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English 6410: Caribbean Poetry and Drama January - May, 2012 Time: 4.30 to 7.30Pm Professor: D

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English 6410: Caribbean Poetry and Drama January - May, 2012 Time: 4.30 to 7.30Pm Professor: D University of Puerto Rico English Department College of Humanities Graduate Program English 6410: Caribbean Poetry and Drama January - May, 2012 Time: 4.30 to 7.30pm Professor: D. Kuwabong, PhD Office: Edificio Pedreira Sotano #11. Office Hours: Tuesday: 10: 00 A. M – 12:00 P.M. Course Description: This course will examine selected plays and poetry from the Caribbean. As a site of multiple historical and cultural experiences, any study of Caribbean drama and poetry necessarily implies a multi-disciplinary approach. Hence, in this course, we will explore the selected works from historical, cultural, social, political, economic, and linguistic perspectives, which have in different ways shaped Caribbean literary texts. The course will invariably, therefore, invite a critical engagement with various texts, drawn from both the fields of social science and humanities, and from Caribbean literary texts. Some areas of special interest that will be examined in relation to the development and practice of Caribbean drama and poetry include folk festivals, carnival, nine nights, mumming, the spectacle in which music, dance, masquerades, etc., are important elements. Thematic concerns revolve around: history, politics, economics/class, spirituality, sex/gender (sexism, femininity and masculinity), power relations based on qualifiers such as education, colorism, mothering and motherhood, travel, nostalgia, alienation, re-memory, environmentalism, urbanism, cuisine, language, among others. Required Texts: 1. Waters, J. Erika and David Edgecombe, Eds. Contemporary Drama of the Caribbean. (The plays: No Seeds in Babylon, by Ian Gregory Strachan (the Bahamas), Bellywoman Bangarang, by the Sistren Theatre Collective (Jamaica) and Kirnon's Kingdom, by David Edgecombe (U.S. Virgin Islands). 2. Walcott, Derek, Erroll Hill, and Dennis Scott, Eds. Plays for Today.: Dennis Scott’s An Echo in the Bone, and Erroll Hills’s Man Better Man). 3. Anim-Addo, Joan. Imoinda or She who Will Lose Her Name. London: Mango Press, 2008. 4. Césaire, Aimé. The Tragedy of King Christophe 5. Gibbons, Rawle, Compiler and Editor. Contemporary Caribbean Plays Emancipation Moments (Augus’ Mawnin’ by Barbara Gloudon with Brian Heap, Eitou Pearl Springer’s Canbouley, and Yvonne Weekes’s Blue Soap). St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago: The Multimedia Production Centre, University of the West Indies, School of Education, 2010. .6. Michael Gilkes: Couvade. London: Longman Caribbean Ltd. 1974, 65 pp. Re-issued by Dangaroo Press, Aarhus in 1993. 7. Arrivi, Francisco. Masquerade. Translated by Gabriel Goulthard, In . a time and a season . 1 . Eight Caribbean Plays. Selected by Errol Hill. Trinidad and Tobago: The University of the West Indies: School of Continuing Studies, 1976, 1996. Pp, 101-163. Poetry: 1.. Brathwaite, Edward Kamau. The Arrivants 2.. Sekou, Lasana. The Salt Reaper.Phillipsburg, St. Martin: House of Nehesi Press. 3. Walcott, Derek. Omeros 4. Dabydeen, David. Slave Song. Leeds: Peepal Tree, 2005 5. Collins Klobah, Loretta.The Twelve-Foot Neon Woman. Leeds: Peepal Tree, 2011. 6. Philip, Marlene Nourbese. She Tries Her Tongue Her Silence Softly Breaks. 7. Goodison, Lorna. Golden Grove: New and Selected Poems. 8. Harris, Claire. Drawing Down a Daughter 9. Rahim, Jennifer. Redemption Rain. Toronto: TSAR Publications, 2011 10. Dawes . Kwame. Back of Mount Peace Leeds: Peepal Tree, 2010 11. Marson, Una. Una Marson: Selected Poems. Leeds: Peepal Tree, 2011 12. Williams, Marvin E. Dialogue at the Hearth Christiansted, St. Croix: Antilles Press, 1993. 13. Das, Mahadai. Bones. Leeds: Peepal Tree, 1989. Course Requirements: A. This course cannot be passed without participatory attendance. As the course will be run as mini seminars, it is expected that much of the discussion will be generated and propelled by students. Students need to be present to give presentations, take part in discussions, and listen to readings and lectures. B. There is no examination! However, each student is expected to submit two essays: 1) Essay One: 8 pages essay (2000 words, double space, and referenced using the MLA Documentation style) on Drama; 2) Final paper: 12 pages paper (3000 words and in the same style as the first). Topics for both essays will be designed by the student in consultation with the instructor. Each student will be expected to also give two seminar presentations, one on drama and one on poetry. Drama: Seminars Schedule : January 31st- Imoinda/ Augus’ Mawnin’—Presenters: Dannabang and Gabriel February 7- No Seeds in Babylon—Presenter: Maria Kirnon’s Kingdom—Presenter: Oihida February 14- Couvade—Presenter: Kevin Belly Woman Bangarang—Presenter: Marisol February 21- An Echo in the Bone—Presenter: Juan Man Better Man—Presenter: Xavier 2 English 6410: Kuwabong 3 February 28- The Tragedy of King Christophe—Presenter: Andrew Masquerade—Presenter: Nemesio March 6-Canbouley/Blue Soap—Presenter: Dannabang Midterm due (8-12pp.) Poetry: March 13th, 2012: Omeros March 20th, 2012: The Arrivants March 27th , 2012: Drawing Down a Daughter. Una Marson: Selected Poems April 3rd, 2012: She Tries Her Tongue Her Silence Softly Breaks/ Back of Mount Peace April 10th , 2012. Redemption Rain / Dialogue at the Hearth April 17th, 2012: The Salt Reaper / The Twelve-Foot Neon Woman April 24th , 2012: Golden Grove: New And selected Poems / Slave Song May 1st – May 8th Final Essay. Mark distribution: Final Term Paper: 25% First Term Paper: 25% Seminar One: 10% Seminar Two: 10% Seminar Three: 10% Seminar Four: 10% Class Participation: 10% Total: 100% Due Dates for Papers: First Paper Due: March 6th, 2012. Final Paper Due: May 8th -11th, 2012. Teaching Methods: Lectures, Seminars, Guest Talks, Interviews, Movies, documentaries, etc. Some Journals that you will find useful in your research on Caribbean Literature: Ariel: A Review of International English Literature. Anthurium Journal of West Indian Literature MaComère Wadabagei: A Journal of the Caribbean and Its Diaspora Wasafiri Kunapipi Callaloo Small Axe World Literature Written in English English 6410: Kuwabong 4 Research in African Literatures Caribbean Quarterly Sargasso The Journal of Commonwealth Literature Modern Drama The Year Book of English Studies (book) College Literature Journal for the Association on Mothering Sign Up for Your Seminar Dates: January 31st- Imoinda/ Augus’ Mawnin’—Presenters: Dannabang and Gabriel February 7-No Seeds in Babylon—Presenter: Maria Kirnon’s Kingdom—Presenter: Oihida February 14-Couvade—Presenter: Kevin Belly Woman Bangarang—Presenter: Marisol February 21-An Echo in the Bone—Presenter: Juan Man Better Man—Presenter: Xavier February 28-The Tragedy of King Christophe—Presenter: Andrew Masquerade—Presenter: Nemesio March 6-Canbouley/Blue Soap—Presenter: Dannabang Midterm due (8-12pp.) March 13th, 2012: Omeros. Two Presnters March 20th, 2012: The Arrivants. Two Presenters March 27th, 2012: She Tries Her Tongue Her Silence Softly Breaks/ Back of Mount Peace. Two Presenters April 3rd, 2012: Drawing Down a Daughter. Una Marson: Selected Poems: Two Presenters April 10th, 2012: Redemption Rain /Dialogue at the Hearth: Two Presenters English 6410: Kuwabong 5 April 17th, 2012: The Salt Reaper / The Twelve-Foot Neon Woman: Two Presenters April 24th , 2012: Golden Grove: New And selected Poems / Bones. Bibliography: Some selected bibliography (just a tiny selection for the moment) Students are advised to bring to class next week, titles of ten articles or books, or book chapters from journals from 2000 to the present on Caribbean drama and poetry, not necessarily but preferably relevant and/or focused on the writers, themes, and issues dealing with the authors selected for study in class. For instance, you may want to look at studies focusing on Caribbean-Canadian authors, or Caribbean women poets, or performance, or issues of racial, gender/sex, spiritual, ecological, urban landscape, politics, mothering, masculinity/femininity, language (creole), postcolonial concerns, tourism, music and performance, dance, ritual, among others. Abrahams, Roger D. The Man-of-Words in the West Indies: Performance and the Emergence of Creole Culture. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1983. Print Arnold, James A., ed. A History of Literature in the Caribbean. Vol. 1. Hispanic and Francophone Regions. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1994. Print Ashcroft, Bill et al. The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures. London and New York: Routledge, 1989. Print Baugh, Edward. Ed. Critics on Caribbean Literature: Readings in Literary Criticism. New York: St. Martin’s, 1978. Print Baugh, Edward. Derek Walcott: Memory or Vision: “Another Life.” London: Longman, 1978. Belinda, Edmonson. “Race, Tradition, and the Construction of the Caribbean Aesthetic.” New Literary History 25.1. (Winter 1994): 109-119. Print Bobb, June. Beating a Restless Drum: The Poetics of Kamau Brathwaite and Derek Walcott. New York: Africa World Press, 1998. Print. Brathwaite, Edward Kamau. Roots. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1996. Print Breiner, Laurence A. An Introduction to West Indian Poetry. Cambridge: CUP, 1998. Print Brown, Benita, Dannabang Kuwabong, Christopher Olsen. Myth Performance in the Africa Diaspora. Ritual, Theatre and Dance. Lantham: The Scarecrow Press, 2014.Print Brown, Lloyd W. West Indian Poetry, 2nd ed. London: Heinemann, 1984. Print Brown, Stewart. , Ed. The Art of Edward Kamau Brathwaite. Wales: Bridgend. 1995. Print. Stewart Brown Tourist, Traveller, Troublemaker: Essays on Poetry Tourist, Leeds: Peepal Tree, 2007. Print
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