Fall 2022 - ENGL 443W E100
Seminar in Literatures of Diaspora and Migration (4)
Class Number: 8004
Delivery Method: In Person
Overview
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Course Times + Location:
Sep 7 – Dec 6, 2022: Thu, 4:30–8:20 p.m.
Burnaby
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Instructor:
Deena Dinat
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Instructor:
Deena Dinat
ddinat@sfu.ca
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Prerequisites:
45 units or two 300-division English courses.
Description
CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:
Advanced seminar in the literatures of diaspora and migration. May be organized by author, genre, period, or critical approach. Course focuses on writing in English. This course may be repeated for credit if a different topic is taught. Writing.
COURSE DETAILS:
ENGL443W: Seminar in Literatures of Diaspora and Migration
Writing the Migrant City
“What was otherwise reserved for only a very few words, a privileged class of words, the city has made possible for all words, or at least a great many: to be elevated to the noble status of name.” – Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project
This course draws on a range of texts and multiple forms of media to investigate what it means to live in a city under the pressures of globalized capital, regimes of biopolitical control, and networks of precarious migration. Drawing on a range of contemporary writers and thinkers from Africa and the African diaspora we’ll ask how migration, identity, and labour shape the cities we inhabit while investigating what the city demands of us as inhabitants. What forms of violence and precarity does the city produce? What possibilities for resistance, community, and freedom emerge from the places we call home?
Grading
- Participation 15%
- Weekly Discussion Prompt 10%
- Seminar Presentation and Discussion 30%
- Final Paper Proposal and Workshop 10%
- Final Paper 35%
NOTES:
Please note that students are responsible for purchasing the books (no specific edition required) online or at a local bookstore.
Materials
REQUIRED READING:
Teju Cole – Open City
Mati Diop - Atlantics
K Sello Duiker – Thirteen Cents
Phaswane Mpe – Welcome to Our Hillbrow
Zadie Smith – “The Embassy of Cambodia”
Ivan Vladislavić – Double Negative
Yvonne Vera – “Why Don’t You Carve Other Animals”
(Additional readings will be provided via Canvas)
REQUIRED READING NOTES:
Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.
Department Undergraduate Notes:
IMPORTANT NOTE Re 300 and 400 level courses: 75% of spaces in 300 level English courses, and 100% of spaces in 400 level English courses, are reserved for declared English Major, Minor, Extended Minor, Joint Major, and Honours students only, until open enrollment begins.
For all On-Campus Courses, please note the following:
- To receive credit for the course, students must complete all requirements.
- Tutorials/Seminars WILL be held the first week of classes.
- When choosing your schedule, remember to check "Show lab/tutorial sections" to see all Lecture/Seminar/Tutorial times required.
Registrar Notes:
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS
SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.
Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html