Explores the relationship between folklore and popular culture; examines a diversity of approaches to the analysis of "common culture" including urban legends, comics, cultural performances, youth culture, Internet folklore, street art, and other forms of expression as these relate to various... (read more)

Native American Writers (Contemporary Indigenous Women Writers): La Malinche. Pocahontas. Sacagawea. These are likely the only Indigenous women with whom many are familiar. Though real historical figures, these Indigenous women are often depicted in popular literature along a rigid spectrum as... (read more)

According to Cherokee scholar, musician, and storyteller Thomas King, “The truth about stories is, that’s all we are” (2). Of course, then, at times people are dependent on who is telling their stories. Since time immemorial, Native American peoples have been telling their own stories, of... (read more)

This course is a survey of writings by African American authors. We will study fiction, essays, and poetry in their historical, political, and literary contexts from the late-eighteenth century to the present. We will investigate whether there are specific formal and thematic elements that... (read more)

In 1968, Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American literature. Momaday's award signaled for many the “arrival” of Native authors to the American literary scene and ushered in an unprecedented era of Native literary production widely... (read more)

Travel, or the journey, is often conceptualized in relation to home as the point of departure and return: in Homer’s Odyssey, the hero wanders as his wife waits faithfully in Ithaca. These gendered roles—man as traveler, woman as homebody—reflect age-old assumptions about travel. But... (read more)

This course will examine feminist film criticism from multiple theoretical perspectives and diverse geo-political contexts. We will study how feminists have not only critiqued media and its representations of gender but also how the institution of cinema and media itself is gendered in terms of... (read more)

We will engage with a rich tradition of Black-centered essay writing articulating how Blackness shapes (and shapes our understanding of) existence in an anti-Black world. Kelley, Du Bois, and Gordon lead us to the inherent contradictions in Institutions of thought and thought, itself. Sharpe,... (read more)

The Black Fantastic 

In 2020, against the backdrop of a pandemic, wildfires, anti-Black violence, a global wave of protests and social unrest, and political upheaval, Octavia Butler’s 1993 Afrofuturist novel, Parable of the Sower, reached the New York Times bestseller... (read more)

ENG 240 introduces students to central concepts and essential texts in disability studies and applies them to literary and cultural texts, with a focus on racial diversity and learning directly from writers and scholars who experience a wide spectrum of body/mind variabilities. The texts in this... (read more)

We will engage with a rich tradition of Black-centered essay writing articulating how Blackness shapes (and shapes our understanding of) existence in an anti-Black world. Kelley, Du Bois, and Gordon lead us to the inherent contradictions in Institutions of thought and thought, itself. Sharpe,... (read more)

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“This is who we are, Mama. Real women.” This declaration made by America Ferrera’s character Ana in the 2002 coming-of-age film Real Women Have Curves marks a powerful turning point for Ana as she stands up for all women who have been made to feel ashamed for their bodies, their choices, their... (read more)

ENG 240 introduces students to central concepts and essential texts in disability studies and applies them to literary and cultural texts, with a... (read more)

In 1968, Kiowa writer N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for American literature. Momaday's award signaled... (read more)

Introduces the study of beliefs about the supernatural by examining diverse approaches to the description and analysis of belief traditions and religious cultures. Topics... (read more)

Latinxs have lived, worked, and thrived in what is now considered the United States for a long time. This course is an introductory survey of U.S. Latinx literature that will give students a glimpse of the wide range of formal, thematic, and cultural diversity of... (read more)

This course surveys African American literature from its origins to the present. We will read a wide... (read more)

An introduction to contemporary folklore studies, with emphasis on the meanings of stories, rituals, festivals, body art, subcultures,... (read more)

The prolific White Earth Ojibwe writer Gerald Vizenor conceptualizes the cultural work of Indigenous literatures as “survivance,”... (read more)

One could say that most comics are about the human body, in all its variations, exaggerations, erotics, poses, powers, and... (read more)

As an introductory survey, this course emphasizes the formal, thematic, and cultural diversity of Latinx literature. We will read novels, poetry, short stories... (read more)