Literature Undergraduate Course Descriptions
Summer Session I 2020 (S120)

LTCS 119 - ASIAN AMERICAN FILM AND MEDIA
Asian American Embodiments
Proposed Instructor: Keva Bui

This course surveys a variety of Asian American cultural productions to explore the different forms of embodiment that Asian America has inhabited at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and (dis)ability. Students will be introduced to theories from performance studies, Asian American studies, science studies, and feminist and queer theory to think critically about how the “body,” as both a biological entity and aesthetic form, has figured prominently in narratives about Asian American racial formation. Topics will include: biopolitics, racial fears of contagion, war and militarization, environmental justice, and monstrosity. 

• LTCS 119 will count towards the Media concentration for the World Literature and Culture major.

LTCS 165 - SPECIAL TOPICS: THE POLITICS OF FOOD
Justice, Diversity, Community
Instructor: Stephanie Jed

This course will focus on food justice research at the crossroads of critical race theory, environmental studies, and sustainability research. Topics will include: food and poverty, food deserts, immigrants in California agriculture, race in the study of food and more.

• LTCS 165 will count as an LTEN-equivalent course.

LTEA 120C - HONG KONG FILMS
Ghostly Matters: From King Hu to Fruit Chan
Proposed Instructor: Jing Chen

This course surveys cinematic representations of ghosts and its related subjects in Hong Kong films. It will examine masterpieces made by King Hu and many others to consider how they interpret “Hong Kong” through cinema and ghostly matters.

• LTEA 120C will count towards the Media concentration for the World Literature and Culture major.
• LTEA 120C will count towards the Region (Asia) concentration for the World Literature and Culture major.

LTEN 148 - GENRES IN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE
Science Fiction and Personhood
Proposed Instructor: Tina Hyland

What is a person? This simple question requires a complex negotiation. How do we decide who counts?  What are the privileges of personhood, and how do we distribute them? These questions matter, and science fiction seeks to answer them.

LTEN 159 - CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE (d)
“Coming of Age” in Graphic Novels
Instructor: Anna Joy Springer

Looking at Craig Thompson’s Blankets, Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, and Mariko & Jillian Tamaki’s Skim, and Lynda Barry’s 100 Demons, along with Hillary Chute’s Why Comics? and other related essays, we will explore the ways text and image combine to create a special contemporary narrative experience of stories in English about turbulence, passion, and transformation in tales of growing up.

• LTEN 159 will count towards the Region (The Americas) concentration for the World Literature and Culture major.

LTEN 185 - THEMES IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN LITERATURE
Instructor: Babak Rahimi

Please contact instructor for course description.

• LTEN 185 will count towards the Region (The Americas) concentration for the World Literature and Culture major.

LTWR 100 - SHORT FICTION WORKSHOP
Flash Fiction! Adapting Fairytale, Folktale, Myth
Instructor: Anna Joy Springer

Using pre-existing popular stories from around the world that reveal culture’s deepest wishes and firmest morals through fantastical phenomena, we will craft 4 elegant flash fiction stories that draw attention to contemporary concerns through adaptation of the original tale. This is a great class for those who want to practice characterization, voice, and motif, as well as subtlety of cultural critique. Each week there will be writing exercises and both small and large group workshops.

LTWR 102 - POETRY WORKSHOP
Instructor: Kazim Ali

Please contact instructor for course description.