Order 357139: Brathwaite’s poems,Naipaul’s stories

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LTEN 188 Contemporary Caribbean Literature

Constructing and Contesting Identities

Spring 2017

Physically, the Caribbean is a region consisting mainly of several strings of islands and waterways. These constitute numerous nations speaking at least four languages and their related dialects. Since the history of diverse peoples of the Caribbean is as fragmented as the islands themselves, cultural production and representations are used to create identities and fill gaps in written and oral histories. Among the experiences and identities considered and constructed are those rooted in race, class, gender, sexual identification and ethnicity. Caribbean writers and musicians transform these sources and experiences into literary and cultural works that, seen in an overview and in relation to one another, comprise an often-shifting mosaic of the region’s recent and past history. Working with texts and music from the English-speaking, or anglophone, Caribbean, we will examine several literary genres—novels, poetry and short stories—as well as forms of contemporary music such as calypso, steel drum, mento, ska, rock steady and reggae in order to understand the ways in which these artists create and recreate their world.

Instructor: Robert Cancel Location: 4050A York Hall

Office: 428 Literature Bld. Days and Time: MWF 9 – 9:50AM

Phone: 858-534-3986 Office Hours: MWF 10:15 – 11:15AM

Section Code: 895817 or by appointment

Email: [email protected]

Course Requirements

[All requirements must be completed to pass the course]

Class Participation 25%: This includes attendance and taking part in discussions. There will be minimal lecturing in order to allow exchange and input from all members of the class. If you are shy about speaking out in class, email me written responses to the material after each meeting.

Papers 50%: Two papers will be required during the term. Each will be seven (7) pages long and treat a film, text or song(s) we’ve done in class. The first paper will be due May 1st and the second on June 5th. Specifics of assignments will be provided in class.

Final Exam 25%: Might consist of a take-home or might be taken in class during final exam time slot. This will depend on the quality of responses, discussions and papers up to the end of the class. Final Exam: Wednesday 14th June, 8 – 10:59AM.

Class Etiquette

To belabor the obvious, arriving on time and leaving only when class is ended will be expected of each student. If someone has a valid reason for either arriving late, leaving early or missing a meeting, let the me know in advance or, if necessary, after class. Attendance will be taken early in each class session, starting from the second week of the quarter. If it is too difficult for students to pay attention to lectures or discussions they are encouraged to drop the course.

While acknowledging the importance of electronic information flow and social media, laptops/tablets/cell phones are to be used during class time to take notes and, if necessary, look up information pertinent to lecture topics, if I ask you to. Multi-tasking is nice, but most studies suggest that focusing on one task at a time, in this case lecture, note taking and discussion (actually three tasks), is a more effective way to understand and remember information. Students who cannot abide by this rule will be asked to either close their devices or simply drop the class.

Literature, a film and some music constitute the main data of this class. You maximize your understanding and appreciation of this material if you complete assignments before they are lectured on or discussed in class. If you do not do this, and then have a hard time trying to understand or write about the material, you might want to consider one of the sources of your problem (see first two sentences of this paragraph).

Finally, this is an upper division literature course and writing is important. All UCSD students have signed a pledge of academic integrity. Any suspected cases of plagiarism will be submitted for formal investigation by the university. The whole idea of writing a paper is for students to express their own analytical findings, ideas and impressions; otherwise no real learning is taking place. If writing is a problem for you, please ask me, or someone, for help in a timely manner in order to maximize your chances for success.

Syllabus

4/3 Introductory Remarks: Course Requirements and Overview of Caribbean History

4/5 Caribbean History and Literature

4/7 African Diasporas: Race, Class, Gender and Postcolonial Subjects

READ: “Thinking the Diaspora – Home Thoughts from Above”, Stuart Hall

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4/10 Naipaul’s Subaltern Calypsos

READ: Miguel Street, V.S. Naipaul, “Bogart” to “B. Wordsworth”

4/12 Naipaul’s Calypsos, continued

READ: Miguel Street, “The Coward” to “Love Love Love Alone”

4/14 Naipaul’s Calypsos, continued

READ: Miguel Street, “The Mechanical Genius” to “How I left Miguel Street”

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4/17 Brathwaite’s Diasporic Epic

READ: The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy, Kamau Brathwaite, “Rights of Passage”, pp. 3 – 45

4/19 Brathwaite’s Epic, continued

READ: “Rights of Passage, pp. 47 – 85

4/21 Common Themes in “Rights of Passage”

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4/24 Marshall’s Mythology of “Home” and Identity

READ: Praise Song for the Widow, Paule Marshall

4/26 Marshall’s Mythology, continued

4/28 Brathwaite’s Rituals of Return

READ: The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy, “Masks”, pp. 89 – 122

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5/1 Brathwaite’s Return, continued

READ: “Masks”, pp. 123 – 157

FIRST PAPER DUE TODAY

5/3 Re-imagining Africa and the Diasporic Journey

5/5 Brathwaite’s Island History and Transformation

READ: The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy, “Islands,” pp. 159 – 205

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5/8 Brathwaite’s Island History, continued

READ: “Islands”, pp. 207 – 270

FIRST PAPER DUE TODAY

5/10 What is Brathwaite’s Construction of the African Diaspora?

5/12 Caribbean Music from Calypso to Reggae

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5/15 Caribbean Music from Calypso to Reggae, continued

5/17 Jamaica’s Breakthrough Film: The Harder They Come

5/19 Thelwell’s Jamaican Political Appropriation

READ: The Harder They Come, Michael Thelwell

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5/22 Thelwell’s Appropriation, continued

5/24 Thelwell on Film to Text

READ: “The Harder They Come: From Film to Novel,” Michael Thelwell

5/26 Cliff’s Exploration of Race, Identity and Gender

READ: No Telephone to Heaven, Michelle Cliff

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5/29 No Class Today Due to Holiday

5/31 Cliff’s Exploration, continued

6/2 Rastafari: Jamaica and Beyond

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6/5 Banks’s Questioning of Outsider/Insider Claims

READ: The Book of Jamaica, Russell Banks

SECOND PAPER DUE TODAY

6/7 Banks’s Questioning, continued

6/9 Ways of (Re)Creating Caribbean Roots and Contemporary Agency

Final Remarks