Like Water for Chocolate & Magical Realism

Assignment: By Monday, 3/29, at 5:00 p.m., please post a reply to this blog entry that will serve as your commentary for next week. Your commentary should address the film Like Water for Chocolate, in particular the work it does through novelist Esquival's and director Arau's uses of magical realism. Your commentary must either quote the film or describe a visual element as per the usual commentary assignment. Your commentary may either advance an original idea or respond to one previously posted here.

Extra Credit Quiz

I will raise the lowest commentary grade by one (1) letter for the first ten (10) people who answer any of the following questions about Death and the King's Horseman correctly. You can submit answers to all of the questions, but I will only raise one (1) commentary grade per respondent. Submit your answers as "comments" to this post. Answers must quote textual evidence and use proper citations. Here are the questions:

1. What does Olunde mean when he tells Elesin, "I have no father, eater of left-overs"? What is the significance of this line?

2. Who or what stops Elesin from transitioning to the realm of the ancestors at the proper moment? What is the significance to the community of this failure?

3. What is the central conflict of this play?

4. Soyinka goes to great pains to warn would-be producers against a "clash of cultures" interpretation? Why does Soyinka argue that such an interpretation is not only incorrect but impossible?

Please be ready to finish discussion of this play when we next meet, on Friday, 2/12.

Death and the King's Horseman: Online Commentaries

Please post your online commentaries for Death and the King's Horseman here. As with your Anowa posts, these commentaries may either initiate or continue an existing discussion thread. All commentaries must otherwise comport to assignment parameters. Please remember to include your full name in your post. I will assign a zero (0) to any post whose writer I can not immediately identify.

I have asked JMU Theatre and English major Robby Bassler to guest-direct a pivotal scene from Soyinka's play in the next meeting of my 12:20 section, in Burruss 36. Robby is an Honors student who extensively researched African theatre and Soyinka's aims for this play in a previous world literature honors course. To those in the 9:05 section, I hope as many of you as can make it will attend the 12:20 class so that you can take part in this exciting drama study.

Anowa Online Commentary

Thank you for your willingness to explore new kinds of oral and written literatures, and particularly for shattering your cultural lenses and being open to the texts' teachings.

In addition to our classroom discussion, we're holding a blog discussion on Ama Ata Aidoo's play Anowa this week. Please post your commentary as a "Comment" to this blog item. Remember: your commentary may either initiate a discussion thread or continue an existing one. Commentaries, whether initiating or continuing threads, must comport to all other assignment parameters. Due date: Friday, 1/29/10, at 5pm EST.

Learning Activity Assignment

These Learning Activities are designed to get you to think more critically about certain key themes from the assigned readings and films as they relate to the larger aims of the course and to the university’s liberal arts charter of fostering a sense of global citizenship in each student. While various learning activities ask you to perform non-writing or non-linear writing tasks, the final paper you submit will ultimately be a short (three- to four-page) essay. You will append any written lists, interview questions, etc., to the end of the formal essay. I will grade Learning Activity essays on evidence of critical thinking that reaches well beyond the realm of class discussion (depth of engagement with the material), relevance to the course, clarity of expression, and adherence to assignment directions. See the course grading criteria handout for further format and content criteria.

Learning Activity Options

Kid’s Stuff? We have learned that oral narratives and hieroglyphics are both art and tools that teach children how to behave and communicate in their respective cultures. We know that these art/tools can also teach adults. If they can teach both children and adults, then what value do they pose to each group? Can you think of any examples of art forms from your own culture of origin that are also artistic and pedagogical (that is, they teach)? Make a list of five or so and briefly summarize or describe each. Do the items on your list teach both children and adults? If so, how? If not, why might this be? What does this experiment suggest to you about the relationship between art and learning?

Gender and War. On Terisa Turner’s website, read the Foreword to Mau Mau Women, which is an interview with Muthoni Likimani; the abstract for “Feminism in the Mau Mau Resurgence;” and the comic “Nakedness and Power.” Consider these in light of the arguments made here in the United States for restricting women’s service in the military. Did such arguments ultimately hold water in Mau Mau-era Kenya? How does the website define “war” by suggesting that Mau Mau women are still actively fighting? If “war” can take on various forms, then what war or wars have U.S. military women fought? Do they fight any wars today? Describe them, if any.

“Poetry of Revolt.” Fanon argues that overthrow of oppressors requires two things: arms and the creation of a national literature, which he calls “poetry of revolt.” Understanding that Fanon did not mean to specify only poems as revolutionary, which other readings or films in this class qualify as poetry of revolt? What makes these examples revolutionary? Can you think of other examples from your other readings outside this class? Does this newly defined “poetry of revolt” genre feature any common themes? What does a “poem” of revolt do? Can/Why/How does it help a people gain independence as powerfully as do guns? What is its usefulness, if any, outside a traditionally-defined revolutionary setting?

Reading a Region. As de Landa demonstrates, early missionaries, imperialists (and, later, colonists) justified their exploitation of natives by creating or reinforcing negative stereotypes about those natives. Many such race- and gender-based stereotypes persist in the former motherlands today in the media, art, and ideology. Choose one of the regions listed in the title of this Learning Activity. Make a list of all the terms or concepts you have come to associate with that region as a result of your accumulated exposure to Western (North American and Western European) media, art, social interaction, etc. Conduct an informal survey of ten people in your residence hall or other organization on their understandings of the same region. What is their initial reaction when you ask them about the region? Do they know that the region in question is a group of many countries rather than just one? How many countries from the region in question can they name? What five words or concepts have they come to associate with this particular region as a result of their accumulated exposure to Western media, art, social interaction, etc.? What, if any, personal or peripheral experience do your interviewees have with this region? Compare your own impressions with those of your interviewees. Do you notice any themes among the impressions you collect? If so, what are they? In what ways, if any, do you think Western media, art, and ideology shapes our/your understandings of this particular region? Are these understandings historically based? Explain. What is the relationship between your social understanding of this region and the one you have gained in this class? What do you conclude based on your research?

Group Community Service Project and Presentation

In the various literatures we are studying from across the world and across historical periods, we see that art has a public purpose. It is generally educational, often political, and sometimes both. If art has a complex purpose, then our study of it must include an examination of artistic motivation. During the semester, each student will form a group with three other classmates to design and carry out a service project in the community. The project should demonstrate the group’s in-depth understanding of the course material and objectives. The project’s focus must arise from the group’s shared interest in a particular theme, issue, text, or film from the course.

Subject Area: Begin with a point or idea that relates to any course reading, class assignment, or discussion that the group would like to explore in a way that was not covered in class. How does the idea or topic relate to a need in any community of which you are a member? How might you translate this interest and identified need into a form of community service through art? What motivates your choices of group formation and for crafting your particular project? How will your project use art and education to achieve its purpose?

Format: Your project may assume one of two forms: (1) design and carry out an original project, or (2) engage with an organized service program either at JMU or in Harrisonburg or Rockingham County. Consider: Does a service option exist in the JMU or surrounding community? (See the service links on this blog for some examples.) If a service does not exist to meet the need you identify, then what service could you design to do so? Because you are free to design your own project, your choice of available project formats is nearly limitless.

Project Purpose: The project is designed to help students to better understand the artists and the art that we have studied by considering these questions: What social conditions motivate these artists to create works to benefit the community? How do they choose their subjects, media, and audiences? How do these artists define “art”? How might the creative lessons you learn from the artists we study—artists whose creations benefit the community—inform your own community involvement?

Timing: All groups must submit a project proposal (see above), and projects must receive my approval to proceed. I am happy to consult during and beyond the proposal stage with groups on both original and university/community-sponsored projects. Please consult with me if you have any doubts or questions regarding an appropriate project topic, scope, or approach. After submission of and approval of a project proposal, the group will complete the project during the semester. The group will make a presentation to the class at the end of the semester in which you will describe (and, if applicable, display) your project. The presentation will outline the project’s goals, methodology, outcome, and lessons learned.

Evaluation: Projects should above all benefit the community, but projects and presentations should be well planned, relevant, well researched, creative, and intellectually productive.

Required Elements

#1: The Proposal (due February 24, 2010): Your project proposal must be typed and include the following elements:
A. The names of all group members
B. The nature of the proposed project: its scope, timeline, research involved, type and amount of work required to complete the project, plan of each group member’s responsibilities toward the project, expected lessons learned
C. Is the project an original creation or does the group plan to join an established service organization? Explain the reasoning behind the group’s choice. If you plan to join an established organization, then you should have already have their approval to participate in their work, and a clear understanding of exactly what each group member will do.
D. The community, as the group defines it, that will benefit from this project
E. The project’s purpose
F. The element from the course from which the project idea derived

#2: The Project (consider these when crafting the group’s proposal): Your project must include the following elements:
A. Educational (and/or political) purpose
B. Artistic format
C. Public benefit: that is, the project must benefit the community. If you organize a showing, reading, or performance, you must invite the rest of the class to attend.
D. Specific audience: who will benefit from your group’s work?
E. Collaboration: this course acknowledges the importance of community. Can you work both as part of a community (group cohesion) and for the community?
F. Each group member must log ten (10) hours or more toward completion of this project.

#3: The Presentation (during our exam meeting; see course schedule): The presentation is your opportunity to report to the class on your project. Your presentation must include the following elements:
A. Presentations will be 10 minutes each
B. Audio-visual (e.g., music, film, art display or creation, overhead slides, etc.)
C. Evidence of research (provide bibliography)
D. An excerpt, summary, or sample of/from your project

Due Date: Your project must be completed in time for you to craft a well-planned presentation on it to deliver during your scheduled presentation time. You will sign up for presentation times after the midterm. There are no make-ups for missed presentation dates or times for any reason.

Weekly Commentary Assignment

All students will share a written commentary on current course material (film and written texts) at the beginning of one class meeting per week.

Purpose: This exercise is designed to foster reading comprehension and analytical skills through your extended reflection on course materials, and through working together as a group. The goal is to advance everyone’s ability to offer productive discussion.

Requirements: Each student will share one typed commentary of no more than one to four sentences in length per week. The commentary must quote from or paraphrase the passage from the reading or film it considers and provide a correct MLA citation for that material. The commentary must identify the reading or film by author and title. Commentaries must be typed, dated, and contain the student author’s name. These may be single-spaced. A commentary may be: a question on current readings/films and evidence of attempting an answer; an answer to a current question the class is currently discussing; or early thinking about an upcoming writing assignment, but thinking that connects to current readings and film.

Here are some examples of possible critical thinking questions to ask yourself. The commentary would seek to answer these:
1. What is a particular strength or weakness of this argument?
2. What is the difference between the points made by two readings/films?
3. How (or why) is this argument or point especially relevant to our course? To the community? In a global context?
4. How could this argument be used in a different context?
5. What are the implications of this particular argument?
6. How does the condition described in the reading affect a different or related kind of group, community, or population?
7. How does this reading connect with what we have already learned?
8. What does this particular point/word/phrase/question mean?
9. Why is this point or argument important?
10. How are these two points/arguments/scenarios similar?
11. What is a counter-argument for this writer’s argument?
12. I agree (or disagree) with this statement: [insert quote] because …. The readings provide ... as evidence to support my claim.
13. What is another way to look at this particular point?

Format: Do not provide a question for your readers to answer. Your aim is not to generate discussion, but to demonstrate that you have been thinking about the readings or films under current consideration.

Evaluation: I will grade commentaries on relevance to the course, clarity of expression, depth of engagement with the material, and adherence to assignment directions. Examples of in-depth engagement with the material are striving for connections across course texts and attempting to answer your own difficult questions. Each week’s commentary will count as one equal fraction of your total class participation/commentary grade. See the course schedule for due dates.

GENG 239 Essay Grading Criteria

Even though your essays will be focused, each should suggest new understandings of entire texts and/or films. To do this, push your thinking to a deeper understanding of each text or film. Take risks. Your conclusion is the place to explain how your narrowly focused thesis has significant consequences for understanding the text(s) and/or film(s) under consideration, each as a whole. Below are the levels of sophistication in written papers, discussions, and other written assignments on Literature and Film:

The A paper analyzes. It demonstrates thoughtful connections, explanations, and the application of course themes, ideas, or theory. This paper offers illuminations and evaluations not specifically provided by authors or the instructor. It grasps the assigned author’s complex ideas but also demonstrates the student author's critical processing of those ideas. This paper is focused and developed with significant conclusions.

The A- paper is focused and fully developed.

A B+ paper is focused, but needs to be developed a bit more.

The B paper demonstrates understanding. It uses central and complex ideas, but is a reiteration of these as presented by an assigned author or the instructor. This paper demonstrates an understanding of the assigned text's key complexities, but does not offer any significant depth of analysis. A B paper is focused, but not fully developed.

In a B- paper, the focus is good but needs to be narrowed a bit more.

A C paper shows recognition of the significant material in a body of ideas but deals with it in a superficial way. While the C paper can discriminate between central and peripheral ideas, its function is more reportage than any real depth of understanding. The C paper may advance an original idea but, because it remains on the surface, is not fully focused.

D and F papers are disoriented. These papers are usually unfocused or, if focused, are irrelevant to the course objectives or discussions. The D paper demonstrates no clear idea of its topic. An F paper may or may not be unclear, but it is always incomplete and/or off-assignment.