Dr. Francine L. Allen
Literature Courses
 

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Spring 2008 Courses

World Literature
English 2110.26

World Literature
English 2110.28

20th-Century American Literature
English 4560.02

 

Fall 2007 Courses

World Literature
English 2210.04,10

Regional American Literature
English 3350.01

Fall 2006/Spring 2007 Courses

African-American Literature

African Literature

Literature of African Diaspora

World Literature

 

 

Fall Semester 2006
English 3500, Section 01
Topics in African American Literature: Religion, Politics, and the Community of Service
English Building, Room 72
M/W 2:00 pm-3:15 pm


Professor: Dr. Francine L. Allen

Office Location: English Building (EB)

Office Hours:

3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. MW and by Appointment

Any good educational experience is enhanced when a professor is able to give a student individual attention. Thus, students should make full use of the professor's office hours. When a student needs assistance but office hours are not convenient, students should inform the professor so that she can make special arrangements to meet with the student.

E-mail and Office Phone Number:

e-mail: fallen7627@aol.com

The professor answers e-mails Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Even though students may contact the professor via e-mail concerning assignments, all detailed questions and concerns are best addressed to the professor in person. Students should not send an e-mail attachment to the professor unless they have spoken with her and she has agreed to accept it. Students are still expected to come to class fully prepared even if they do not receive an immediate e-mail response from the professor.

phone number: 678-797-2361

Course Description and Goals

Religion, Politics, and the Community of Service

The desire to resist dehumanization has often produced and energized African American literature. African slaves and their early descendents often proclaimed their innate humanity by pointing to America's political and religious ideals. For these writers, if America was to be a democratic nation with liberty and justice for all and if American was to be a nation built upon Christian brotherhood, it had to practice its ideals, not merely talk about them. This call for America to recognize the equal human worth of its citizens of African descent has continued among contemporary African American writers producing literary works during the period of post-modernism. Unlike their predecessors, though, many of these contemporary writers have focused inwardly. Instead of calling upon the nation in general to practice what it preaches, these writers have turned to members of the black community, asking them to serve one another and thereby avoid becoming sources of their own dehumanization.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to do the following:

  • read and write critically
  • identify major themes in African-American literature
  • understand African American literature in its historical context
  • analyze literature by examining basic literary conventions of plot, character, setting, point of view, and theme
  • apply literary theory to the interpretation of literature
  • conduct literary research
  • write organized, coherent, and properly documented literary research essays

The prerequisite for this course is English 2110, World Literature

Required Texts

Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or
Gustavus Vassa, the African
, Written by Himself. New York: Penguin, 2004.

Brown, William Wells. Clotel. New York: Penguin, 2003.

Chesnutt, Charles. The House Behind the Cedars. Athens: Univ. of Georgia P, 2000.

Larsen, Nella. Quicksand. New York: Penguin, 2002.

Baldwin, James. Go Tell It on the Mountain. New York: Dell, 1981.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Penguin, 1987.

Class Assignments: Examinations and Essay

Throughout this semester, students will be required to take five in-class examinations. Each examine will test students on their knowledge of factual information about literary texts discussed in class, factual information such as the name of characters, the publication date of texts, background information about an author. Additionally, students will be tested on their understanding of themes and issues surrounding these texts. As such, the exams will have two sections: one section consisting of multiple choice and short-answer questions and another section containing exam questions.

In addition to the in-class examinations, students will be asked to write a four-page literary analysis. Further details about the analysis will be given at the appropriate time. Students will be asked to produce two drafts of their analysis, and each draft will be graded.

Five Examinations

Examination #1-15%
Examination #2-15%
Examination #3-15%
Examination #4-15%
Examination #5-15%

Literary Analysis

First Draft -10 %
Final Draft-15%

Please see the course grading scale

Late-Work Policies, Class Attendance, and Other Course Issues:

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs: Students who need special accommodations are asked to arrange a meeting as soon as possible with the professor during office hours so that the specifics of those arrangements can be discussed.

Absences: Students who are unable to make it to class should have the names and contact information of fellow classmates so that they can call them and find out what was missed. Students should not rely solely upon the professor for finding out what that may have missed during their absence from class.

Academic Integrity: Any student caught plagiarizing a paper will receive an "F" for the course. Plagiarism is presenting another person's work as one's own. Plagiarism includes any paraphrasing or summarizing of the works of another person without acknowledgement, including the submitting of another student's work as one's own. Plagiarism frequently involves a failure to acknowledge in the text, notes, or footnotes the quotation of paragraphs, sentences, or even a few phrases written or spoken by someone else. The submission of research or completed papers or projects prepared by someone else is plagiarism, as is the unacknowledged use of research sources gathered by someone else when that use is specifically forbidden by the faculty members. Failure to indicate the extent and nature of one's reliance on other sources is also a form of plagiarism. Finally, there may be forms of plagiarism that are unique to an individual discipline or course, examples of which should be provided in advance by the professor. The student is responsible for understanding the legitimate use of sources, the appropriate ways of acknowledging academic, scholarly or creative indebtedness, and the consequences of violating this responsibility.

Class Attendance: Class attendance is required. Students are expected to be in class on time and to be ready to work when they arrive. Leaving class early, unless discussed with the professor beforehand and given approval, is considered unprofessional conduct and counts as an absence. The instructor will begin taking roll five minutes after the official start of class. Students entering after the roll has been taken will be counted tardy. Those students who are tardy to class will be asked to sign their name to a sign-up sheet before the class is over so that there is a record of their having been present in class. Students who are tardy to class will not be dropped from the course and will not have their tardiness counted as an absence. However, constant tardiness inevitably has a negative impact on a student's grade and shows disrespect for the professor and the students who have arrived on time.

Class Conduct: Both students and professor are expected to be respectful of the ideas of others during class discussions. Students are also asked to not sleep or use cell phones during class.

Examinations and Essay: All assignments must be taken or submitted during class period on the dates outlined in the syllabus. If a student is unable to make it to class on the day an examination is given or an essay is due, he or she is responsible for contacting the professor via e-mail on that day-between 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.-and the professor will respond promptly, giving the student directions for submitting the work. If the student does not follow these procedures, he or she will be unable to take the exam or submit the essay at a later date.

Emergencies: Emergencies will be dealt with on an individual basis. If an emergency does happen and a student is unable to come to class and submit his or her work, the student should contact the instructor immediately-on the day of the emergency. A decision will be made at that point regarding what the student should do.

Monday/Wednesday Course Schedule

The following is a provisional schedule for the semester. Changes may be necessary as the course proceeds. Students should check their Kennesaw e-mail daily to stay informed about any changes to the schedule and about matters related to the class, including any cancellations of class by the professor.

August

Monday, August 21

o Introduction of Course
o Class Discussion on African slaves writing in English
o Begin discussion of Equiano's Interesting Narrative
o Homework: Begin reading Equiano's Interesting Narrative

Wednesday, August 23

o Class discussion on Equiano's Interesting Narrative
o Homework: Continue reading Equiano's Interesting Narrative


Monday, August 28

o Class discussion on Equiano's Interesting Narrative
o Homework: Continue reading Equiano's Interesting Narrative


Wednesday, August 30

o Class discussion on Equiano's Interesting Narrative
o Homework: Finish reading Equiano's Interesting Narrative


September

Monday, September 4

o Labor Day-No Class
o Homework: Review Equiano's Interesting Narrative and class notes for examination on Wednesday, September 6

Wednesday, September 6

o Examination 1 on Equiano's Interesting Narrative
o Homework: Begin reading Brown's Clotel

Monday, September 11

o Class Discussion on early African-American literature
o Begin discussion of Brown's Clotel
o Homework: Continue reading Brown's Clotel

Wednesday, September 13

o Class discussion on Brown's Clotel
o Homework: Continue reading Brown's Clotel

Monday, September 18

o Class discussion on Brown's Clotel
o Homework: Finish reading Brown's Clotel

Wednesday, September 20

o Class discussion on Brown's Clotel
o Homework: Review Brown's Clotel and class notes for examination on Monday, September 25

Monday, September 25

o Examination 2 on Brown's Clotel
o Return of graded Examination 1
o Homework: Begin reading Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars


Wednesday, September 27

o Class Discussion on the New Negro Renaissance
o Begin discussion of Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars
o Homework: Continue reading Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars

October

Monday, October 2

o Class discussion on Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars
o Homework: Continue reading Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars

Wednesday, October 4

o Class discussion on Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars
o Homework: Finish reading Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars

Monday, October 9

o Class discussion on Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars
o Homework: Review Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars and class notes for examination on Wednesday, October 11

Wednesday, October 11

o Examination 3 on Chesnutt's House Behind the Cedars
o Return of graded Examination 2
o Homework: Begin reading Larsen's Quicksand

Monday, October 16

o Class Discussion on the Harlem Renaissance and black northern migration
o Begin discussing Larsen's Quicksand
o Homework: Continue reading Larsen's Quicksand

Wednesday, October 18

o Discussion of Larsen's Quicksand
o Homework: Continue reading Larsen's Quicksand

Monday, October 23

o Discussion of Larsen's Quicksand
o Homework: Finish reading Larsen's Quicksand

Wednesday, October 25

o Discussion of Larsen's Quicksand
o Homework: Review Larsen's Quicksand and class notes for Examination 4 on Monday, October 30

Monday, October 30

o Examination 4 on Larsen's Quicksand
o Return of Examination 3
o Homework: Begin reading James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain


November

Wednesday, November 1


o Class Discussion on black northern migration and modernism
o Begin discussing Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain
o Homework: Continue reading James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain

Monday, November 6


o Discuss Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain
o Homework: Continue reading Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain

Wednesday, November 8

o Discuss Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain
o Homework: Finish reading Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain

Monday, November 13

o Discuss Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain
o Homework: Review Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain and class notes for Examination 5 on Wednesday, November 15

Wednesday, November 15

o Examination 5 on Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain
o Return of graded Examination 4
o Homework: Begin reading Toni Morrison's Beloved and review literary analysis assignment

Monday, November 20

o Discussion of Morrison's Beloved
o Homework: Continue reading Morrison's Beloved and begin working on literary analysis

Wednesday, November 22

o Fall Break and Thanksgiving holiday-No classes
(No classes from Wednesday., Nov. 22-Sunday, Nov. 26)
o Homework: Continue reading Morrison's Beloved and continue working on literary analysis

Monday, November 27

o Discussion of Morrison's Beloved
o Homework: Continue reading Morrison's Beloved and complete first draft of literary analysis

Wednesday, November 29

o Discussion of Morrison's Beloved
o Submit first draft of literary analysis
o Return of graded Examination 5

Monday, December 4

o Discussion of Morrison's Beloved
o Discussion of literary analyses

Wednesday, December 6: Last Day of Classes

o Discussion and return of literary analyses

Wednesday, December 13

· Between 2 pm-4 pm, submit to the professor in her office the final draft of the literary analysis

 

 
 
Kennesaw State University

Curriculum Vitae