ENGL 008 A-Z - ExplorationsSemester Hours: 1-1.5
Periodically
Introductions to specific literary concepts, authors, or genres. Courses may be linked to on-campus cultural events, such as conferences, invited lectures, the Hofstra Shakespeare Festival, or the Great Writers, Great Readings series.
Current Special Topics
ENGL 008O: Geography of Place & Autobiography in Natasha Tretgewey’s Poetry
Born in Mississippi the daughter of a mixed-race marriage, Natasha Trethewey grew up in the deep South, a witness to the struggle of black women and men, and attuned to the painful details of her own experience as a person of dual racial heritage. Her career was provoked into being after her mother’s murder, inspiring Trethewey to write about loss and the wounds inflicted upon black people living in the South. Her many volumes of poetry have garnered national recognition and won her the award of being named Poet Laureate of the United States in 2012-14. We will examine how Trethewey blends the historical and personal in her portraits of working-class black people, some drawing on E.J. Bellocq’s Storyville photographs of sex workers in New Orleans’ red-light district, Civil War soldiers in one of the Union’s first black regiments called on to fight against the Confederacy, and mixed-raced families, focusing on fathers and children.
Course requirements include class participation and an essay.
ENGL 008P: Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad
This course is an in-depth study of Whitehead’s novel and relevant historical documents and criticism. Students will produce an essay that deconstructs the novel in terms of the novel’s critical contribution to literature of the African American aesthetic. Active class participation and attendance will round out course requirements.
ENGL 008Q: Dangerous Ideas
This course has multiple sections in multiple departments (see list below). If any one of the sections listed below is closed, just register for another one. They are all the same course and will meet together.
Ideas matter. Concepts such as cultural identity, the meaning of and practices around food, democracy, faith, race, freedom, gender have inspired social movements, shaped ways of life and political systems, and dramatically influenced the lives of individuals. Scientific ideas (such as evolution, species extinction, climate science) also have power to shape our lives. Powerful ideas can be dangerous, generating turmoil and destabilizing the status quo, or supporting the status quo when change is needed, or creating unanticipated consequences.
This one-credit course explores some powerful ideas and way(s) in which they may be dangerous, provocative, or influential. Each week a faculty member from a different department will explore a concept that has shaped human experience across time and space.
Attendance and participation in discussion activities are obligatory and a brief reflection paper at the end of the course will be required. The course is available only on a pass/D+/D/fail basis. Register for any one of the cross-listed sections for the course. They all have the same title, “Dangerous Ideas”, and they will all meet together as one course.
Cross listed with ANTH 188K (A), CRN 94403; HIST 006M (A), CRN 94361; MUS 151 (B), CRN 94365; PHI 051D (A), CRN 94244; RELI 141F (A), CRN 94367.
Prerequisite(s)/Course Notes:
WSC 001 or WSC 002 . As individual subjects are selected, each is assigned a letter (A-Z) which is affixed to the course number. Specific titles and course descriptions for special topics courses are available in the online class schedule. May be repeated for up to 3 s.h. when topic varies.
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