(Offered as ENGL 256 and BLST 256 [D]) In this course, we will develop a thoughtful understanding of the idea of Africa and the African diaspora and a complex appreciation of the meanings of black presence in the world. We will ask five questions that will allow us to explore the ways literary and philosophical texts from Africa and the African Diaspora challenge the Global Matrix of Power, question anti-Black racism in philosophy, literature, and cultural studies, and shape conceptions of being and identity in Africa and the African diaspora, namely: What is Africa?

(Offered as ENGL 251 and FAMS 251) This course will explore how the cinematic practice of representing reality – or as it is commonly known, documentary – has given rise to distinct formal conventions, audience expectations, film movements, ethical problems, political commitments, institutional frameworks, and communities of makers and viewers. Documentary, perhaps most famously defined by the Scottish filmmaker John Grierson as “the creative representation of reality,” is as old as cinema itself.

A first course in writing fiction. Emphasis will be on experimentation as well as on developing skill and craft. Workshop (discussion) format.

Limited to 15 students. Fall semester section 1: Lecturer Sweeney. Fall semester section 2: Visiting Lecturer Gaige. Spring semester: Postdoctoral Fellow Mysore.

How to handle overenrollment: The instructor will seek to achieve representative equity (majors, class years, gender, background, etc.).

A first course in writing fiction. Emphasis will be on experimentation as well as on developing skill and craft. Workshop (discussion) format.

Limited to 15 students. Fall semester section 1: Lecturer Sweeney. Fall semester section 2: Visiting Lecturer Gaige. Spring semester: Postdoctoral Fellow Mysore.

How to handle overenrollment: The instructor will seek to achieve representative equity (majors, class years, gender, background, etc.).

This course explores the questions at the heart of creative nonfiction: What does it mean to tell a “true” story? And what does it mean to tell a true story “creatively”? A deep dive into essay, memoir, and genres of nonfiction that have yet to be named will allow us to form our own definitions of creative nonfiction. Through workshops that will encourage exploration, experimentation, and vulnerability, we will develop our own personal practices for writing from life.

Poetry is an act of discovery. We write to discover what we don't know or understand about ourselves and the world around us. To make these discoveries we must pay attention: practice close observation, question our assumptions, and test our truths. 

We must also pay attention to what’s happening in our bodies as we write: the breath, pulse and heartbeat that gives poetry life. When we practice embodied writing we include our whole selves in our creative work. 

Poetry is an act of discovery. We write to discover what we don't know or understand about ourselves and the world around us. To make these discoveries we must pay attention: practice close observation, question our assumptions, and test our truths. 

We must also pay attention to what’s happening in our bodies as we write: the breath, pulse and heartbeat that gives poetry life. When we practice embodied writing we include our whole selves in our creative work. 

In this creative writing course, we will write across genres while engaging with a wide range of creative contexts in which such writing occurs. We will study, interact with, and actively respond to real-world communities including (but not limited to) publishers and literary magazines, communities of writers with shared identities, literary organizations, and local writing circles. With the help of class visitors and our own in-class discussions, we will identify the conversations in which our writing participates and write as part of those conversations.

This course, an introduction to media studies, examines the relationship between contemporary media forms and the environment with an emphasis on media’s role in the ongoing global environmental crisis. We will analyze the environmental aspects of a range of media objects including science-fiction films, documentary photographs, reality TV shows, video games, and others. But we will also explore the environmental impact of broader media technologies like video streaming platforms and fiber-optic cable networks.

This course introduces students to college-level literary study through the lens of food politics. From “the lunchbox moment” in Asian American narratives to Pacific Islander palates shaped by histories of war and globalization, food pathways reveal that eating is more than a matter of nutritional intake or a matter of personal “taste.” Instead, eating and taste reflect complex histories of race, culture, and empire. The course will cover a range of literary texts and media, including cookbooks, novels, poetry, personal essays, podcasts, and advertisements.