ENGL 386 American Women Writers of Color
--Fall 2005 Announcements & Links of Interest--
Below are links that I've found of interest to the material of this course. If
you discover pertinent links and would like to share them with the class, please
e-mail me the URLs and I'll post them here.
»»Local Links/Announcements:
Salisbury University Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)
organization. Their website includes information and resources for students and
faculty on issues of concern to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transexual/transgender persons -- student and faculty alike. Remember that
"person" is often the too-silent and -implied word behind any of these adjectives.
Grassroots II at 1305 S. Division St. #10 (410-548-7151; raepolk@aol.com) is a locally-owned bookstore
and resource centre for African-American books and culture. Owner Rachel Polk can
help in ordering texts by African-American and other women of color. Support your
local booksellers!
SU has a local Gender Studies Interest Group on campus (they haven't a website yet, but I'll sak about that). The first
meeting is in early October, mostly for faculty; I will report back to you on what resources/meetings
are available on campus for students interested in issues of sex, gender,
sex-based violence, rape.
Shameless Self-Promotion: in Spring 2006, I will offer one course
on masculinity (ENGL 300: Maculinites in Literature and Culture) that will
examine how literature and other cultural artifacts both reflect and help create
gender norms, specifically masculinity. Since "masculinity" is always in
tension with and defined by equally arbitrary notions of "femininity," the
course will study how masculinity is specifically set in opposition to femininity
while necessarily recreating it. These discussions will also lead us into
thinking about the impact of homosexuality, homosociality, "metrosexuality,"
butch-macho stereotypes, and other permutations. We'll study issues such as
Masculinity & Race/Ethnicity (how gender norms infuence U.S. steretypes of ethnicity &
race), Masculinity & Class (how masculinity and femininity dictate U.S.
stereotypes of social and economic class), etc. We'll read essays and
commentaries on the establishment and effects of gender norms; we'll read several
novels, stories, and plays to see how literature works as a cultural influence to
reaffirm or subvert gender norms; and we'll trace similar effects in films that
either depend on or question (sometimes both at the same time) masculine gender
norms in the U.S. I will have a prospective/tentative reading list available
soon. Let me know if you're interested in signing up for the course!