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E376M Early Black Atlantic E376M Early Black Atlantic Instructor: Woodard, H. Areas: G Diverse perspectives Unique #: 35150 Flags: Writing, Diversity Semester: Spring 2018 Restrictions: N/A Cross-lists: AFR 372E Computer Instruction: No Prerequisites: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing. COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course focuses primarily on representations of race in select eighteenth-century writings, art, and music. Focusing primarily on early Black Atlantic writings--especially in the U.S. and England, coterminously with the triangular, Transatlantic Slave Trade route, the course shows how race disrupts the rhetoric of Enlightenment humanism, which represents literature as a tool for moral instruction. What unites neoclassicists like Dryden, Pope, and Swift; Whig modernists like Addison & Steele, and Christian humanists like Samuel Johnson is a belief in art as a postlapsarian response to disharmony in the universe. The publications of early (18th century) Black Atlantic authors, Ukawsaw Gronniosaw (Narrative of Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, 1770), Ottobah Cugoano (Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery, 1789), Ignatius Sancho (Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, 1782), Olaudah Equiano (Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, 1787), and Mary Prince (History of Mary Prince, 1831) alter the notion that such a literary didacticism operates in a depoliticized humanist framework. Across the Atlantic, John Jea, John Morrant, Jupiter Hammon, Briton Hammon, and Phillis Wheatley perform a key epistemological task, notably in religious, social, literary, and gender contexts. Besides, Britain's exploration ventures to African territories, along with its participation in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, helped to shape perspectives on race that often clashed with humanism's didactic mode. African-British and Black Atlantic writings in the course uniquely underscore the mediative function of race between literature as a tool for moral instruction and certain social conditions that profoundly complicate that role. We shall resuscitate and challenge humanism’s collective system of values and its uniformity and orthodoxy of human nature. We will begin with a historical, global view of travel narratives that introduced spectators to ethnic cultures beyond their shores. We will study the writings of the captive African in prose, imaginative fiction, art, even legal and ecclesiastical discourse. In the final quarter of the course, we will move forward to Paul Gilroy, Smallwood, and others’ conception of the Black Atlantic legacy and aftermath. Through select contemporary readings of the Middle Passage, we will cast a glance towards an eco-critical, theoretical lens that ponders such water-driven events as the 1927 Mississippi Flood and the Katrina Flood, and the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: To cultivate critical thinking, reading, and writing skills To develop effective skills in oral and visual communication To work effectively with others to support a shared purpose or goal To connect the early black Atlantic, e.g. slavery/the Middle Passage/writings, with its legacy in the modern era REQUIRED TEXTS: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, Book IV. Alphra Behn, Oroonoko. Phillis Wheatley, Complete Writings. Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. and William Andrews, Pioneers of The Black Atlantic: Five Slave Narratives, 1772-1815. Moira Ferguson, ed. The History of Mary Prince. Toni Morrison, A Mercy. REQUIREMENTS & GRADING: .75% Three critical essays (5 pages each; typed; ds, plus one major essay revision.) .15% Two response papers (3 pages each; typed ds, plus weekly reading quizzes.) .10% Group presentations; class participation. (You must be present to participate in class discussion.) Nonsubstantial (nongraded) writing projects include peer evaluations of oral presentations and constructive peer readings of critical essay drafts. Policies: Documented Disability Statement: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471- 6259 (voice) or 232-2937 (video phone), or visit http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd. Honor Code: The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community. Academic Integrity: Any work submitted by a student in this course for academic credit will be the student's own work. For additional information on Academic Integrity, see http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acadint.php. Religious Holy Days: By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of a pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, I will give you an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence. Other: additional policies, as desired (Q-drop, cell phone/computer, e-mail correspondence, BCAL, writing center). Web Site: Canvas READING SCHEDULE (I reserve the right to make adjustments to this syllabus, which I will announce to the class.) Wed 1/17 Classes begin. Introduction to course; policies, etc. Mon 1/22 Discussion, “Enlightenment Humanism: Art as the postlapsarian response to disharmony in the universe.” Wed 1/24 Discussion, “Travel fiction, the contact zone, and the Atlantic slave trade” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, “Book IV” Mon 1/29 Discussion, “The houyhnmhnms as colonizers” Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, “Book IV,” Wed 1/31 Discussion, “Oroonoko, royal slave or ennobled being?” Apha Behn, Oroonoko Response paper I: “Is Lemuel Gulliver a reliable narrator?” Mon 2/5 Discussion, “Oroonoko, royal slave or ennobled being?” Aphra Behn, Oroonoko Wed 2/7 Discussion, “Slavery, The Middle Passage, and eco-critical theory” Phillis Wheatley poem, On Being Brought From Africa To America,” in Complete Writings Mon 2/12 Discussion, “The Encomium” Phillis Wheatley, “To the University of Cambridge,” in Complete Writings Wheatley, “To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth,” in Complete Writings Critical essay I due: “Oroonoko in the contact zone” Mon 1/29 Phillis Wheatley, Complete Writings “On the Death of the Rev. George Whitefield” “On the Death of General Wooster” Wed 1/31 Phillis Wheatley, Complete Writings “To His Excellency General Washington” “[Letter and Reply] To George Washington” “[Letters] To the Countess of Huntingdon” ”[Letter] To Samson Occom” Wed 2/14 Group presentation I: Phillis Wheatley: “Celebrity” Slave Mon 2/19 Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and William Andrews, eds., Pioneers of the Black Atlantic, Discussion, “Ukawsaw Gronniosaw and ‘the trope of the talking book’” Wed 2/21 Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and William Andrews, eds., Pioneers of the Black Atlantic, Discussion, “Ukawsaw Gronniosaw and ‘the trope of the talking book’” Mon 2/26 Gates and Andrews, eds., Pioneers of the Black Atlantic, Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative; Discussion, “The trope of the talking book” as ‘signification’ Wed 2/28 Gates and Andrews, eds., Pioneers of the Black Atlantic, Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative Mon 3/5 Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and William Andrews, eds., Pioneers of the Black Atlantic, Olaudah Equiano, Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa. Wed 3/7 Group presentation II: Defamiliarization in Equiano’s Interesting Narrative SPRING BREAK: MARCH 12-MARCH 17 Mon 3/19 Discussion, “The Hamitic Hypothesis” in Ottobah Cugoano, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery, from Gates and Andrews, eds., Pioneers of the Black Atlantic Wed 3/21 Gates and Andrews, eds., Pioneers of the Black Atlantic, Ottobah Cugoano, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery Mon 3/26 Ottobah Cugoano, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery Gates and Andrews, eds., Pioneers of the Black Atlantic Wed 3/28 Group III presentation: “Who is Ignatius Sancho?” Mon 4/2 Moira Ferguson, ed., Mary Prince, History of Mary Prince Response paper II: (TBA) “Cugoano’s ‘trope of the talking book’” Wed 4/4 Moira Ferguson, ed., Mary Prince, History of Mary Prince Mon 4/9 Moira Ferguson, ed., Mary Prince, History of Mary Prince Wed 4/11 Moira Ferguson, ed., Mary Prince, History of Mary Prince Mon 4/16 Toni Morrison, A Mercy Critical Essay III: “Nationalism and the History of Mary Prince” Wed 4/18 Toni Morrison, A Mercy Mon 4/23 Toni Morrison, A Mercy Wed 4/25 Morrison, A Mercy Mon 4/30 Morrison, A Mercy Wed 5/2 Group IV presentation: A Mercy and Eco-critical Theory .
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