EN G183 Banned Books and Changing Cultures Rebecca Fine Romanow
MWF
Extra hour: M. 12:30-1:20 Office: W/6/020 Wheatley/01/29 e-mail: rebecca.romanow@umb.edu Spring 2005 Phone #: 617-287-6759 UMass Boston Office Hours: M: 9:30-10:30; WF 12:30-1:30
Webpage: http://www.uri.edu/personal2/rromanow/index.htm and by appointment
This course is a First year Seminar (FYS). First Year Seminars welcome new students with fewer than 30 credits to UMass Boston., providing a small-sized course designed to prepare you for a successful college experience. Students may choose from a variety of FYS courses, reflecting a wide range of topics and disciplines. A major goal of First Year Seminars is to practice the following habits of mind essential to university level educational success: Careful reading; clear writing; critical thinking; information literacy and technology; working in teams; oral presentation; and academic self-assessment.
All First Year Seminars meet 4 hours per week and carry 4 credits. A mentor and staff academic advisor are assigned to each seminar. Among other things, the mentor can help you with computer accounts, e-mail, and library research. The advisor will visit the class once or twice during the semester, and can be contacted for help concerning course selection and majors, financial aid, and any problems or questions you may have with university life in general. UMass Boston is a wonderfully diverse community. We hope that you will take advantage of the opportunity to learn about the rich array of opinions and experiences that will inevitably be present in our class.
If you entered UMB with 30 or more transferable credits, you should not
be enrolled in this class. If you do
enroll, you will be retroactively withdrawn during the semester and will not
receive credit. In addition, if you have
taken another G 100-level course in any department at UMB, you cannot receive
credit for this one.
Student Referral Program. If it appears that you might not pass this First Year Seminar, and if I cannot support your success in this course, I might inform Dr. Elsa Casas, Director of the Student Referral program (M-3-625; 287-5500). Dr. Casas or her staff would attempt to help you to address the difficulties that are interfering with your success in the class. If you do not want me to let the Student Referral Program know that you are having difficulty, please let me know.
Assessment of these courses. In addition to course evaluation forms that are routinely administered at the end of each course at UMass Boston, an assessment committee will look at randomly chosen student writing from First Year Seminars. Please save all of your writing in this course, so that if you are randomly chosen, you will have your work available. The purpose of this is to improve the program and to improve particular courses, if necessary. You may remove your name from your papers if you choose to submit them anonymously.
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students equity and excellence in education,
maximizing each student’s educational potential while helping him or her
develop and maintain independence. Our philosophy is one that encourages
self-awareness, self-determination, self-advocacy and independence in a
comprehensively accessible environment.
The office works with faculty, staff and students on campus to ensure
that appropriate academic adjustments are made that allow all students an equal
footing inside the classroom and around campus. If you have a disability and feel you will
need accommodations in order to complete course requirements, please contact
the
In this First Year Seminar, we will be exploring several texts of fiction and poetry which have faced extensive censorship in the 20th century, focusing on four major areas where censorship occurs: politics, society, sexuality, and religion. We will explore the cultural climates which either banned and outright forbade certain works, and those which censored specific texts, investigating the ways in which the ideas we discover in these books may have been suppressed, altered or silenced. In our reading and writing, we will emphasize invention strategies, coherence and unity, audience awareness, critical reading and thinking, research, and the ways in which we use language to read and write across the many academic disciplines we encounter, discovering how each activity comes through interaction with texts, confronting readings and connecting them to our lives. We will discover new ways of reading and writing which will allow you individual freedom while you are negotiating your way into academic life at the college level.
1) To gain confidence as a reader who can synthesize texts and respond to them as we explore texts through class discussion and writing assignments
2) To gain confidence and skill as a writer who can present ideas in a clear, organized way, presenting arguments which explore and analyze the many arguments and issues which are opened up by the reading of our texts
3) To become a critical thinker who can analyze and interpret complex ideas in writing, reading, and discussion
4) To understand the issues of the censorship of literature in the twentieth century, and to grasp the historical and cultural foundations which underline the practice of censorship;
5) To form a classroom community of readers, writers, thinkers and learners.
Required Texts:
Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid’s Tale.
DeGrazia,
Edward. Girls Lean Back Everywhere:
The Law of Obscenity and the Assault on Genius.
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World.
Kaufman, Alan and
Pipes, Daniel and Koenraad Elst. The Rushdie Affair:
The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West. 2nd ed.
Post, Robert, ed. Censorship and Silencing: Practices of
Cultural Regulation (Issues and
Debates).
Rushdie, Salman. The Satanic Verses.
1) Attendance: If a student misses three or more class hours in a row, they may not pass this course. Three latenesses will be the equivalent of one absence, and being late on a consistent basis will bring down your grade. Class participation is essential to this course, and it is important for all of us to be here. During class we will be engaging in frequent small group activities and presentations, as well as in-class writing assignments. If you are absent, you will miss these activities, which will not only harm your final grade, but will also make it far more difficult for you to progress as a critical reader, writer, and thinker. If you are absent, you are responsible for getting and completing assignments. Please note that class participation is 30% of your grade.
2) Essays: We will be writing constantly throughout the semester. There will be two shorter essays and a longer research project which will be written over the course of the semester, and handed in at successive stages of the writing process. Each essay will be written over a two-to three-week period. Your drafts will not be graded. Rather, you will be receiving comments from me, as well as your peers, throughout your draft stages. Final drafts of essays and your research project will be given a grade. In addition, we will be writing short pieces during class, and you will often be preparing written responses to discussion questions for homework. Writing and reading are closely linked together; critical thinking requires that we synthesize both, exploring the ways in which they support and clarify each other. Essays must be typed, in 12 font, and double spaced.
3)
4) Critical Thinking: Working with our readings, as well as essays, and writing about what we read, involves critical thinking. Over the semester, we will discuss the many ways in which we may build cases for our ideas and interpretations based on the evidence of our readings. We will stress the importance of properly citing sources and referring directly to texts to explain thoughts. We will explore the ways in which one text compares to another, and the ways that cultural thought and social history may apply to these texts. In addition, there will be several informal group presentations, as well as an individual presentation on the final project, which will help us to think about how we can most effectively present complex ideas.
5) Information Technology and Information Literacy: Over this semester, we will be meeting in the Computer Labs in Healey Library seven times (roughly every other week). During our Lab time, we will peer review other students’ papers, learn to use the Healey library databases, and explore different methods of conducting academic research. These Lab meetings are extremely valuable, and it is essential that we all be present. Understanding the ways in which technology enables us to research, think, and write more effectively is a major goal of this seminar. In addition, each member of this class must have a working email account. You can get free email from UMB (we’ll be showing you how to do this). We will have class assignments, as well as some peer review, which we will be completed via email. Please refer to the class schedule below for scheduled Lab meeting times.
6)
Plagiarism: Intrinsically, the reading of literature
involves a “conversation” between author
and reader. “It takes two to speak the truth,” Thoreau once noted: “one
to speak, and another to hear.” When we read, we are active: we speak
back to the author, who may not literally “hear” us but whose writing
nonetheless operates as a sounding board for our responses to the world of
words and ideas opened up by the text. The study of literature in
American universities also involves a conversation—between reader and
reader. At the most immediate level, this conversation takes place in the
classroom, in the exchange of responses between readers—between professor and
students, between student and student. Ideally, this conversation
continues outside the classroom: in the hallways, in the cafeteria, in offices,
on the Red Line, online—wherever inquiring minds come together.
In fact, this conversation extends far beyond
the classroom and is, almost always, part of a larger “critical dialogue”—another
world of words and ideas—that we also participate in each time we write a paper
or an exam or otherwise present our work for consideration or evaluation by
others. That dialogue takes place in the realm of inquiry into the
processes of literature undertaken through academic scholarship and criticism
recorded via various media: in books, articles, and reviews in print, on radio
and television, on CD-Rom, on the Web. Participation in this dialogue is
an important dimension of the learning experience for all students of
literature: our learning increases through consideration of what others have
learned and have made available to us as readers and students.
But with such participation comes the
responsibility of identifying—and of acknowledging appropriately—which aspects
of the critical dialogue (or even the classroom conversation) originate with us
individually, which aspects are general common knowledge, and which originate
with a scholar or a critic (or of another student). Students meet that responsibility by thoroughly
documenting all sources consulted—regardless of whether they are quoted from
directly, paraphrased, rephrased or otherwise “borrowed from.”
The documentation method endorsed by the English Department at UMass Boston is
that of the Modern Language Association. This method is explained and
illustrated comprehensively in Gibaldi, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
(5th ed.). Most handbooks used in English 101-102 also offer
detailed guidelines for using the MLA style of documenting sources. In
addition, Bedford-St. Martin’s Press offers a user-friendly version of the
guidelines online: http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/humanities/english.html
Of course, all English Department faculty
members will happily help students to understand the application of this
documentation method in their work. The
English Department at UMass Boston takes very seriously the obligation of
students, in presenting work (whether written or oral) for evaluation, to give
full credit to others where and when such credit is due. All students
should be familiar with the definitions and the regulations concerning Academic
Honesty contained in the
The University defines violations of academic honesty
to include, but not be limited to, the following:
A. Submitting an author’s
published or unpublished work, in whole, in part, or in paraphrase, as one’s own
without fully and properly crediting the author. This includes, but is not
limited to, submitting unattributed published work,
e.g. material from a journal, newspaper, encyclopedia, [the internet,] etc.
without proper acknowledgement.
B. Submitting as
one’s original work materials obtained from an individual or agency.
C. Submitting as one’s
own original work material that has been produced through unacknowledged
collaboration with others.
D. Using any unauthorized
material during an examination, such as notes, tests, calculators, etc.
E. Obtaining answers to
examination questions from another person with or without that person’s
knowledge; furnishing answers to examination questions to another student;
using or distributing unauthorized copies of or notes from an examination.
F. Submitting as one’s own an
examination taken by another person; or taking an examination in another
person’s place.
G. Gaining
or seeking to gain unauthorized access to the computer files of a student or faculty
member, or staff member, or altering or destroying those files.
For more details, visit the UMass Boston website: http://www.umb.edu/student_services/student_rights/code_conduct.html
The English Department is committed to helping students participate responsibly in the “critical dialogue” by requiring that they credit appropriately and accurately all sources of their words and ideas. The Department is also committed to upholding both the letter and the spirit of the “Code of Student Conduct”: for the very integrity of the academic enterprise—the pursuit of knowledge and truth—all faculty hold students accountable for any instances of “plagiarism” (that is, the misrepresentation of another’s words or original ideas as one’s own) or for any other form of academic dishonesty. The penalties for plagiarism are a grade of “F” on the assignment in question and a grade of “F” in the course, and may involve academic suspension or outright dismissal from the University. Plagiarism will be reported to the Dean of your College.
1)
Class
participation (including Quote Days, group work, and Peer Review)(30%)
2)
In-class
essays (15%) (5% each)
3)
Your 1st
2 written essays (30%) (15% each)
4) Your final essay (25%)
However, please note, that as far as I am concerned, effort is extremely important. I want you to participate in class discussions, be involved in the essays that you are writing, the texts we are reading, and the group work and presentations.
Below is a schedule of our course. I felt you should have an idea of when papers and readings will be assigned. However, please note that this syllabus does not include a great deal of detail about our class activities, and I maintain the right to change reading or writing assignments!
In Class
M. 1/24 Introduction/Syllabus
W. 1/26
Girls Lean Back, Introduction
Brave New World, Foreward,
ch 1-2
F.
1/28 Brave New World, ch. 3-5
Quote Day
M. 1/31
Brave New World, ch. 9-11
Girls Lean Back, ch. 1-2
W. 2/2 Brave New World, ch. 12-15
F. 2/4 Brave New World, ch. 16-18 Quote Day
Girls Lean Back, ch. 30 Group presentations of essay ideas
M. 2/7
WHITE LAB (Healey/3)
in-class essay
W. 2/9
Postwrite of in-class essay; Brave New World conclusions
F. 2/11 Outlaw Bible: introduction, xxv-xxvii; Whitman, “Shut Not your Doors,” xxxi; Micheline, “Poem to the Freaks,” 2; Shakur, “In the Event of My Demise,” 8; Corso/Ginsberg, “Ten Outlaw Heroes,” 144
Girls Lean Back, ch. 17-18
Quote Day
M. 2/14 Outlaw Bible: Pollock, “(Untitled),”
80; Smith, “
W. 2/16 Outlaw Bible: On Henry Miller,” 113; Miller, “A Poem in
Prose for My Venus,” 114, “Advice to a Young Writer,” 115; Mailer, “The Shortest Novel of Them All,”
116; Williams, “Letter to Harold Norse,” 142
Girls Lean Back, ch.25-26
Quote Day
F. 2/18
Outlaw Bible: Durrell, “; Kerouac, “Choruses” (all), 146;
Whitman, from “Song of the
M. 2/21 PRESIDENTS’ DAY NO CLASS
W. 2/23 Outlaw Bible (Slam): Smith (all), 236; Gaines, “Welcome to
McDonalds,” 246; Miller, “My Life as I Remember It,” 247; Pliura, “In the
Hands of the Enemy,” 250; Cabico, “Check One,” 254; Estep (all), 256; Hyena, “William,
I Giggled with Your Girlfriend,” 261; Chin, “Imagining America,” 264
Garrison, “Incitement and the Limits of the Law,” Censorship and
Silencing, p. 43
F. 2/25 In-class writing
M. 2/28 WHITE LAB (Healey/3)
group writing
for essay #1
W. 3/2 Slam FILM
F. 3/4 Outlaw Bible: Coleman, “South
Central Los Angeles Death Trip,” 160; Burroughs (all), 168; Cassady
(all), 148; Corso (all), 151; Ginsberg, “C’mon Pigs of Western
Civilization,” 154; Kerouac, “Hey, Jack!”, 543
Schauer, “The
Ontology of Censorship,” Censorship and Silencing, p. 147
M. 3/7 WHITE LAB (Healey/3)/ Peer Review 1st draft of essay #1 due
W. 3/9 Outlaw Bible: Bruce (all), 288;
Pryor, “
Girls Lean Back, ch. 24
F. 3/11 The Handmaid’s Tale, I-II
Quote Day
2nd draft essay #1 due
March
14-18 SPRING BREAK
M. 3/21 The Handmaid’s Tale,
III-IV Email peer review due
Levinson, “The
W. 3/23 The Handmaid’s Tale, V
Postwrite essay #1 Final essay #1 due
F. 3/25
The Handmaid’s Tale,
VI-VII Quote Day
M. 3/28
The Handmaid’s Tale, VIII in-class writing
Brown, “Freedom’s Silences,” Censorship and Silencing, p. 313
W. 3/30 The Handmaid’s Tale, IX
F. 4/1 The Handmaid’s Tale,
X-XIII
Quote Day
M. 4/4 WHITE LAB (Healey/3)/ Peer Review 1st draft of essay #2 due
The Handmaid’s Tale, XIV
W. 4/6 The Handmaid’s Tale, XV- Hist. Notes
F. 4/8 Postwrite essay #3 Final essay #2 due
M. 4/11 WHITE LAB
(Healey/3)/Research
Project Proposal due
W. 4/13 Satanic Verses, Book I
The Rushdie Affair, Introduction and ch. 1
F. 4/15 Satanic Verses, Book II
Quote Day
The Rushdie
Affair, ch. 2-3
M. 4/18
PATRIOT’S DAY
NO CLASS
W. 4/20 Satanic Verses, Book III
F. 4/22 Satanic Verses, Book
III-IV
Quote Day
The Rushdie Affair,
ch. 4-6
M. 4/25 WHITE LAB (Healey/3)/Peer Review 1st draft of Final Project
W. 4/27 Satanic Verses, Book V
The Rushdie Affair, ch. 7-9
F. 4/29 Satanic Verses, Book VI-VII 2nd draft of Final Project
M. 5/2 Satanic Verses, Book VIII
The Rushdie Affair, ch. 10-13
Project Presentations
email peer reviews due W. 5/4 Satanic Verses, Book IX
Project
Presentations
F. 5/6 Project self-assessment
M. 5/9 WHITE LAB (Healey/3)/Peer Review 3rd draft of Final Project
W. 5/11 Postwrite/ Party!
Final Project Due
Note on
papers: Your
papers are expected to be received on the due dates. Your grade will be dropped for each class
period a paper is late. No papers will
be accepted after one week from the due date.
You can rewrite either of the first two papers (but not the final paper)
during the semester, and you will receive a new grade on it, as long as it was
originally handed in on time. Final
papers are due at