American Frontiers: From the Wild West to the Apocalypse* ENGL T121

*The finalized reading schedule and Canvas site will be made available the week before classes. For now, this syllabus depicts the finalized required book list, shorter readings, and media content.

Fall 2021 | Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays

Professor: Dr. Leland Tabares Office Hours: TBD and by appointment Email: [email protected]

Course Description The open road -- a quintessential American image. This first-year seminar explores the stories of open space, social mobility, and renewed possibilities that pervade American literature, film, and media. What accounts for the pull of the open road? What roles have these stories played in the making of American identities? We will pursue and complicate ideas of mobility, examining how class, race, gender, sexuality, and national origin shape them. Within national narratives of movement and upward mobility, how might we conceive the coexistence of freewheelers and restricted travelers, immigrants and displaced refugees? Our journey will begin with westward expansion in the U.S. during the 19th century and take us through the rise of mass transit, migration, and new media platforms that have reshaped ideas of mobility in the twentieth- and twenty-first centuries. Our routes will range widely, following American frontier spaces as they expand beyond the continental U.S. and even into the realm of the digital, before finally turning to imagine the world after the apocalypse.

Course Goals Beyond introducing you to a diverse body of literature, film, and media, this seminar is designed to fulfill five primary aims: 1) Understand how conceptions of America and American identity have been constructed in relation to (and often in opposition to) certain kinds of subject positions; 2) Trace the formation and evolution of mobility as a cultural concept that has shifted alongside various historical, social, political, and technological developments; 3) Engage with a diverse range of authors whose texts offer multiple perspectives on the limitations and possibilities of mobility in an American context; 4) Strengthen your ability to analyze literature and culture by realizing the social, historical, and political conditions under which they were produced; 5) Develop your critical reading, thinking, and writing skills through close readings and peer discussions.

Primary Texts & Films Since this is a course focused on American literary and cultural production, we will examine a variety of texts. The required course books will be available for purchase through the university bookstore, while the selected short stories and essays will be made available for free on our online course platform Canvas. Throughout the semester, we will engage with film and media, too. You will not need to purchase these visual texts. Instead, we will either watch them together in class during screening sessions or I will provide links to the films so that you can watch them on your own outside of class.

Books ▪ Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957) ▪ Imogen Binnie, Nevada (2015)* *this novel will be made available for free to students as a PDF on Canvas during the semester. You do not need to purchase a hard copy. ▪ Miné Okubo, Citizen 13660 (1946) ▪ Cormac McCarthy, The Road (2006)

Selected Essays and Short Stories ▪ James Wilson, “Oration on the Fourth of July 1788” (1788) ▪ Henry David Thoreau, “Walking” (1862) ▪ Walt Whitman, “Song of the Open Road” (1856), “Pioneers! O Pioneers” (1865) ▪ Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (1893) ▪ Linda Hogan, “Trail of Tears: Our Removal” (2014) ▪ Linda Hogan, “The History of Red” (1993) ▪ Maxine Hong Kingston, Selections from China Men (1980) ▪ Victor Hugo Green, Selections from The Negro Motorist Green Book (1936-1966) ▪ Colson Whitehead, “The Match” (2019) ▪ Lawrence Matsuda, Selections from A Cold Wind from Idaho (2010) ▪ Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (1983) ▪ Lafcadio Hearn, “St. Malo Story” (1883) ▪ Robert Olen Butler, “Relic” from A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain (1992) ▪ Eithne Luibhéid, “Immigration” (2007) ▪ Cristina Henríquez, “Everything is Far from Here” (2017) ▪ José Olivarez, Selections from Citizen Illegal (2018) ▪ Jhumpa Lahiri, “Mrs. Sen’s” from Interpreter of Maladies (1999) ▪ Nicole Braida, “Airport as a Bordering Process” (2019) ▪ Gloria Anzaldúa, Selections from Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987) ▪ Andy Weir, “Lacero” (2016) ▪ Evan Osnos, “Doomsday Prep for the Super Rich” (2017)

Film and Media ▪ John Ford, Stagecoach (1939) ▪ Black Mirror, San Junipero (2016) ▪ Black Mirror, Metalhead (2017) ▪ Vice News, “The Apocalypse Escape Plan of the One Percent” (2018) ▪ Selections from YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok (2006-2021)

[COURSE OVERVIEW]

Course Work (SUBJECT TO CHANGE) ▪ Careful attention to reading ▪ Active participation and attendance ▪ Around four papers (involving close readings of the texts from our course and cultural analyses in the form of independent outside research on contemporary American popular culture and/or media representation)

Course Policies

Participation & Attendance Your success and the success of the course depend on your active participation in the classroom. Intellectual growth is cultivated in an engaged community of peers. Therefore, regular attendance and participation are required. If your absences are excessive, you may run the risk of receiving a lower grade or a failing grade. Absences will be excused when they are sanctioned by the university for university-sponsored matters (e.g., university-supported conference attendance, varsity athletics, etc.). In those cases, please provide a letter from a university official explaining to me the reason for the absence. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to get the lecture notes from a classmate or to meet with me during office hours. If you miss a class on a day that written work is due, make arrangements to submit the assignment to me ahead of time.

Timely Work Policy You are expected to complete assignments on time. Assignments will be reduced by one full letter grade for each day after an assignment is due. Any exception to this policy is made at my discretion. If you have conflicts, or something unexpected arises, please do not hesitate to contact me as soon as possible before the assignment deadline so that we can try to arrive at a solution together.

Statement on Educational Equity In alignment with the university’s mission, this course is committed to cultivating a respectful and inclusive environment that is sensitive to other students, faculty, and staff. Intolerance, discrimination, and/or harassment due to age, ancestry, ability, class, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status are not tolerated. Learning requires respect and thoughtful consideration of other peoples and their experiences.

*The finalized reading schedule and Canvas site will be made available the week before classes. For now, this syllabus depicts the finalized required book list, shorter readings, and media content.