GEN 220 SURVEY OF MULTI-CULTURAL LITERATURE
Professor: Brian Derico
Phone: 244.8147
Semester: Spring 2013
Email: brian.derico@ccuniversity.edu
Course Description
A thematic survey of contemporary literature from authors of different ethnicities. Attention is given both to
literary forms and to social, philosophical, and religious meaning in the texts.
Course Rationale
As leaders in the church and in the world, we must interact with increasingly global communities. Survey of
Multi-Cultural Literature uses literature, dialogue, writing, and research to increase our understanding of the
diverse cultural perspectives of the world—including our own.
Course Objectives
Students who satisfactorily complete this course should be able to do the following:
● Offer insightful analysis in support of interpretive assertions about the assigned course texts;
● Demonstrate familiarity with the generic expectations associated with writing about literature in the
English discipline;
● Demonstrate thoughtfulness about the relationship between history, culture, society, and knowledge;
● Articulate a greater understanding of their own cultural values by comparing and contrasting them
with others;
● Articulate an ideologically informed position regarding the responsibility of humanity in general—
and Christians in particular—to respond to the suffering and injustice that pervades our world.
Course Text
One World of Literature, Lim and Spencer
Assignments
● Essays (3)
● Presentation (1)
● Exam (1)
Grades
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Each assignment will receive either 100%, 95%, 90%, 85%, 80%, 75%, 70%, 65%, 60%, 50%, or 0%
credit.
● Work submitted late that reflects a satisfactory effort will receive 60% credit.
● Work not submitted will receive 0%.
Course Policies
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You must read and respond appropriately in a timely manner to email from the professor.
All written assignments must be shared with me in Google Drive under file names that conform to the
pattern described in the File Name Format section of this syllabus.
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The attendance regulations listed in the CCU catalog apply to this course.
If you do not understand an assignment or section of class discussion, it is your responsibility to ask
for clarification either during the class session or in private consultation with the professor.
● You must maintain scrupulous academic integrity. The CCU Policy on Academic Integrity will be
our guide on occasions of academic dishonesty.
● I reserve the right to amend the above policies for individual circumstances. It is always your
responsibility to apprise me of extenuating circumstances.
● If you require academic accommodations due to any documented physical, psychological, or learning
disability you should request assistance from the Academic Support Director within the first two
weeks of class. The Academic Support Office is located in the Lower Level of the Worship and
Ministry Building (room 153). You may also contact the office by phone (244-8420).
Office Hours
Stop by during the posted hours to reach me by chance. Please make an appointment via e-mail if your need
is urgent or if the posted hours do not coincide with your availability.
Monday: 9:00-11:00
Tuesday: 9:00-10:00
Wednesday: 9:00-11:00
Thursday: 9:00-10:00
Friday: unavailable
Course Agenda
All dates are approximate and subject to change without notice.
January
23
Introduction to Survey of Multi-Cultural Literature
28
“The Unknown Citizen,” Auden (582-584)
“Writing about Fiction” (All Sections)
“Writing about Literature” (All Sections)
“MLA Formatting and Style Guide”
“MLA Formatting Quotations”
“A Small Incident,” Xün (209-210)
Presentation
30
February
04
06
11
13
“Death in a Plane,” de Andrade (779-783)
Presentation
“Jerusalem,” Amichai (75-76)
Presentation
“Identity Card,” Darwish (134-136)
Presentation
“The Land of Sad Oranges,” Kanafani (137-141)
Presentation
Due: Essay #1
Purdue OWL
Purdue OWL
Purdue OWL
Purdue OWL
18
20
27
“Mercedes Benz 220 SL,” Ferré (874-882)
Presentation
“The Hajji,” Essop (161-171
04
06
SPRING RECESS
SPRING RECESS
11
“Civil Peace,” Achebe (128-133)
Presentation
“The Balek Scales,” Böll (554-561)
Presentation
Due: Essay #2
25
March
13
18
20
25
27
April
“Migrant’s Lament—a Song,” Qabula (173-175)
Presentation
“The Cooboo,” Prichard (381-384)
Presentation
01
03
08
10
15
17
22
“The Guest,” Camus (530-540)
Presentation
“Naema—Whereabouts Unknown,” Dib (15-24)
Presentation
“The Return,” Thiong´o (91-96)
Presentation
“And So I Go,” Grace (447-451)
Presentation
“The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” O’Connor (975-983)
Presentation
“The Horse Dealer’s Daughter,” Lawrence (562-575)
Presentation
“Inem,” Toer (288-297)
Presentation
“The Key,” Phiên (364-369)
Presentation
“The Falling Girl,” Buzzati (624-627)
Presentation
“Spring Storm,” Yōko (337-343)
Presentation
Due: Essay #3
“His First Ball,” Ihimaera (451-460)
Presentation
May
24
“About Your Hands and Lies,” Hikmet (186-187)
Presentation
29
“The Rockpile,” Baldwin (967-974)
Presentation
“A Hunger Artist,” Kafka (489-496)
Presentation
01
08
10
“Araby,” Joyce (603-608)
“A Soldier’s Embrace,” (Gordimer 149-160)
Assignment Descriptions
The following assignment descriptions will be supplemented by class discussion. Students are responsible
for completing each assignment in a fashion that reflects familiarity with class discussions.
File Name Format
When you save your documents please name the file using the following pattern: your name, assignment
number, option number.
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Example: student name, essay one, option two
Example: student name, essay two, option three
Example: student name, presentation outline
Example: student name, presentation bibliography
Genre Expectations
The following bulleted items reflect genre expectations for literary analyses. Essays should conform to these
genre expectations unless there is a compelling reason to violate these expectations.
● Literary analyses describe the action of literature as though it happens in the present tense.
● Literary analyses must incorporate quotations from the text as evidence.
● Literary analyses may also incorporate evidentiary support derived from inquiry beyond the text.
Such evidence might be, for instance, biographical, bibliographical, historical, psychological,
physiological, ideological, critical, cultural, sociological, or epistemological.
● Literary analyses must include reference to the title of the subject of the analysis in the
introduction—even if it appears in the title.
● Literary analyses must include reference to the full name of the author of the subject of the analysis
in the introduction—even if it appears in the title.
● Literary analyses present evidence in support of a claim about the subject of the analysis—not
summary or description alone.
● Literary analyses must make an assertion with which a reasonable person might disagree—or that a
reasonable person might not have considered but would benefit from encountering.
● Literary analyses mark the title of short stories and poems with quotation marks—not italics or
underlining.
● Literary analyses conform to MLA format and style.
● Literary analyses should be organized in support of a thesis rather than according to the chronology
of the novel that is the subject of the analysis.
● Literary analyses have titles that reflect their argument—not just their subject.
Essay Options
option one
FOCUS: Differences Reflected in Literature
● Choose a theme that appears in at least two of the assigned texts.
● Write a thesis driven article that supports an assertion about the way the chosen theme is treated in
the selected texts—and about what the reader stands to gain from this comparison.
option two
FOCUS: Culture Reflected in Literature
● Choose one of the assigned texts.
● Write a thesis driven essay that supports an assertion about how understanding the cultural context of
elements of the text—or a single element of the text—is useful. This assignment will require
contextually credible research—properly documented—into the culture represented in the literature
you have chosen.
option three
FOCUS: Character Study
● Choose one character from one of the course texts.
● Choose one of the assigned stories, identify an important character, and write an article that supports
an assertion about the reasons for or the results of the character’s behavior or nature (the narrator in a
short story and the speaker in a poem are suitable subjects for this assignment). That is, either make a
claim about why a character is as he or she is or make a claim about what happens because the
character is as he or she is. You should then focus your article entirely on demonstrating the
credibility of that claim with two kinds of evidence. First, you should introduce evidence that
demonstrates the credibility of your claim that something is true about a character. Second, you
should introduce evidence that either demonstrates the credibility of your claim about why the
character is as you claim he or she is, or that demonstrates the credibility of your claim that
something happens because the character is as you claim he or she is.
option four
FOCUS: Idea Response Using Literature
● Choose an idea related to Christian thought, experience, or practice about which you can articulate a
clear assertion.
● Consider how one or more of the assigned texts either supports your assertion or is in conflict with
your assertion.
● Write a thesis driven article that supports your assertion.
● Quote at least one of the assigned texts.
● You may also use evidence derived from inquiry beyond the text, as well as your own reasoning and
examples. Be sure to document any sources used.
● In this assignment literature is support material rather than the central focus.
option five
FOCUS: Choose Your Own Adventure
● Identify an event that you believe to be relevant to the content and objectives of this course.
● Submit to me for approval—at least seven days in advance of the event—a paragraph describing the
event and explaining why you believe this event to be relevant to the content and objectives of this
course.
● Attend the approved event and write an essay that reflects on your participation in the context of the
content and objectives of this course.
● To receive credit for this assignment you must submit it as a Google Document within one week of
the event.
group project
FOCUS: Service Organization Presentation
● Each student will research an approved humanitarian service organization. A list of preapproved
organizations follow, but students may seek permission to present on an organization that does not
appear on this list.
● Each student will develop a highly effective persuasive presentation that supports an specific
assertion about the the selected service organization. Your presentation must have a thesis that is
contextualized in a compelling manner.
● Presentations must include attention to the mission of the service organization.
● Presentations must include attention to the cultures and communities with which these service
organizations work. Because many of these service organizations are involved in many cultures and
communities around the world your presentation can focus on one example.
● A detailed outline of the presentation must be submitted as a Google Doc before the presentation.
Your outline must have a compelling title. A powerpoint presentation may not be substituted for
the outline and bibliography.
● An annotated bibliography must be submitted before the presentation. Your bibliography must be
formatted in MLA style. If you use multiple pages from the same site, each page must have a separate
entry with separate annotation. The information used in the presentation must be derived from
contextually credible sources.
● Each presentation must last at least ten minutes and may last no longer than twenty minutes.
● Presentations may include video, but the presentation must be at least ten minutes without the video.
● Presentations may include attention to the opportunities for career employment and internships with
this service organization.
● Presentations may analyze the ways that these organizations rhetorically construct and represent the
cultures and communities with which they work.
● Presentations may include attention to issues that complicate the mission of this organization.
● Presentations may include recognition/response given to the service organization.
● Presentations may include attention to the history of the service organization.
● An opportunity for questions and evaluation will follow each presentation.
Preapproved Service Organizations:
Amnesty International
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
CARE (defending dignity. fighting poverty.)
Charity: Water
Direct Relief International
Doctors Without Borders
Human Rights Watch
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
International Justice Mission
International Rescue Committee
MAP International
Oxfam International
PATH (a catalyst for global health)
Peace Corps
Project Hope (delivering health education, medicines, supplies and volunteers where needed)
Refugees International
Save the Children
Teach for America
UNDP (UN Development Program)
UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)
UNHCR (UN High Commissioner for Refugees)
UNICEF (UN Children’s Fund)
UNWFP (UN World Food Programme)
USAID
US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants
WHO (World Health Organization)
World Concern
World Vision
Clinton Foundation