ENG4422 – Racial Violence and American Identity
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
In this course we will read a series of novels, short stories, and plays in order to explore the relationship between American identity, race, and racial violence.
We will:
- look at literary representations of racial violence in texts ranging from the 19th to the 21st Century
- consider the different ways in which race and violence are represented in literary texts
- examine the ways in which these representations function as symbols, metaphors, or symptoms of the American condition, both in the past and the present
The readings will include both literary texts, and theoretical considerations of the way in which race and racial violence shape both the American imagination and the social landscape. Our readings and our discussions will keep one eye on the contemporary state of affairs in the United States, and we will conclude the semester with readings focused on the eruptions of racial violence taking place over the last year and a half.
Learning outcome
After completing this course, you:
- master the basic social science and cultural approaches to the understanding of race in the United States.
- have a working knowledge of the ways in which literary texts reflect, shape, and interact with history and culture.
- understand the important underlying historical, cultural, and psychological causes of racial violence in the U.S.
- know how individual and cultural identities are constituted by narrative patterns, metaphors and other literary and imaginative structures.
Admission to the course
Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for in Studentweb.
Students enrolled in other Master`s Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures.
Teaching
Seminars, 2 hours per week for 10 weeks. 20 hours in all.
- An essay of between 1 500 and 2 000 words turned in by a stated deadline. Read more here about rules concerning valid excuses and how to apply for postponements. Information about guidelines for obligatory activities.
- It is obligatory to show up for a minimum of 60% of the teaching. In this course you have to attend 6 of 10 seminars. The requirement is absolute.
The allowed absence limit will cover all absences, including illness. You will not be granted valid absences with documentation, even when the absence is due to something beyond your control.
If the course has in-person teaching, and you are signed up for an in-person seminar group, you are to attend the teaching in the location found in the schedule.
If the course has digital teaching, and you are signed up for a digital seminar group, you must attend via Zoom with your camera on.
In certain circumstances, i.e. serious or chronic illness, you could apply for special needs accomodations.
All obligatory activities must be approved for you to sit the exam. All obligatory activities must be approved in the same semester. Approved obligatory attendance and assignments are only valid the semester you attend the course.
Examination
The form of assessment is a term paper of 10 standard pages (a standard page consists of 2,300 characters). References and bibliography comes in addition.
You will be offered individual term paper supervision.
You are supposed to work on the assignment throughout the whole semester.
Language of examination
The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.
Resit an examination
Since this exam includes a term paper, you must follow the classes and write a new paper in order to qualify. Admission depends on capacity.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.