Pacharee Sudhinaraset
English 242D

Reading Prose Fiction

Class Description
This course will examine women of color feminist critiques in fictional works. We will explore the proliferation of literary, cultural, and intellectual work by women of color beginning in the 1970s. Rather than treating literature by women of color as providing transparent accounts of their lives, this course will focus on the critiques that grew out of their experiences at the intersection of race, class, gender, and sexuality and emerged in their fiction. This course will look at the ways women of color feminism contributed and altered the conversations around activism, social change, and equality from the 1970s and through the 1980s and 1990s. In particular, we will consider the central role fiction plays in women of color feminist practices and politics. Authors will include Maxine Hong Kingston, Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa, Octavia Butler, Barbara Christian, and Audre Lorde.

Student Learning Goals
1. To engage with women of color feminist critiques, concepts, and theories through examining fiction.
2. To strengthen writing, critical reading and analytical skills of texts, culture, history and society.
3. To engage with other students in a collaborative way through reading, writing, and discussion.
4. To understand the historical context through which cultural texts emerge.

General Method of Instruction
Small and large group discussion, writing workshops, and a little bit of lecture.

Class Assignments and Grading
As a “W” course, you will be required to write two papers. Together, the two paper assignments will make up 70% of your grade. They will be graded according to the goals listed above. 30% will be based on your class participation, and the completion of assignments.