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Summer 2006 Undergraduate Course Descriptions

Literature of the Americas 102 Cultural Studies 120 East Asian Literature 120C Literatures in English 114
Literatures in English 148
Literatures in English 159 Literatures in English 178 Literatures in English 178
Literatures in English 181
Latin Literature 4 Latin Literature 100 Spanish Literature 50A
Spanish Literature 135B
Literatures in Spanish 175 Literatures of the World 172 Literatures of the World 181
Literature Writing 112

Literature Writing 120 = SS I  = SS II = Special Summer Session
LITERATURE OF THE AMERICAS 102
CONTEMPORARY CHICANA/O-LATINA/O CUTURAL PRODUCTION 1960-PRESENT
RE-IMAGINING COMMUNITIES IN CALIFORNIA
SUMMER SESSION II: AUG 7-SEP 9 2006
Instructor: Irene Mata

Cultural productions go beyond just entertaining an audience; they help to inform who we are and how we view the world. These productions have the power to reinforce traditional stereotypes about marginalized groups or challenge such ideas. While it is important to constantly challenge popular representations of communities of color, it is also vital to study the cultural productions of these communities in order to understand how resistance is possible through the same methods used to oppress and repress various groups. For centuries, the Chicana/o and Latina/o communities have been creating different forms of cultural productions in an effort to preserve their own culture and resist not only cultural annihilation, but also the representations used to rationalize unjust treatment of their members. In this course, we will look at how members of Chicana/o and Latina/o communities use cultural productions to deal with issues of labor, race, gender, and sexuality, both within their communities and in the larger culture in California. We will analyze literature, film, music, and art in order to investigate how cultural productions become possible sites of opposition to sexist, racist, classist, and homophobic ideologies. The various cultural productions we will study will provide us with an idea of the way many members of the Chicana/o and Latina/o communities imagine themselves in direct contrast to how mass media represents them.

CULTURAL STUDIES 120
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CULTURE
LITERATURE AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
SUMMER SESSION II: AUG 7-SEPT 9 2006
Instructor: Kyla Schuller

"Literature and Social Movements" will examine the relationship between cultural production and social movements in the 1960s and 1970s. Focusing on the Chicano Movement, Black Power, Gay Liberation and Radical Feminism, the course will explore texts that played a crucial role in educating the public about each group’s grievances and strategies as well as literature that speaks to the concerns of a movement without explicitly siding with its claims. Lectures will ground each text in its socio-historical context and provide contemporary critical perspectives. Class discussions will examine how each text negotiates and expands the critique developed by the movement and the role of imaginative work in articulating political claims. Special attention will be paid to representations of race, gender and sexuality through close-readings mindful of genre, style and narrative form.

Themes to be addressed include the development of collective consciousness, narratives of politicization, and the dynamics between culture industries and social movements. The conflicts and contributions that the intersecting categories of race, class, gender and sexuality pose to collective organizing will also be a key area of inquiry.

Course work will entail a midterm in-class essay and a final paper, as well as periodic reading quizzes. Texts likely to appear on the syllabus include Oscar Zeta Acosta’s Revolt of the Cockroach People, plays by Luis Valdez and El Teatro Campesino, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, selections from Ann Moody’s Coming of Age in Mississippi, Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues and Valerie Solanas’ SCUM Manifesto. Several films will also be required. Scholarly readings will include work by Michael Denning, T.V. Reed and Robin D.G. Kelley.

EAST ASIAN LITERATURE 120C
HONG KONG FILMS
SUMMER SESSION II: AUG 7-SEP 9 2006
Instructor: Yingjin Zhang

This course approaches the questions of space, time, and identity in Hong Kong cinema and offers a historical survey of this exhilarating transregional-transnational film industry and film culture in a century. Lecture topics include Hong Kong-Shanghai connections (1912-1920s), rise of Cantonese cinema (1930s), postwar political divergence (1940s-1950s), urban modernity and youth culture (1960s), martial arts legends (1970s), the new wave cinema (early 1980s), the second wave and identity crisis (late 1980s), culture of disappearance (1990s), and new localism (2000s). No knowledge of Chinese (Mandarin) or Cantonese is required, but upper-division standing is recommended. All films carry English subtitles, and all reading and writing is done in English.

LITERATURES IN ENGLISH 114 (a)
SHAKESPEARE III
STAGE, FILM, AND TELEVISION
SUMMER SESSION I: JUL 3-AUG 5 2006
Instructor: Michael Grattan

In addition to reading four plays, we will examine Shakespeare’s work visually as it was intended to be experienced.  As we will discover, the matter of producing a play from a textual source leaves vast room for interpretation, and the primary focus of the course will be to critically evaluate the diverse presentations of plays.  In addition to watching videos, we will be seeing three plays live.  There will be weekly short critiques as well as a larger final project, due the last day of class. While the plays to be covered are slightly open to change, for now will read Anthony and Cleopatra, and read see live A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, and Titus Andronicus, the latter of which is one of Shakespeare’s most shocking plays and one that is rarely staged. All stage productions will be seen at the Old Globe in San Diego at a highly (less than $20) discounted rate.

LITERATURES IN ENGLISH 148 (d)
GENRES IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE
SCIENCE FICTION AND IDEOLOGY: ESTRANGING THE MATRIX
SUMMER SESSION I: JUL 3-AUG 5 2006
Instructor: Justin Wyble

In this course, we will attempt to make some sense of our contemporary society through the careful reading of science fiction narratives which present us with either alternative histories or possible futures. How might this genre of other worlds help defamiliarize, or estrange us from, our own world? We will see that through this process of estrangement, science fiction teaches us about the limits of our own imaginations and, in doing so, encourages us to explore alternative ways of organizing our society. Possible readings include short stories and/or novels by Phillip K. Dick, Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, Karen Tei Yamashita, William Gibson, and Kim Stanley Robinson. In addition, we will read critical essays by Fredric Jameson, Tom Moylan, Darko Suvin, and Phillip Wegner, among others. We will also watch clips from some recent science fiction films, including The Matrix trilogy and Independence Day.

LITERATURES IN ENGLISH 159 (d)
CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE
THE BEATS, BEBOP, AND THE BURBS
SUMMER SESSION I: JUL 3-AUG 4 2006
Instructor: Don Wayne

A study of U.S. literature and culture in the period after World War II. The course will focus on the urban centers of New York and Los Angeles, but will also concern the beginnings of demographic mobility between the two coastal cultures. We will read examples of social commentary written in the 1950s, as well as fiction and poetry by a variety of authors including Kerouac, Ginsberg, Baldwin, Ellison, Plath, Salinger, O’Hara, Baraka and others; we will study examples of avant garde music (especially jazz) and art (especially abstract expressionism) in the period; and we will look at a variety of forms of popular culture (including movies, TV, rock and roll, magazines, advertising). Texts and media culture will be examined in relation to the historical context with topics including: the Cold War and the threat of nuclear destruction; post-war U.S. Policy with regard to Europe and Asia; the McCarthy hearings; the cult of domesticity and the redomestication of women after the war years; labor unions and the changing structure of U.S. industry; the early stages of the civil rights movement; post w-war patterns of immigration; the growth of the suburbs; the emergence of teen culture and the figure of the juvenile delinquent; the rise of consumerism; middle-class conformity and the roots of the 1960s counterculture. The course will combine lecture and discussion; two papers will be required.

LITERATURES IN ENGLISH 178 (d)
COMPARATIVE ETHNIC LITERATURE
MEMORIES OF ARMED STRUGGLE: LITERATURE BY FILIPINO AMERICANS, VIETNAMESE AMERICANS, AND U.S.-GUATEMALENS
SUMMER SESSION I: JUL 3-AUG 5 2006
Instructor: Margaret Fajardo

This course focuses on historical novels by U.S. minority writers of Filipino, Vietnamese, and Guatemalan descent that represent U.S. neocolonialism and guerilla warfare in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Guatemala from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. We will be looking at the way in which these writers of color confront and engage the dominant history of U.S. counter-revolutionary campaigns and their relationship to questions of Third World sovereignty and decolonization, migration, and displacement. In addition to how these works represent histories of armed struggle in the homeland, we will also look at how these texts narrate the experience of migration marginalization in the U.S. as impacted by armed struggle in the homeland. Some of the questions that this course seeks to explore include: What are the ways in which these texts locate armed struggle—are the narrations surrounding armed struggle celebrated, demonized, repressed, trivialized—in relation to nation-formation, U.S. neocolonialism, and the notion of “third world countries”? What do these texts suggest about the role of guerilla warfare in constructions of the homeland and the experience of leaving the homeland? What other forms of resistance do the texts represent and how do they interact with guerrilla warfare? What do the works suggest about the relationship between memory, history, violence, and guerilla warfare and resistance?


LITERATURES IN ENGLISH 178 (d)
COMPARATIVE ETHNIC LITERATURE
CHICANO AND AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCES OF THE U.S. WAR IN VIET NAM
SUMMER SESSION II: AUG 7-SEP 9 2006
Instructor: George Mariscal

A comparative study of history, literature, and film seeking to represent the American war in Southeast Asia. Special attention to African American and Chicano experiences of that war and the impact it made on communities at home.


LITERATURES IN ENGLISH 181
(d)
ASIAN AMERICAN LITERATURE
CITIZENSHIP NARRATIVES
SUMMER SESSION II: AUG 7-SEP 9 2006
Proposed Instructor: Lynn Ta

This course will examine the ways in which Asian American identity has been constructed along the lines of contemporary citizenship narratives. We will interrogate what it means to be a “citizen,” both in its legal formulations as well as in the context of social and cultural membership. As a group, Asian Americans have experienced a history of civic exclusion and partial inclusions. How have Asian Americans made claims to rights and protections, as well as negotiate issues of national-belonging? How are these issues informed by categories of gender, sexuality, and class? And more recently, what does the increase in globalizing cultural dynamics mean for Asian American identify and citizenship? We will examine various forms of cultural products by Asian Americans including novels, short stories, poetry, and films.


LTEN Upper Division Codes:

(a) = British Literature before 1660
(b) = British Literature after 1660
(c) = U.S. Literature before 1860
(d) = U.S. Literature after 1860

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LATIN LITERATURE 4 

INTENSIVE ELEMENTARY LATIN (12 UNITS)
SPECIAL SUMMER SESSION: JUL 3-AUG 12 2006
Instructor: Eliot Wirshbo

This course is equivalent of LTLA 1, 2, and 3. This course involves, first, the relentless study of forms and, ultimately, employment of the knowledge of these forms in deciphering meaning from passages of some extent. The ultimate goal is an inceptive ability to read Latin. Students who contemplate taking LTLA 4 must be aware of the commitment they are in for: a minimum of six hours of homework is required each day, since this course, in six weeks, covers every page normally assigned during three quarters of the academic school year. The reward for this investment is substantial, however; the beginning of an appreciation of what the ancient authors actually wrote. It is highly advisable that students buy the text before the first class and familiarize themselves with pronunciation. Enrollment is limited.

Textbooks: Wheelock’s Latin Grammar, Wheelock; 38 Latin Stories, Groton and May.

LATIN LITERATURE 100
INTRODUCTION TO LATIN LITERATURE
SUMMER SESSION II: AUG 7-SEP 9
Instructor: Charles Chamberlain

We will be reading selections from actual roman authors—Phaedrus, Seneca, Petronius, Pliny, and the scandalous Martial—which I will be distributing throughout the quarter. These texts will be accompanied by full vocabulary and some necessary notes.

We will translate these readings carefully, with a wealth of grammatical questions. I will structure all quizzes and tests so that about one-third of the points will concern grammar as opposed to mere translation. I am asking you to read not widely but deeply. There will be weekly quizzes (25%), a midterm (25%), a final (30%), and a paper (20%).

One other thing: I am aware that for many of you, this is the last Latin class you will ever take. However, Latin 100 is not a terminal Latin class, but is designed to lead to further upper-division study. I will be conducting it accordingly.


LITERATURES IN SPANISH 50A

READINGS IN PENINSULAR LITERATURE
SUMMER SESSION I: JUL 3-AUG 5 2006
Instructor: Jose De Pierola

This course will introduce students to Peninsular Literature in Spanish through reading, analysis and discussion of selected texts from the 15th to the 20th Century. This ambitious time span will be made workable by focusing on how Spanish subjectivity and identity are constructed in a few, selected texts representative of Peninsular Literature. The class will emphasize close reading, analysis and discussion. After a two-week introduction, the remainder of the course will be devoted to 20th Century texts. The course reader will include both canonical texts and more recent authors whose contributions are meaningful to the themes discussed.

NOTE: FINAL EXAM IS SCHEDULED FOR SAT. AUG. 5TH 7:00-10:00 P.M. WLH 2110

LITERATURES IN SPANISH 135B
MODERN MEXICAN LITERATURE
LITERATURE OF THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION
SUMMER SESSION II: AUG 7-SEP 9 2006
Instructor: Max Parra

A survey course on the literature of the Mexican Revolution. We will read classic works by Mariano Azuela, Rafael F. Muñoz, Nellie Campobello, et al., and connect them to the master narratives that have dominated the country in the last 100 years: nationalism and modernization. Lectures will focus on general background and exposition of central ideas about the readings. Class meetings will include time for the debate of ideas, more detailed discussion of works, and to draw parallels with other cultures. A short documentary and a feature film on the revolutionary war will also be part of the content of the course.

LITERATURES IN SPANISH 175
GENDER, SEXUALITY AND CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICAN FICTION AND FILM
SUMMER SESSION I: JUL 3-AUG 5 2006
Instructor: Beatrice Pita

This course will look at a number of Latin American texts—principally short fiction written by contemporary male and female writers—to examine issues of gender, sexuality and culture. The writings will be discussed in tandem with related films. Requirements for the course include 2 papers, a midterm and a final exam. Works to be studied include those written by Vallejo, Poniatowska, Benedetti, Kozameh, García Márquez, Vega, Santos Febres, Cortázar, et al. Films to be discussed in connection to the texts are to be viewed outside of class.

NOTE: FINAL EXAM IS SCHEDULED FOR SAT. AUG. 5TH 7:00-10:00 P.M. WLH 2112


LITERATURES OF THE WORLD 172
SPECIAL TOPICS IN LITERATURE
SEX AND LOVE IN THE MIDDLE AGES
SUMMER SESSION I: JUL 3-AUG 5 2006
Instructor: Lisa Lampert

This course provides an introduction to questions of love and sexuality in medieval texts. We’ll explore topics including “courtly love,” marriage, adultery, prostitution, same-sex love, virginity and the connection between sexuality and spirituality. We will read selections from a wide range of texts including Andreas Capellanus’s The Art of Courtly Love, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, erotic lyrics composed in Arabic and Hebrew in medieval Spain, and some surprising selections from medieval legal records and medical treatises. We will examine these texts in relation to their historical contexts, but also consider how medieval ideas still influence us today. No previous background in medieval studies is required.

LITERATURES OF THE WORLD 181
FILM STUDIES AND LITERATURE
FILM MOVEMENT: FILM NOIR ACROSS SEVERAL SOCIETIES
SUMMER SESSION II: AUG 7-SEP 9 2006
Instructor: Winifred Woodhull

This course will focus on film noir of the 1930s, 40s, and 50s as well as neo-noir films of the past two decades. As a genre, noir overlaps with the genre of crime films (or thrillers), originally adapted from “hard-boiled” detective fiction of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s by writers like James M. Cain and Dashell Hammit. The term “noir” (French for “dark”) was used by French film critics to characterize the grim subject matter, the gritty urban settings, and the low-key lighting that were typical of 1940s American crime films.

We will study film noir not only in its American incarnation but in its manifestations internationally, across Europe as well as in Mexico, Hong Kong, and Japan. Examples include Siodmak’s The Killers, Boytler’s The Woman of the Port, Melville’s Bob le flambeur, and Hitchcock’s Psycho. Neo-noir films (some of them remakes) include Frear’s The Grifters, Kieslowski’s White, the Coen brothers’ Fargo, Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together, and Looy’s The Memory of a Killer.

In addition to the story told in a given film, we will examine formal elements such as camera work, editing, sets, lighting, costumes, and sound, in order to grasp the many cinematic features that produce meaning and induce affective responses in viewers. Finally, we will consider the films in relation to the social context of their emergence and reception, which will involve examining, among other things, questions of gender and sexuality, race and ethnicity, national identity, migration, and cultural belonging.

Along with the film screenings themselves, students will be responsible for reading some fiction on which the films are based (eg Ernest Hemingway’s “The Killers,” Walter Mosley’s Devil in a Blue Dress) and a limited number of scholarly articles (eg Richard Dyer’s “Homosexuality in Film Noir”). Evaluation will be based on class participation, one midterm exam, a 5-page paper, and a final exam.

This course assumes no prior experience in film studies.

LITERATURE WRITING 112
ADAPTING LITERATURE TO THE SCREEN
SUMMER SESSION I: JUL 3-AUG 5 2006
Instructor: Julia Fulton

This class is open to writers and film buffs in general. If you love movies this class is for you! We read excerpts of terrific work and their screenplays and watch the films for comparison. Films include Million Dollar Baby, Adaptation, Big Fish, The English Patient, Sense and Sensibility, The Hours, A Simple Plan among others. If you've always wondered how they make movies out of books, come watch with us.

LITERATURE WRITING 120
PERSONAL NARRATIVE
WRITING WORKSHOP
SUMMER SESSION II: AUG 7-SEP 9 2006
Instructor: Michael Krekorian

A workshop for students with some experience and special interest in narrative writing. This workshop is designed to encourage regular writing in the short forms of personal narrative and to permit students to experiment with various styles. Class sessions combine discussion of student work together with the analysis of representative examples of personal essays from the present and previous ages. Students are asked to challenge the boundaries of literature to discover engaging forms and modes of expression.