Students are learning all about critical race theory (CRT) in this course, and, of course, to use CRT effectively, all others kinds of theories, particularly those having to do with language, need to be acquired. Semiotics (mainly social semiotics), psychoanalysis, marxism, gender, and historicism are the main areas that students will explore with eye to race and ethnicity. Theory can be daunting, but I think it’s crucial to learn new ways to think about western culture. Like Dr. Joanne DiNova (Anishinaabe) says, western culture is peculiar, in part, because of its insistence on dismissing fictional narrative as a place from which to draw authoritative knowledge. Instead, those educated/trained to follow western style epistemology look to other sources, such as textbooks, theoretical discourse, and history for knowledge. It’s exactly for this reason that literary theory is crucial: it’s basically a multidisciplinary approach (incorporating, for example, sociology, linguistics, and psychology) to studying stories. And, let’s face it, telling stories is all we do. We may classify one story as scientific and another as anecdotal, but it’s all story, people.
Since stories shape the way we think, fantasize and behave, then special consideration needs to be given to certain aspects of western stories, particularly markers of race, gender, and class, since these are the pillars of identity. Because colonization and chattel slavery were the economic, social, and cultural foundations of the western world (and still play a role) for hundreds of years, issues of race and ethnicity require attention and so they shall receive this attention in this course.
Students had an opportunity to write an academic essay or construct a blog: lots of students have chosen the blog option, and here they are (works in progress):
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