English 302 - Women of Color Writers

When the editors and contributors to This Bridge Called My Back: Radical Writings by Women of Color published this landmark text in 1981, the women of color writers wrote with urgency, connecting their struggles within the United States to the anti-imperialist and decolonization movements rippling throughout the Third World. This seminar begins with This Bridge, while asking what their radical politics and writings offer—and how we can expand on the lessons they share—to address the critical personal and political issues of our present times. This course ultimately asks: What if the task set out in This Bridge by Third World feminists of dismantling oppressive structures and confronting the oppressor within ourselves remains an unfinished project? How can our writing convey the same urgency, cogent critiques, and offer transformative possibilities for our communities? Students will read essays, poetry, prose, and manifestos, while analyzing methods of and writing “theory from the flesh.” Writers we may read include June Jordan, Toni Cade Bambara, Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldua, Mitsuye Yamada, Adrienne Rich, the Combahee River Collective, Merle Woo, Jessica Hagedorn, and more. 

Limited to 25 students. Fall semester. Professor Nakaganeku Saito.

How to handle overenrollment: Preference for English majors.

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: close reading and analysis, reading journal, and writing a research paper.