literature’s power to heal the past, we (like Yunior) privilege our own desire for resolution over the lived realities of survivors, for whom the working through of trauma is an ongoing and incomplete process.
Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Dec 2016
“Archiving the Door of No Return” reads Dionne Brand’s novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon ... more “Archiving the Door of No Return” reads Dionne Brand’s novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), arguing that the Trinidadian-Canadian author uses archives/archiving as a trope by which to trace slavery’s aftereffects on the Caribbean and its diasporas. African Diasporic authors and critics have long emphasized the necessity of what Erica Johnson has recently termed the “neo-archive”—works of art and literature that “create history in the face of its absence.” Brand, significantly, adopts the practice not only for purposes of historical recovery—but also to document the psychological and emotional risks of such work. At the Full suggests that while neo-archives can reconstruct silenced histories, such reconstructions cannot always provide catharsis. For instance, Brand’s character Eula desires a coherent record of her family’s past, yet that desire is thwarted by the scarcity and illegibility of written documents. Her longing for documentary proof only serves to emphasize how much of her history has been lost forever, and her efforts at reconstruction become a source of grief. I argue Brand’s novel suggests that other means of dealing with painful histories—such as compartmentalization, or attempting to forget—should be recognized as survival strategies for African Diasporic subjects. At the Full depathologizes these strategies, offering them a place within the neo-archive and incorporating them into the history of black life in the New World.
ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, Oct 2015
This article reads The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) as a critique of metatestimonial f... more This article reads The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) as a critique of metatestimonial fiction and of the tendency to overstate literature’s power to heal cultural traumas. Metatestimonio bears figurative witness to historical atrocities and interrogates who is or is not allowed to speak of such events. Although Junot Díaz’s narrator Yunior gathers testimony from multiple survivors of the Trujillo regime, he mediates their experiences through his own authorial voice. The novel suggests that in refusing to allow testimony to speak for itself, Yunior (and by extension metatestimonio as a genre) replicates the discursive practices of the regime it denounces. Furthermore, by referencing specific comic book series, the artwork accompanying the 2007 Riverhead edition of the novel generates a counter-narrative critiquing Yunior’s project. This graphic counter-narrative illustrates that ending the Trujillato’s hold on Dominicans is impossible—that certain traumas cannot be healed once and for all. Oscar Wao thus suggests that in claiming literature’s power to heal the past, we (like Yunior) privilege our own desire for resolution over the lived realities of survivors, for whom the working through of trauma is an ongoing and incomplete process.
Visual storytelling has existed for as long as people have, and women have always been integral t... more Visual storytelling has existed for as long as people have, and women have always been integral to the practice. From prehistoric cave drawings, to Disney's inkers and animators, to Wimmen's Comix, to contemporary figures such as Marjane Satrapi and Alison Bechdel, women creators have been integral—if often unrecognized—contributors to the development of graphic narrative as a medium. Graphic novels and comics, situated at the intersection of " high " and " low " cultures, are uniquely suited to inquiries about gender, sexuality, and women's roles as artists and subjects. In the works we'll read this semester, we'll trace how women have used graphic narratives as both political action and creative expression. We'll pay particular attention to the ways that gender, race, class, and sexuality interweave in each work. We'll also interrogate the issue of canonicity: which graphic narratives are considered literary, and which are not? Which works are elevated to the graphic novel canon, and which are not? Who gets to make those decisions? How does gender factor into those decisions? As a class, we'll learn how to close read the comics page. We'll spend a lot of time learning to recognize and interpret visual elements and iconography. We'll simultaneously pay close attention to the written word and literary tropes. Ultimately, our goal is to gain an understanding of how word and image work together to produce nuance, depth, and meaning in women's graphic narratives.
Most of us are probably familiar with the maxim that " America is a melting pot, " a place where ... more Most of us are probably familiar with the maxim that " America is a melting pot, " a place where peoples from across the globe come together to coexist and blend peacefully. While this idealized vision of multiculturalism might make us feel good, it is perhaps overly simplistic. Closer examination of current and historical events illustrates that America has, from its founding, been a site of racial conflict and widespread resistance to groups perceived as " Other. " Likewise, a critical examination of the American literary canon illustrates that certain writers—women, writers of color, immigrant writers, etc.—have often been ignored, underappreciated, or relegated to " minor " status. In this class, we'll be reading works of literature by writers who have challenged that canon, including authors from Asian American, Latina/o, African American, and Native American communities. To encourage depth of comprehension and analysis, our readings represent a strategic sampling of ethnic literatures rather than an exhaustive survey. All the writers we'll read question what it means to be simultaneously " American " and " ethnic. " Throughout the semester, we'll draw on elements of critical race theory and postcolonial theory to help supplement our discussions of these works. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the historical and cultural contexts from which each of these texts emerged—particularly on the variety of ways in which ethnic communities have become American: voluntary immigration, colonization, the redrawing of national boundaries, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. By the end of the course, students should have a clear understanding of the practice of intersectional analysis, as well as of the nuance and variety of American ethnic literatures.
While those of us from the United States often lay claim to the label " American, " America as a ... more While those of us from the United States often lay claim to the label " American, " America as a geographic and political concept had its beginnings elsewhere—on the island of Hispaniola, now the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This course seeks to highlight the exchange of peoples and ideas between the United States and what J. Michael Dash has called the " Other America " of the Caribbean archipelago. Throughout the semester we will read selected works by contemporary writers who highlight this transnational exchange. We will consider the specific cultural and historical dynamics that inform each author's work, how race, class, and gender shape the experience of migration, and examine how these works necessitate a rethinking of both American and Caribbean identities. Our examination of these texts will be furthered by theoretical readings in diaspora, migration, and critical race theory. By the end of the course, students should have a clear understanding of the ways in which the Caribbean and the United States mutually shape each other's cultures, and of " America " as a transnational construct. You will be given two free absences for the semester. Absences beyond those two—for any reason other than religious observance—will impact your participation grade for the semester (see grading criteria for explanation). Please ensure you arrive to class on time; three tardies will count as an absence, and if you are more than fifteen minutes late, you will be marked as absent for the meeting. If you have to miss class, you will still be responsible for turning in all assignments due on the date of your absence, and for completing the assigned course readings. I would also advise contacting a classmate for notes. Do not email me asking, " Did I miss anything? " The answer will always be, " Yes. "
The term " queer " emerged as an identity and critical framework focused on non-normative ways of... more The term " queer " emerged as an identity and critical framework focused on non-normative ways of being, but in recent years LGBTQ individuals and politics have occupied an increasingly mainstream position in American culture. With successes such as the overturnings of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, queer activists and allies have much to celebrate. Yet despite this progress, voices of LGBTQ people of color are still underrepresented in American media and political discourse. This class will bring a few of those voices to the fore, drawing on elements of critical race theory to investigate the particular experiences and cultural productions of gender and sexually variant peoples from Asian American, Latina/o, African American, and Native American communities. In order to encourage depth of comprehension and analysis, our readings comprise a strategic sampling of contemporary queer of color voices rather than an exhaustive survey. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the historical and theoretical construction of sexual and gender identities and sexual/cultural practices in distinct racial/ethnic communities. By the end of the course, students should have a clear understanding of the praxis of intersectional analysis, as well as of the nuance and variety of queer identities in America. You may miss up to four classes, although absences will negatively impact your participation grade. Students with five or more absences will automatically fail the class. Please ensure you arrive to class on time; three tardies will count as an absence, and if you are more than fifteen minutes late, you will be marked as absent for the meeting. If you miss class, you are responsible for any work missed.
Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Mar 1, 2016
This article argues that in her novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), Dionne Brand us... more This article argues that in her novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), Dionne Brand uses archives/archiving as a trope by which to trace slavery's aftereffects on the Caribbean and its diasporas. African diasporic authors and critics have long emphasized the necessity of what Erica Johnson has recently termed the “neo-archive”: works of art and literature that “create history in the face of its absence.” Brand, significantly, adopts the practice not only for purposes of historical recovery, but also to document the psychological and emotional risks of such work. At the Full suggests that though neo-archives can reconstruct silenced histories, such reconstructions cannot always provide catharsis. For instance, Brand's character Eula desires a coherent record of her family's past, yet this desire is thwarted by the scarcity and illegibility of written documents. Her longing for documentary proof only serves to emphasize how much of her history has been lost forever, and her efforts at reconstruction become a source of grief. I argue that Brand's novel suggests that other means of dealing with painful histories—such as compartmentalization or attempting to forget—should be recognized as survival strategies for African diasporic subjects. At the Full depathologizes these strategies, offering them a place within the neo-archive and incorporating them into the history of black life in the New World.
Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belkna... more Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belknap-Harvard UP, 2005. 645 pp. $35.00.While the often tense relationship between African Americans and Jews has received much attention during the past decade in books such as Michael Lerner and Cornel West's Jews and Blacks and Paul Berman's Blacks and Jews: Alliances and Arguments, the conflict has not been simultaneously discussed in historical depth in both literary and sociocultural terms. Eric J. Sundquist's Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America thus follows in the padi of Adam Zachary Newton and Timothy Brennan's Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth Century America in its analysis of the relationship between African Americans and Jews via works of literature. However, Sundquist's impressive scholarship also reaches beyond literature, encompassing sources from disciplines such as history, sociology, politics, and religion. The resulting text achieves an incredibly complex and comprehensive account of the alliances and enmities that have marked the exchanges between African Americans and Jewish Americans throughout the twentieth century.Sundquist carefully traces the intertwined histories of the two groups, particularly post-World War II, categorizing their relationship as "a once vibrant interlocution between two peoples [that] had more or less ceased" by the end of the twentieth century (1). He documents the development of this relationship to discover its roots and the reasons for its failure, frequently using literary texts by James Baldwin, Philip Roth, William Melvin Kelley, and Saul Bellow, among others, to do so. Through these explorations, he hopes to reveal "the ground for shared spiritual, political, and cultural practices, even those governed by resentment and recrimination" (9). Sundquist's analysis moves largely in chronological fashion, although he frequently deviates from this formula to draw connections between disparate authors and events, adding depth and nuance to his argument.Against the backdrop of a dizzying amount of published material on African Americans and Jews, Sundquist wisely begins his book with a chapter that serves to initiate the reader into the occasionally cooperative, often fraught relationship between the two communities. Titled "America's Jews," this chapter makes use of numerous texts and speeches from figures such as Booker T. Washington, Norman Podhoretz, Allen Ginsberg, and Louis Farrakhan to illustrate Jewish-African American interaction over the course of the twentieth century. Sundquist painstakingly synthesizes a copious amount of sources to establish for his readers the basic similarities and differences between African Americans and Jews. He claims that both groups "have shared perspectives on the rewards and dangers of assimilation, the vicissitudes of intermarriage and passing, and the meaning of citizenship in the face of discrimination" (18). However, he notes that despite these similarities, "whiteness" has in many cases allowed Jewish Americans to avoid the levels of discrimination faced by African Americans, who have in Sundquist's estimation become "America's Jews," occupying a space comparable to that of Jews in Europe.After laying this foundation for his larger project, Sundquist moves on to more specific analyses of the ways in which the two groups have engaged in a sort of reluctant racioethnic mimesis-at times using their similarities to create solidarity or attempting to deny those similarities. Sundquist follows the course of various tropes that emerge repeatedly in each community's sense of identity, including Exodus and the search for Zion, Holocaust and genocide, as well as nationalistic movements such as Black Power and Zionism, the latter two of which he views as chiming the ultimate death knell for an alliance between the two groups. …
Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belkna... more Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belknap-Harvard UP, 2005. 645 pp. $35.00.While the often tense relationship between African Americans and Jews has received much attention during the past decade in books such as Michael Lerner and Cornel West's Jews and Blacks and Paul Berman's Blacks and Jews: Alliances and Arguments, the conflict has not been simultaneously discussed in historical depth in both literary and sociocultural terms. Eric J. Sundquist's Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America thus follows in the padi of Adam Zachary Newton and Timothy Brennan's Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth Century America in its analysis of the relationship between African Americans and Jews via works of literature. However, Sundquist's impressive scholarship also reaches beyond literature, encompassing sources from disciplines such as history, sociology, politics, and relig...
Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belkna... more Eric J. Sundquist. Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America. Cambridge: Belknap-Harvard UP, 2005. 645 pp. $35.00.While the often tense relationship between African Americans and Jews has received much attention during the past decade in books such as Michael Lerner and Cornel West's Jews and Blacks and Paul Berman's Blacks and Jews: Alliances and Arguments, the conflict has not been simultaneously discussed in historical depth in both literary and sociocultural terms. Eric J. Sundquist's Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America thus follows in the padi of Adam Zachary Newton and Timothy Brennan's Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth Century America in its analysis of the relationship between African Americans and Jews via works of literature. However, Sundquist's impressive scholarship also reaches beyond literature, encompassing sources from disciplines such as history, sociology, politics, and religion. The resulting text achieves an incredibly complex and comprehensive account of the alliances and enmities that have marked the exchanges between African Americans and Jewish Americans throughout the twentieth century.Sundquist carefully traces the intertwined histories of the two groups, particularly post-World War II, categorizing their relationship as "a once vibrant interlocution between two peoples [that] had more or less ceased" by the end of the twentieth century (1). He documents the development of this relationship to discover its roots and the reasons for its failure, frequently using literary texts by James Baldwin, Philip Roth, William Melvin Kelley, and Saul Bellow, among others, to do so. Through these explorations, he hopes to reveal "the ground for shared spiritual, political, and cultural practices, even those governed by resentment and recrimination" (9). Sundquist's analysis moves largely in chronological fashion, although he frequently deviates from this formula to draw connections between disparate authors and events, adding depth and nuance to his argument.Against the backdrop of a dizzying amount of published material on African Americans and Jews, Sundquist wisely begins his book with a chapter that serves to initiate the reader into the occasionally cooperative, often fraught relationship between the two communities. Titled "America's Jews," this chapter makes use of numerous texts and speeches from figures such as Booker T. Washington, Norman Podhoretz, Allen Ginsberg, and Louis Farrakhan to illustrate Jewish-African American interaction over the course of the twentieth century. Sundquist painstakingly synthesizes a copious amount of sources to establish for his readers the basic similarities and differences between African Americans and Jews. He claims that both groups "have shared perspectives on the rewards and dangers of assimilation, the vicissitudes of intermarriage and passing, and the meaning of citizenship in the face of discrimination" (18). However, he notes that despite these similarities, "whiteness" has in many cases allowed Jewish Americans to avoid the levels of discrimination faced by African Americans, who have in Sundquist's estimation become "America's Jews," occupying a space comparable to that of Jews in Europe.After laying this foundation for his larger project, Sundquist moves on to more specific analyses of the ways in which the two groups have engaged in a sort of reluctant racioethnic mimesis-at times using their similarities to create solidarity or attempting to deny those similarities. Sundquist follows the course of various tropes that emerge repeatedly in each community's sense of identity, including Exodus and the search for Zion, Holocaust and genocide, as well as nationalistic movements such as Black Power and Zionism, the latter two of which he views as chiming the ultimate death knell for an alliance between the two groups. …
This article argues that in her novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), Dionne Brand us... more This article argues that in her novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), Dionne Brand uses archives/archiving as a trope by which to trace slavery’s aftereffects on the Caribbean and its diasporas. African diasporic authors and critics have long emphasized the necessity of what Erica Johnson has recently termed the “neo-archive”: works of art and literature that “create history in the face of its absence.” Brand, significantly, adopts the practice not only for purposes of historical recovery, but also to document the psychological and emotional risks of such work. At the Full suggests that though neo-archives can reconstruct silenced histories, such reconstructions cannot always provide catharsis. For instance, Brand’s character Eula desires a coherent record of her family’s past, yet this desire is thwarted by the scarcity and illegibility of written documents. Her longing for documentary proof only serves to emphasize how much of her history has been lost forever, and her efforts at reconstruction become a source of grief. I argue that Brand’s novel suggests that other means of dealing with painful histories—such as compartmentalization or attempting to forget—should be recognized as survival strategies for African diasporic subjects. At the Full depathologizes these strategies, offering them a place within the neo-archive and incorporating them into the history of black life in the New World.
ariel: A Review of International English Literature, 2015
This article reads The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) as a critique of metatestimonial f... more This article reads The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) as a critique of metatestimonial fiction and of the tendency to overstate literature’s power to heal cultural traumas. Metatestimonio bears figurative witness to historical atrocities and interrogates who is or is not allowed to speak of such events. Although Junot Díaz’s narrator Yunior gathers testimony from multiple survivors of the Trujillo regime, he mediates their experiences through his own authorial voice. The novel suggests that in refusing to allow testimony to speak for itself, Yunior (and by extension metatestimonio as a genre) replicates the discursive practices of the regime it denounces. Furthermore, by referencing specific comic book series, the artwork accompanying the 2007 Riverhead edition of the novel generates a counter-narrative critiquing Yunior’s project. This graphic counter-narrative illustrates that ending the Trujillato’s hold on Dominicans is impossible—that certain traumas cannot be healed once and for all. Oscar Wao thus suggests that in claiming literature’s power to heal the past, we (like Yunior) privilege our own desire for resolution over the lived realities of survivors, for whom the working through of trauma is an ongoing and incomplete process.
Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, Dec 2016
“Archiving the Door of No Return” reads Dionne Brand’s novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon ... more “Archiving the Door of No Return” reads Dionne Brand’s novel, At the Full and Change of the Moon (1999), arguing that the Trinidadian-Canadian author uses archives/archiving as a trope by which to trace slavery’s aftereffects on the Caribbean and its diasporas. African Diasporic authors and critics have long emphasized the necessity of what Erica Johnson has recently termed the “neo-archive”—works of art and literature that “create history in the face of its absence.” Brand, significantly, adopts the practice not only for purposes of historical recovery—but also to document the psychological and emotional risks of such work. At the Full suggests that while neo-archives can reconstruct silenced histories, such reconstructions cannot always provide catharsis. For instance, Brand’s character Eula desires a coherent record of her family’s past, yet that desire is thwarted by the scarcity and illegibility of written documents. Her longing for documentary proof only serves to emphasize how much of her history has been lost forever, and her efforts at reconstruction become a source of grief. I argue Brand’s novel suggests that other means of dealing with painful histories—such as compartmentalization, or attempting to forget—should be recognized as survival strategies for African Diasporic subjects. At the Full depathologizes these strategies, offering them a place within the neo-archive and incorporating them into the history of black life in the New World.
ARIEL: A Review of International English Literature, Oct 2015
This article reads The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) as a critique of metatestimonial f... more This article reads The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) as a critique of metatestimonial fiction and of the tendency to overstate literature’s power to heal cultural traumas. Metatestimonio bears figurative witness to historical atrocities and interrogates who is or is not allowed to speak of such events. Although Junot Díaz’s narrator Yunior gathers testimony from multiple survivors of the Trujillo regime, he mediates their experiences through his own authorial voice. The novel suggests that in refusing to allow testimony to speak for itself, Yunior (and by extension metatestimonio as a genre) replicates the discursive practices of the regime it denounces. Furthermore, by referencing specific comic book series, the artwork accompanying the 2007 Riverhead edition of the novel generates a counter-narrative critiquing Yunior’s project. This graphic counter-narrative illustrates that ending the Trujillato’s hold on Dominicans is impossible—that certain traumas cannot be healed once and for all. Oscar Wao thus suggests that in claiming literature’s power to heal the past, we (like Yunior) privilege our own desire for resolution over the lived realities of survivors, for whom the working through of trauma is an ongoing and incomplete process.
Visual storytelling has existed for as long as people have, and women have always been integral t... more Visual storytelling has existed for as long as people have, and women have always been integral to the practice. From prehistoric cave drawings, to Disney's inkers and animators, to Wimmen's Comix, to contemporary figures such as Marjane Satrapi and Alison Bechdel, women creators have been integral—if often unrecognized—contributors to the development of graphic narrative as a medium. Graphic novels and comics, situated at the intersection of " high " and " low " cultures, are uniquely suited to inquiries about gender, sexuality, and women's roles as artists and subjects. In the works we'll read this semester, we'll trace how women have used graphic narratives as both political action and creative expression. We'll pay particular attention to the ways that gender, race, class, and sexuality interweave in each work. We'll also interrogate the issue of canonicity: which graphic narratives are considered literary, and which are not? Which works are elevated to the graphic novel canon, and which are not? Who gets to make those decisions? How does gender factor into those decisions? As a class, we'll learn how to close read the comics page. We'll spend a lot of time learning to recognize and interpret visual elements and iconography. We'll simultaneously pay close attention to the written word and literary tropes. Ultimately, our goal is to gain an understanding of how word and image work together to produce nuance, depth, and meaning in women's graphic narratives.
Most of us are probably familiar with the maxim that " America is a melting pot, " a place where ... more Most of us are probably familiar with the maxim that " America is a melting pot, " a place where peoples from across the globe come together to coexist and blend peacefully. While this idealized vision of multiculturalism might make us feel good, it is perhaps overly simplistic. Closer examination of current and historical events illustrates that America has, from its founding, been a site of racial conflict and widespread resistance to groups perceived as " Other. " Likewise, a critical examination of the American literary canon illustrates that certain writers—women, writers of color, immigrant writers, etc.—have often been ignored, underappreciated, or relegated to " minor " status. In this class, we'll be reading works of literature by writers who have challenged that canon, including authors from Asian American, Latina/o, African American, and Native American communities. To encourage depth of comprehension and analysis, our readings represent a strategic sampling of ethnic literatures rather than an exhaustive survey. All the writers we'll read question what it means to be simultaneously " American " and " ethnic. " Throughout the semester, we'll draw on elements of critical race theory and postcolonial theory to help supplement our discussions of these works. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the historical and cultural contexts from which each of these texts emerged—particularly on the variety of ways in which ethnic communities have become American: voluntary immigration, colonization, the redrawing of national boundaries, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. By the end of the course, students should have a clear understanding of the practice of intersectional analysis, as well as of the nuance and variety of American ethnic literatures.
While those of us from the United States often lay claim to the label " American, " America as a ... more While those of us from the United States often lay claim to the label " American, " America as a geographic and political concept had its beginnings elsewhere—on the island of Hispaniola, now the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This course seeks to highlight the exchange of peoples and ideas between the United States and what J. Michael Dash has called the " Other America " of the Caribbean archipelago. Throughout the semester we will read selected works by contemporary writers who highlight this transnational exchange. We will consider the specific cultural and historical dynamics that inform each author's work, how race, class, and gender shape the experience of migration, and examine how these works necessitate a rethinking of both American and Caribbean identities. Our examination of these texts will be furthered by theoretical readings in diaspora, migration, and critical race theory. By the end of the course, students should have a clear understanding of the ways in which the Caribbean and the United States mutually shape each other's cultures, and of " America " as a transnational construct. You will be given two free absences for the semester. Absences beyond those two—for any reason other than religious observance—will impact your participation grade for the semester (see grading criteria for explanation). Please ensure you arrive to class on time; three tardies will count as an absence, and if you are more than fifteen minutes late, you will be marked as absent for the meeting. If you have to miss class, you will still be responsible for turning in all assignments due on the date of your absence, and for completing the assigned course readings. I would also advise contacting a classmate for notes. Do not email me asking, " Did I miss anything? " The answer will always be, " Yes. "
The term " queer " emerged as an identity and critical framework focused on non-normative ways of... more The term " queer " emerged as an identity and critical framework focused on non-normative ways of being, but in recent years LGBTQ individuals and politics have occupied an increasingly mainstream position in American culture. With successes such as the overturnings of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, queer activists and allies have much to celebrate. Yet despite this progress, voices of LGBTQ people of color are still underrepresented in American media and political discourse. This class will bring a few of those voices to the fore, drawing on elements of critical race theory to investigate the particular experiences and cultural productions of gender and sexually variant peoples from Asian American, Latina/o, African American, and Native American communities. In order to encourage depth of comprehension and analysis, our readings comprise a strategic sampling of contemporary queer of color voices rather than an exhaustive survey. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the historical and theoretical construction of sexual and gender identities and sexual/cultural practices in distinct racial/ethnic communities. By the end of the course, students should have a clear understanding of the praxis of intersectional analysis, as well as of the nuance and variety of queer identities in America. You may miss up to four classes, although absences will negatively impact your participation grade. Students with five or more absences will automatically fail the class. Please ensure you arrive to class on time; three tardies will count as an absence, and if you are more than fifteen minutes late, you will be marked as absent for the meeting. If you miss class, you are responsible for any work missed.
As a population that has made and continues to make significant contributions to the American eco... more As a population that has made and continues to make significant contributions to the American economy and American culture more broadly, Asian Americans face an ongoing struggle to assert a sense of belonging in the United States. The intersection of “American culture” and “Asian culture” is further complicated by assumptions about how Asian Americans are or are not “at home” in the United States. This course will explore how Asian American literature negotiates these tensions.
The primary aim of this course is to help students develop and improve the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills needed for success in upper-division courses in English and other disciplines. They will also gain practice in using the Oxford English Dictionary and other online research tools and print resources that support studies in the humanities. Students will learn basic information literacy skills and models for approaching literature with various historical, generic, and cultural contexts in mind.
This course is a broad survey of American Literature from colonization to the present. We will re... more This course is a broad survey of American Literature from colonization to the present. We will read a few influential and powerful pieces of American writing. Our goal is to deepen students' understanding and appreciation of these works. Some of this understanding will come with interpreting the works in historical context, so we'll ask questions like why these texts were written, who comprised their intended audience, and how they spoke to those readers. To sharpen students' perception of these works, we'll also practice describing literary effects. As we read works from different genres—autobiography, fiction, poetry—students will learn relevant terms to describe the formal components of each. In this way they'll accumulate over the course of the semester a kind of toolbox of methods and frameworks for interpreting literature. Overall, the class will encourage attentive reading and reflection. We will read slowly and carefully, with close attention to language and detail. Learning to notice, describe and analyze details in a text will make students more thoughtful readers both of these few important works and, hopefully, of books that they encounter in the future.
What makes a text " dangerous " or "obscene " ? Who gets to police the written word? How do we ba... more What makes a text " dangerous " or "obscene " ? Who gets to police the written word? How do we balance the desire to protect specific individuals or groups with the democratic ideal of the free expression of ideas? In this course, we will attempt to answer such questions by drawing upon a variety literary works that have at various points in history been banned or censored, as well as works that discuss censorship and its ramifications. We will engage in careful reading and analysis of plays, poems, novels, and short stories, focusing both on their artistic merits and on the historical and cultural contexts that led to their censorship. The primary aim of this course is to help students develop and improve the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills needed for success in upper-division courses in English and other disciplines. They will also gain practice in using the Oxford English Dictionary and other online research tools and print resources that support studies in the humanities. Students will learn basic information literacy skills and models for approaching literature with various historical, generic, and cultural contexts in mind. This course contains a writing flag. The writing assignments in this course are arranged procedurally with a focus on invention, development through instructor and peer feedback, and revision; they will comprise a major part of the final grade.
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The primary aim of this course is to help students develop and improve the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills needed for success in upper-division courses in English and other disciplines. They will also gain practice in using the Oxford English Dictionary and other online research tools and print resources that support studies in the humanities. Students will learn basic information literacy skills and models for approaching literature with various historical, generic, and cultural contexts in mind.