ENG 111-2 - Topic: The Racial Imaginary (W) (1)

Race is a social construct-an idea we imagine-but it’s an imagined idea so powerful it shapes our histories, our social systems, and our daily lives. Using Claudia Rankine and Beth Loffreda’s anthology The Racial Imaginary as a critical text, this course will examine the role of race in the life of the mind, with particular attention to the consequences of American racial conceptions in today’s literary, political, and interpersonal spheres. What happens when, as one author writes, our imaginations are “riddled with the stories racism built”? When “the voices least sanctioned to speak come from the bodies most on display”? Or when an author is silent because “I’m afraid of what I might say about race, afraid of examining what I think and feel about race”? We’ll read a variety of texts-including James Baldwin’s memoirs, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah’s criticism, and Eula Biss’s lyric investigations-in an attempt to address such questions, and to learn how to better write about race and ethnicity ourselves. Students can expect to pay significant attention to the research, drafting, and revision processes in this writing-intensive class. Because this is a writing course, significant course time will be spent on the writing process, with a focus on revision. Not open to students who have previously completed the writing course (W) requirement and/or ENG 111. RUBENSTEIN
(Writing Requirement)