(Spring 2021) Dr. Amy Clukey Email: amy.clukey@louisville.edu Office Hours: by appt ---- ENGL402-01/HON436-01/HON446-01 Cultures of Slavery Meeting Synchronously on Wednesdays via Teams from 2pm-3:15pm This course will examine the legacies of slavery in the twenty-first century United States. We will look at recent literature, film, and other forms of popular culture that reconstruct histories of slavery and track how it evolved into new forms of racialized control that affect the justice system, housing, universities, healthcare, and the environment. We’ll also look at how contemporary writers, artists, and intellectuals are seeking to educate the public at large about the legacies of slavery right now (such as the New York Times’s 1619 Project, Kara Walker’s sculptures and installations, and the anti-racist work of Ibram Kendi), and we’ll consider proposals for the removal of Confederate monuments, reparations, and restorative justice. Our guiding questions include: how do Americans remember the history of slavery within their own families and within the nation? How are cultural memories of slavery mediated by race, class, gender, art, popular culture, and the educational system? How does art—literature, cinema, and visual arts—narrate the reverberations of slavery in our current moment and why does it matter? What role do cultural memories of slavery play in current debates about race, migration, and justice in the United States in general and in Louisville in particular? [The image above is by the American artist Kara Walker https://art21.org/artist/kara-walker/] Student Learning Outcomes Written communication is the ability to develop and express ideas, opinions, and information in appropriate written forms. To fulfill this requirement, students will complete a substantial amount of writing, including several texts that go through the writing process. Students who satisfy this requirement will demonstrate that they are able to do all of the following: Understand and use writing processes, including invention, drafting, organizing, revising through multiple drafts, and editing; Write clear and effective prose in several forms, demonstrating an awareness of audience and purpose; Understand and use appropriate academic textual conventions of presentation, at sentence level and beyond; Employ critical thinking processes, such as abstracting, synthesizing, and representing ideas, and developing complex structures for them; Collect, select, and integrate material from a variety of sources into their writing, citing it appropriately. IMPORTANT: Please be aware that some of the texts we’ll be discussing this semester may feature graphic depictions of violence, sex, nudity, sexism, racism, and/or offensive language. Readings You must bring your copies of the texts we are discussing each day to class. All readings posted on Blackboard need to be printed out. Students who do not bring the day’s readings to class will be marked absent and asked to leave. Available at the UofL Bookstore: Saidiya Hartman Lose Your Mother: A Journey Along the Atlantic Slave Route 978-0374531157 Kiki Petrosino White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia 978-1946448545 Colson Whitehead Underground Railroad 978-0345804327 Jesmyn Ward Sing, Unburied, Sing 978-1501126079 Alyssa Cole An Extraordinary Union 978-1496707444 Available on Blackboard: Ta-Nehisi Coates “The Case for Reparations” Sylvia Shin Huey Chong “Exceptionalism” Jon Smith “Trauma” Minda Honey “The Plantation In Your Town: How We Handle The Vestiges Of Our Past” Sheri-Marie Harrison “The New Black Gothic” Anthony Breznican “Black Storytellers are Using Horror to Battle Hate” Kiese Laymon “Mississippi: An Awakening, in Days” Films: These films must be watched before class; there will be in-class quizzes. They can all be streamed online, but DVDs can also be purchased cheaply online. Get Out Us The 13th Online Videos: Candyman Trailer #1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikDJlfuU758 Candyman Trailer #2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-aieYI8L5I Grades Save all graded assignments until your grade has officially been entered with the registrar. I record your grades before handing back quizzes and papers, but sometimes mistakes happen. If I ask you to produce a previously graded quiz or paper and you are unable to locate it, you will receive a zero on that assignment.   Distribution: 20% Teams Participation and Workshops 20% Twitter Participation/Quizzes 60% Research Portfolio: 10% Annotated Bibliography 10% Flash Presentation and Discussion 10% Field Trip Narrative 10% Comparison Paper 20% Reflection Paper Scale: a plus and minus grading system will be used in accordance with College of Arts and Sciences policy: A +  (100% - 97%) A  (96.9% - 93%) A -  (92.9% - 90%) B +  (89.9% - 87%) B  (86.9% - 83%) B -  (82.9% - 80%) C +  (79.9% - 77%) C  (76.9% - 73%) C -  (72.9% - 70%) D +  (69.9% - 67%) D  (66.9% - 63%) D -  (62.9% - 60%) F  (below 60%)  Grading shorthand: I use abbreviations when I grade. These are the most common ones: SV smothered verb, PV passive voice, AWK awkward, WC word choice, REP repetition, NM never mind, SENT FRAG sentence fragment, TOP topic sentence needs work. Assignments Participation: Participation makes up a significant portion of your final grade. Course instruction requires your attention and active engagement, not only your presence. To earn a high participation grade, you should come prepared to every class—that means bringing appropriate note taking materials and the texts we’ll be discussing that day—and contribute to class discussion by posing and answering questions, sharing observations and ideas, and proposing arguments. In short, you should talk regularly and relevantly. Twitter Assignment: Rather than a traditional discussion board or quizzes, in this class you will use Twitter to chart your reactions to the assigned readings, engage in conversation with your classmates, and ask questions. This assignment is designed to make sure you keep up with the reading and reflect on it prior to our Teams meetings, but it’s also substitutes for the kinds of off-the-cuff discussions that take place in class on campus. Research Portfolio: This is a “WR” class, which means that the university requires you to write at least 2,400 words and produce a major research project. At the same time, one of the goals for this semester is to approach research in a more exploratory, creative, and yet deliberate way. For this course, you will choose a theme related to culture of slavery, and then explore it from through multimodal texts (literature, art, social media, history, news, music, etc.). You will choose a topic to focus on for the semester and submit a series of short papers examining different aspects of that topic, including: an annotated bibliography, a comparison paper, a flash presentation, a reflection paper, and a field trip narrative. This assignment is carefully scaffolded, so while it may sound intimidating at first, there will be clear step-by-step guidelines distributed throughout the semester and you will work closely with me as the semester unfolds. We will spend lots of time in class discussing the overall project and brainstorming topics. For now, however, you need to start thinking about what topic you want to spend the semester exploring. Possible Topics: Afro-Futurism, Black Women, Confederate Monuments, Kentucky, Louisville, the Environment, Medicine and Health, The Lost Cause, Education and Universities, Marriage or Relationships, Agriculture, Romance, Comedy, the Prison Industrial Complex, Law, Personhood and Citizenship, American exceptionalism, etc. Your topic will likely shift, narrow, or expand over the course of the semester, but it may not change. For example, if you choose “Personhood” for your topic, you may start off in January interested in how the law defined enslaved people as “3/5tths” of a “person” in the antebellum era, but by March you may be more interested in how African American artists grapple with racist depictions of enslaved people as animals or maybe interested in how Afrofuturists like Sun Ra compare blackness to alienness and the otherworldly. It would be perfectly fine to focus on that these topics. It would not be okay, however, to begin the semester working on personhood and then change over entirely to Confederate monuments. All topics, and changes in your topic, must be approved by me in advance. Assignment Policies Makeup Policy/Late Work: I am happy to give extensions on assignments if you request on in advance, have a good reason for the request, and keep me updated on the situation. If you are granted an extension, I will give you a new due date and that new due date is binding. Failure to turn in the assignment by that time will result in late penalties. I will not grant multiple extensions throughout the semester, so don’t break the glass if it’s not an emergency. Assignments that are turned in late without an extension will be docked one letter grade per day, including holidays and weekends. You must complete every assignment to pass the course. Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty: It is Department of English (and A&S) policy that all cases of plagiarism be reported to the A&S Dean's office regardless of the penalties imposed in the class. As such, academic dishonesty of any kind will not be tolerated in this course. This includes, but is not limited to, cheating, plagiarizing, fabricating information or citations, facilitating acts of academic dishonesty by others, having unauthorized possession of examinations, submitting work of another person or work previously used without informing the instructor, or tampering with the academic work of other students. Students who are found to be dishonest will receive academic sanctions, automatically fail the plagiarized assignment, and will be reported to the appropriate university officials for further disciplinary sanction. Formatting Policy: Any typed work that you submit in this class should be formatted in 12 point Times New Roman font, double spaced, with one inch margins. All work must also meet minimum page requirements. If you are assigned to write a 2 page draft, then you need to write at least 2 complete pages—not 1 page, not 1.5 pages. Papers that are not formatted correctly or do not meet minimum page requirements will receive an automatic “D” or “F” and no comments. Scholarly Sources Policy: Only peer-reviewed, scholarly sources may be used for assignments in this course unless otherwise specified on assignment sheets. Your assignment grade will be dropped a letter grade for each non-scholarly source you use on submitted assignments. Librarians are available to help you think through the research process and find relevant information sources, including peer-reviewed, scholarly articles. To schedule an appointment with a librarian or ask a research question, click on Ask a Librarian on the library homepage at louisville.edu/library. You can also visit the Reference Department in person on the first floor of Ekstrom Library. Class Policies Attendance: You can’t participate and learn if you’re not in class. Regular attendance is expected. In general, the expectation is that, by signing up for this time slot, you are available to attend meetings during this time. If you miss more than two Teams meetings, then participation will need to be made up with alternative assignments. It is your responsibility to contact me about that alternative assignment. If, during the course of the semester, your circumstances change in ways that make meeting at the designated day/time not possible (e.g., illness, child care or family obligations), exceptions can be made. Given the unpredictability of life during COVID-19, communication is key—please let me know right away if there are any issues effecting your attendance and participation. Disability Access: The University encourages qualified people with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities and is committed to the policy that all people shall have equal access to programs, facilities, and admission without regard to personal characteristics not related to ability, performance, or qualification as determined by University policy or state or federal authorities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about physical access, please do not hesitate to contact me. Students who have a disability or condition which may impair their ability to complete assignments or otherwise satisfy course criteria are encouraged to contact the Disabilities Resource Center (852-6938). Where possible, the DRC will provide appropriate documentation for students and will advise instructors of additional student needs. Title IX/Clery Act Notification: Sexual misconduct (including sexual harassment, sexual assault, and any other nonconsensual behavior of a sexual nature) and sex discrimination violate University policies. Students experiencing such behavior may obtain confidential support from the PEACC Program (852-2663), Counseling Center (852-6585), and Campus Health Services (852-6479). To report sexual misconduct or sex discrimination, contact the Dean of Students (852-5787) or University of Louisville Police (852-6111).    Disclosure to University faculty or instructors of sexual misconduct, domestic violence, dating violence, or sex discrimination occurring on campus, in a University-sponsored program, or involving a campus visitor or University student or employee (whether current or former) is not confidential under Title IX. Faculty and instructors must forward such reports, including names and circumstances, to the University’s Title IX officer. For more information, see the Sexual Misconduct Resource Guide (http://louisville.edu/hr/employeerelations/sexual-misconduct-brochure). Recording Policy: I put considerable time and effort into designing and constructing this course, its materials, class discussion, and activities: it is my intellectual property. You may not record in audio, video, still photography, or any other medium any portion of this class for personal or public use without written permission from the professor. Violation of this rule may result in your removal from the course with an assigned grade of “F.” 5 Dr. Clukey -- Cultures of Slavery 6