教学大纲
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教学大纲
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在《黑人的灵魂》(The Souls of Black Folk, 1903年) 这本书中，伟大的文化批评家W. E. B. Du Bois如是说：“…二十世纪的问题在于种族分歧。”在Du Bois 写了这段话的一个世纪之后，大多数美国人应该同意，种族分歧在二十一世纪初期依然是我们最迫切的社会问题之一。在本课程中，我们将会藉着研读有色人种作家所创作或与种族事务相关的作品，以及观看讨论种族问题的影片，以探索美国种族的相关领域，并藉由写作来观察我们的生活，包括非正式或正式、私下或公开的场合，如何制约于种族相关的小说和事实。我们将思考种族认同的复杂问题，暴露较被回避或完全压抑的过去，以质疑既定的历史，并研究如何用写作和阅读来表达和面对种族的种类、阶级、看法。这些相关阅读虽奇妙却又叫人不安，而写作则将增进你们和读者的理解范畴。
Cisneros, Sandra. 《在芒果街上的房子》(The House on Mango Street) New York: Vintage Books, Inc., 1989.
（朱注：一篇以此为主题的论文）
Erdrich, Louise. 《爱之药: 一本小说》(Love Medicine: A Novel) New and expanded edition. New York: Henry Holt, 1993.
Faulkner, William. 《下去吧， 摩西》(Go Down, Moses) New York: Modern Library, 1942.
汤亭亭 《女战士：一段鬼影憧憧下的少女回忆》( The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts) New York: Knopf, 1976.
（朱注：请见此报导。）
Mitcham, Judson. 《永恒的甜蜜》(The Sweet Everlasting) Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1996.
Morrison, Toni. 《最蓝的眼睛》(The Bluest Eye) Toni Morrison作跋. New York: Penguin, 1994.
我会在指定教科书外补充一些讲义，或是在网上预备一些短文(短论和小品) 。我已订购了一本手册，《写作入门》(Easy Writer)，供你们作参考。
这个学期我们将观赏五部影片：Chris Eyre 的《烟火信号》(Smoke Signals)， Mira Nair的《密西西比的玛沙拉》(Mississippi Masala)， Richard Pearce 的《漫漫归途》(The Long Walk Home)， Anna Deavere Smith 的《薄暮：洛杉矶 1992年》(Twilight: LA)， 和 John Sayles 的《孤星》(Lone Star)。我会安排放映电影的时间，我希望这个时间适合大部分的同学，但是如果在我安排的时间你们不方便到场，你们可以自己找时间看录影带。（译者注：《烟火信号》在1998年上映，《密西西比的玛沙拉》在1992年上映，《漫漫归途》在1990年上映，《薄暮：洛杉矶1992》在2000年上映 -它可说是回顾1992年洛杉矶暴动的记录片，《孤星》在1996年上映）。
因为本课程的阅读资料颇多，你们可从负责阅读的清单中任意删除一本小说。(当然你们不一定要错过任何一本书！) 我们将会在课堂上花一点时间讨论怎样避免全班同学都遗漏了同一本书。
本课程主要的作业，包括三篇短论，各在6-8 页之间，另外还有几个较短的写作作业。三篇短论中，一篇是针对课堂上研讨过的教科书的报告 - 表达方式由你选择 - 模仿、思考或批评性的分析；另外两篇则为本课程相关资讯 - 个人回忆录、自传、调查、其它非小说的叙述或具说服力的短论。我们真心的鼓励、欢迎你自行调查所写的相关题材 - 教育、跨种族的约会和关系、住宅区的隔离、种族、性别和情欲间的交互关系、影射种族的广告或影片，或是任何你有兴趣研究的题目。经我同意，三篇短论中可以有一篇小说作品，但是你需要附加一份批评性的注释，讨论你的故事如何衔接到课程中读到和讨论到的题目。对于每一篇短论，你必须进行提案与起草，以从课堂的工作小组以及我这方面得到回应。这些回应会辅助你进行修正，修正后的作品请缴交。你将有机会在班上进行实质的口头报告，或负责带领同学讨论相关读物和影片。
同时，请撰写一本读者笔记 - 在这里你可以对我们正在阅读的作品记下非正式的意见。在这本笔记上，你能吹毛求疵地阅读、探讨课堂上对作品的讨论与你个人过去和现在经验间的关连，纪录和测试洞察能力，凭你的感觉做反应；联系我们将研究的读物和你曾经读过的书、看过的影片或去过的地方、提出问题、记录观察、试验及挑战假设。为帮助你更清楚地了解我对这本记录笔记的期望，我会给你一份有关读者笔记的讲义。
学期结束时，你将把在课程中所作的写作作业整理成作品集，包括短论和读者笔记，在检阅你的作品后我会给你一个分数。决定学期成绩时，作品的水准、整学期里努力的程度和稳定性、修改自己的写作时表现的成功度、参与课堂及讨论的积极性、在课堂内你所提供的资讯程度的高低都在考虑范围。我乐意随时与你讨论你的作品和在课程上的进度。
本课程非常紧凑，所以写作作业必须按时缴交。除非是真正严重的紧急情况，否则没有例外，这个时候请立即与我联络。每个学生一学期只限一次可因紧急情况获准延期的机会。你在课堂上的责任并不止于当一个读者和作者，你也要为班上其他同学扮演一个读者和回馈者的角色。因此最重要的，是你忠实地出席，并在课前都为课堂上写作小组讨论的指定读物进行充分准备。如果严重或经常迟到，就视同缺席。若因真正严重的紧急情况而无法出席，请尽早通知我；缺席超过三次将被扣分，超过五次将导致成绩不及格。所以请避免缺席，忠实地来上课并进行准备，全力参与课堂活动。所有指定的功课 (读和写的作业、指定的修正、笔记和课堂写作) 都必须圆满完成，才能获得及格成绩。我希望每件交出的作业都是你自己为这个课程所作，这应该不用我多说。抄袭他人的写作或再次缴交原本为别的课程所做的作品，都将导致你被撤销上本课的权利和不及格的成绩。麻省理工学院的诚实政策可以在下面的网站找到：
http://web.mit.edu/policies/10.0.html。
这学期我们将一起努力，诸多阅读及讨论的东西将把我们带入一个艰深的领域。在追求更深入的理解中，如果我们能互相支持，并以真诚和信任一起工作，相信会带给大家极大的收获。我也希望我们能在其中得到一些乐趣，轻松愉快的环境想必会带来最理想的学习。我诚挚地欢迎大家提出问题和建议，也会以审慎和尊重的态度来看待你及你的作品。我期待一个丰收且让人满意的学期。
Syllabus (PDF)
In The Souls of Black Folk (1903), the great cultural critic W. E. B. Du Bois wrote that "…the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line." A century after Du Bois penned those words, most Americans would agree that at the beginning of the twenty-first century, the color line remains one of our most pressing social issues. In this course, we will explore the terrain of race in America by reading the works of writers of color and others concerned with the issue of race, by viewing films that address racial issues, and by writing to explore how the fictions and facts of race condition all our lives, social and civic, private and public. We will consider the complex question of racial identity, test the givens of history by uncovering histories that have been more elusive or more thoroughly suppressed, and explore how writing and reading can both reflect and challenge racial categories, hierarchies, and perceptions. The reading is at once wonderful and disturbing, and the writing you will do will, I hope, open up arenas of increased understanding for both you and your readers.
Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, Inc., 1989.
Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine: A Novel . New and expanded edition. New York: Henry Holt, 1993.
Faulkner, William. Go Down, Moses. New York: Modern Library, 1942.
Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a girlhood among ghosts. New York: Knopf, 1976.
Mitcham, Judson. The Sweet Everlasting. Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1996.
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. Afterward by Toni Morrison. New York: Penguin, 1994.
I will supplement these texts with handouts or e-reserves of shorter works (essays and stories). I have ordered a handbook, Easy Writer, for you to use as a reference.
We will view five films this semester: Chris Eyre's Smoke Signals, Mira Nair's Mississippi Masala, Richard Pearce's The Long Walk Home, Anna Deavere Smith's Twilight: LA and John Sayles' Lone Star. We will schedule the showing of the films at a time I hope will be convenient for most of you, but if you can't make the showing for the class, you may watch the video on your own.
Because the reading for this course is considerable, I will offer you the option of choosing one novel to exclude from your reading responsibilities. (Of course you may choose to read all of them!) We'll talk more in class about how that will work so as not to leave any of the novels out altogether.
The major writing for the course will be three essays of about 6-8 pages each, along with a few shorter writing assignments. One of the essays will be a response to one or more of the texts we read, in a form of your choice--imitation, reflection, critical analysis. The other two assignments will be essays related to the material of the course-personal memoir, autobiography, investigation, or other nonfiction narrative or persuasive essay. You are welcome, indeed encouraged, to investigate some issue or topic on your own on which to write--education; interracial dating and relationships; housing segregation; the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality; race in advertising or film; or other topics you are interested in pursuing. With my permission, one of your papers may be a work of fiction, accompanied by a critical commentary addressing the ways your story engages the issues we have read about and discussed in the course. For each essay, you will write a proposal, draft the piece, and then get feedback on your writing from a workshop group in class as well as from me. The responses from other readers in the class and from me will help you revise your paper before submitting the revision. There will also be occasions for you to make one substantial oral presentation to the class and to be responsible for leading class discussions of the reading and films.
I also ask that you keep a Reader's Notebook--a place where you will respond informally to the reading as we go along. The notebook is the place for you to read critically, to explore connections between the reading and class discussion and your own past and present experience, to record and test insights, to react as you feel moved to do, to draw connections among the various texts we will investigate as well as with other things you have read, films you have seen, places you've been; to raise questions, record observations, and test and challenge assumptions. For additional information on my expectations for your notebook writing, I will give you a handout on the Reader's Notebook.
At the end of the semester, you will prepare a portfolio of all the writing you have done in the course, including your essays and the reader's notebook, so that I can review your work in order to give you a grade for the course. In deciding on semester grades, I will consider the quality of your writing, the degree and consistency of your effort throughout the semester, the success you demonstrate in revising your written work, how actively you participated in class discussion and workshops and the quality of your classroom contributions. I am of course happy to talk with you at any time about your work and your progress in the course.
Our schedule is tight, so all written work must be handed in on time. No exceptions, unless for real and serious emergencies, in which case you should get in touch with me at once. Extensions for emergencies will be granted only once per student per semester. Your responsibility in the class is to be not only a writer and reader, but also to serve as a reader and responder for other members of the class. It is essential, then, that you attend class faithfully and come to each class fully prepared to participate in discussions of assigned reading and in writing workshops. Lateness for class, if extreme or chronic, will be counted as an absence. You must notify me as soon as possible when a real and serious emergency keeps you from attending class. More than three unexcused absences will result in your course grade being lowered; more than five absences will result in a failing grade. So don't take casual cuts, and come to class faithfully and on time and prepared to participate fully in class activities. All required work (reading and writing assignments, assigned revisions, notebook and in-class writing) must be completed satisfactorily in order to receive a passing grade for the course. It goes without saying, I hope, that everything you submit must be your original work, written for this course. Plagiarizing from others' writing or resubmitting work you've done for another course will result in withdrawal and a grade of F for the course. MIT's academic honesty policy can be found at the following link: http://web.mit.edu/policies/10.0.html
We will work hard together this semester, and much of our reading and discussion will take us into difficult territory. If we can support each other in our quest for greater understanding and work together with openness and trust, I believe the rewards of our work together will be great. I also hope we can have fun; I believe firmly that people learn best when they are enjoying themselves. I promise always to be open to questions and suggestions and to treat you and your work seriously and with respect. I look forward to a productive and rewarding semester.
