Syllabus - Spring 2019
Full Schedule
Week 1
Mon 28 Jan
Assignment
***Click here to access the entire e-reserves packet for Module 3 - Palimpsest of Past and Present: Tenochtitlan/Mexico City. For best printing, download the PDF and from the print screen select "Fit" under "Page Sizing and Handling."***
Assignment for January 28:
- Aztec origins: introduction
- Gallery: Tira de la peregrinación / Boturini Codex (c. 1530-1541).
- Translations of folios 1-18r, Codex Mendoza, ed. Frances F. Berdan and Patricia Rieff Anawalt (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992), Vol. IV, 7-41 (blank pages omitted). [suitable for printing]
- Facsimiles of folios 1-18r (color images), Codex Mendoza, Vol. III, 9-43 (blank pages omitted). [large file; best viewed on computer screen]
Lecture: “We walked a long time to get here; We have been here forever.”
Nathalia King
Wed 30 Jan
Assignment
- Reading packet: click here to download all readings listed below.
- Aztec Cosmology: introduction
- Translations of folios 18v-19r, 37v-38r, 45v-46r, Codex Mendoza, Vol. IV, 42-43, 80-81, 96-97.
- Fray Bernardino de Sahagún,“De los Dioses,” Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain, Book 1 (New Mexico: School of American Research, 1982), 1-2, 7, 11, 13.
- Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, “De las Cerimonjas,” Florentine Codex, Book 2, 1-2, 42-46.
- “The Birth of Huitzilopochtli, Patron God of the Aztecs,” Native Mesoamerican Spirituality, ed. Miguel León-Portilla, (New York: Paulist Press, 1982), 220-225.
- Bernal Díaz, The Conquest of New Spain (London: Penguin, 1963), 216-244.
- Color images:
- Facsimiles of folios 18v-19r, 37v-38r, 45v-46r, Codex Mendoza, Vol. III, 44-45, 82-83, 98-99.
- Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, Story of Huitzilopochtli (Illustrated), in Florentine Codex, Book 3, (New Mexico: School of American Research, 1982), n.p.
Lecture: "Glimpsing a world in motion: Colonial texts and Mexica cosmology"
David Garrett
Fri 1 Feb
Assignment
- Accounts of the Spanish Conquest: introduction
- We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, ed. and trans. Lockhart, James, (Berkeley: University of California Press), 1992, pp. 108-172.
- Díaz, Conquest of New Spain, 85-8, 284-307.
Lecture: No Lecture
Week 2
Mon 4 Feb
Assignment
- Barbara E. Mundy, “Mapping the Aztec Capital: The 1524 Nuremberg Map of Tenochtitlan, Its Sources and Meanings,” Imago Mundi 50.1 (1998), 11-33.
- Gallery: Templo Mayor and city of Tenochtitlan
Lecture: "Mapping the Cosmos at the Templo Mayor"
Margot Minardi
Wed 6 Feb
Assignment
- Acosta's Natural and Moral History: introduction
- José de Acosta, Natural and Moral History of the Indies, ed. Jane Mangan, trans. Frances M. López-Morillas (Durham: Duke University Press, 2002), v-xvi (table of contents), 250-251 (“Prologue to the subsequent books”), 275-276 (V.11), 278-282 (V. 13-14), 293-296 (V.20), 327-333 (V.31, VI.1-2), 339-342 (VI.7), 368-380 (VI.24-28, VII.1), 392-394 (VII.7).
Lecture: "Writing the past: Scholarship and Colonial Power"
David Garrett
Fri 8 Feb
Assignment
- Reading packet: click here to download all readings listed below.
- Flower and Song: introduction
- “Beginning of the Songs,” “A Song of Green Places, an Otomi Song, a Plain One,” and “Another to the Same Tone, a Plain One,” in Cantares Mexicanos: Songs of the Aztecs, trans. John Bierhorst (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1985), 134-139.
- “Epic Description of the Besieged City,” in The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, exp. ed., ed. Miguel León-Portilla (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992), 137-138.
- “Lamentatio” (lyrics) in Nueva Espana : Close Encounters in the New World, 1590 -1690, Boston Camerata (Artist), Joel Cohen (Conductor)
- Miguel León-Portilla, “Myths in Pre-Columbian Poetry,” Pre-Columbian Literatures of Mexico, trans. Grace Lobanov and Miguel León-Portilla (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986), 30-48.
- “Excerpt from the Nahuatl Story of the Apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe, 1649” in Mesoamerican Voices: Native-Language Writings from Colonial Mexico, Oaxaca, Yucatan, and Guatemala, ed. Matthew Restall, Lisa Sousa, and Kevin Terraciano (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 196-201.
- “Lamentatio” (music) in Nueva Espana : Close Encounters in the New World, 1590 -1690, Boston Camerata (Artist), Joel Cohen (Conductor)
- Gallery: Coatlicue and Virgin of Guadalupe
Lecture: "Flower : Song"
Laura Leibman
Week 3
Mon 11 Feb
Assignment
- “Sacrifice of Isaac,” in Nahuatl Theater Volume I: Death and Life in Colonial Nahua Mexico, eds. Barry D. Sell and Louise M. Burkhart (Norman: University of Oklahoma, 2004), 147-163.
- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, “Loa to the Divine Narcissus,” in Poems, Protest, and a Dream, 195-239.
Lecture: "Ritual Spectacle: Catholic drama in Colonial Mexico"
Lucía Martínez Valdivia
Wed 13 Feb
Assignment
- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, “First I Dream,” in Poems, Protest, and a Dream, 77-129.
Lecture: "Sor Juana's "First Dream" and Baroque Poetics"
Ariadna García-Bryce
Fri 15 Feb
Assignment
- From Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Poems, Protest, and a Dream:
- “Reply to Sor Filotea,” 1-75.
- “Redondilla 92: A Philosophical Satire,” 148-151.
- “Sonnet 145: She Attempts to Minimize…,” 168-169.
Lecture: No Lecture
Sat 16 Feb
FIRST PAPER DUE
Due Saturday, February 16, at 5:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 4
Mon 18 Feb
Assignment
- Gallery: casta paintings
- Magali M. Carrera, “Locating Race in Late Colonial Mexico,” Art Journal 57.3 (1998): 36-45.
Lecture: "Casta Paintings"
Laura Leibman
Wed 20 Feb
Assignment
- Selections from The Mexico Reader: History, Culture, Politics, ed. Gilbert M. Joseph and Timothy J. Henderson (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2002).
- José Maria Morelos, “Sentiments of the Nation” (1813), 189-191.
- Agustín de Iturbide, “Plan of Iguala” (1821), 192-195.
- Editors of El Tiempo, “A Conservative Profession of Faith” (1846), 220-225.
- Mariano Otero, “Considerations Relating to the Political and Social Situation of the Mexican Republic in the Year 1847” (1847), 226-238.
Lecture: "Turning Points: Mexico in the Nineteenth Century"
Margot Minardi
Fri 22 Feb
Assignment
- Reading packet: click here to download all readings listed below.
- Introduction
- Andrés Molina Enríquez, excerpts from The Nation’s Great Problems, in Mexican History: A Primary Source Reader, ed. Nora E. Jaffary, Edward W. Osowski, and Susie E. Porter (Boulder, Col.: Westview Press, 2010), 272-279.
- “The Plan de Ayala” (1911), in John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (New York: Vintage Books, 1970), 400-404.
- “Political Constitution of the United States of Mexico” (1917), Articles 1-3, 27, 123, 130.
- Nellie Campobello, excerpts from Cartucho, in Cartucho and My Mother’s Hands, trans. Doris Meyer and Irene Matthews (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988), 10-14, 18-23, 58-65.
- Zapata and Villa in Mexico City, 1914, 120 seconds (video)
Lecture: "Revolution and Modernity"
David Garrett
Week 5
Mon 25 Feb
Assignment
- Gallery: José Clemente Orozco and other artists, murals at Colegio de San Ildefonso (c. 1922-1927)
- Gallery: Diego Rivera, National Palace mural (c. 1929-1935)
- Gallery: Davíd Alfaro Siqueiros, Electricians’ Union mural (1939-1940)
- “Manifesto of the Syndicate of Technical Workers, Painters and Sculptors” (1923-1924), in Mexican Muralism: A Critical History, ed. Alejandra Anreus, Leonard Folgarait, and Robin Adèle Greeley (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012), 319-321.
Lecture: “The Mexican Avant-Garde: Visualizing the Revolution and the City”
Alberto McKelligan Hernández (PSU)
Wed 27 Feb
Assignment
- Revisit galleries from February 25
- Robin Adèle Greeley, “Muralism and the State in Post-Revolution Mexico, 1920-1970,” in Mexican Muralism: A Critical History, 13-36.
Lecture: No lecture
Wed 27 Feb
Film screening
Los Olvidados/The Young and the Damned
7:40 PM, Vollum Lecture Hall
Fri 1 Mar
Assignment
- Buñuel, Luis, et al. 1950. Los Olvidados = The young and the damned. [México]. (film)
- Cesare Zavattini, “Some Ideas on the Cinema,” Sight and Sound 23.2 (1953): 64-69.
- Luis Buñuel, “The Cinematic Shot,” “Découpage, or Cinematic Segmentation,” and “Cinema as an Instrument of Poetry,” in An Unspeakable Betrayal: Selected Writings of Luis Buñuel, trans. Garrett White (Oakland: University of California Press, 1995), 125-141.
Lecture: "Los Olvidados: Space, Violence, Dream"
Marat Grinberg
Week 6
Mon 4 Mar
Assignment
- José Emilio Pacheco, “Battles in the Desert,” Battles in the Desert and Other Stories, trans. Katherine Silver (New York: New Directions, 1987), 81-117.
- Gallery: Juan O’Gorman, “Landscape of the City of Mexico"
Lecture: "All Roads Lead to "Roma""
Elizabeth Drumm
Wed 6 Mar
Assignment
- Elena Poniatowska, Massacre in Mexico (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1991), vii-xvii, 3-23, 173-231.
Lecture: “Testimonio and the Politics of Genre”
Ann Delehanty
Fri 8 Mar
Assignment
- Selections from Subcomandante Marcos, Our Word Is Our Weapon: Selected Writings, ed. Juana Ponce de León (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001).
- “Fourth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle” (1996), 78-81.
- “Mexico City: We Have Arrived. We Are Here: The EZLN.” (2001), 155-162.
- “The Story of the Questions” (1994), 413-416.
- Zapatista Army of National Liberation, “6th Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle” (June 2005).
Lecture: "The Inconvenience of Revolution: Zapatismo, Cynicism, Dignity and Memory"
Christian Kroll
Week 7
Mon 11 Mar
Assignment
***Click here to access the entire e-reserves packet for Module 4 - Aesthetics and Politics: Harlem. For best printing, download the PDF and from the print screen select "Fit" under "Page Sizing and Handling."*- Ida B. Wells, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases, in Southern Horrors and Other Writings: The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900, 2nd ed., ed. Jacqueline Jones Royster (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2016), 46-68.
- Booker T. Washington, “The Atlanta Exposition Address,” from Up from Slavery (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2003), 141-151.
Lecture: "Strange Fruit"
Pancho Savery
Wed 13 Mar
Assignment
- Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, 3-44, 189-205 ("The Forethought"; chapters 1-3; Appendix II: “The Talented Tenth”).
Lecture: TBA
Sarah Wagner-McCoy
Fri 15 Mar
Assignment
- Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk, 45-62, 128-139, 153-177 (chapters 4-5, 10, 13-14).
Lecture: No lecture
Sat 16 Mar
SECOND PAPER DUE
Due Saturday, March 16, at 5:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 8
Mon 18 Mar
Assignment
- Jacob Lawrence, Migration Series (1940-1941), Phillips Collection.
- Browse the thumbnails, including the titles (titles are visible if you hover the mouse over an image). Then, explore the full series (60 panels) panel-by-panel, starting with panel 1. You can advance to the next panel by clicking the down arrow below “panel 1” on the upper right of the screen.
- James Weldon Johnson, “The Making of Harlem,” in Survey Graphic, ed. Locke, 635-639.
- Gallery: W.E.B. Du Bois data portraits.
Lecture: "Moving the Perception of the Color Line: Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series”"
Nathalia King
Wed 20 Mar
Assignment
- Selections from The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader, ed. Lewis:
- W.E.B. Du Bois, “Returning Soldiers,” 3-5.
- Marcus Garvey, “Africa for the Africans,” 17-25. Marcus Garvey, “Liberty Hall Emancipation Day Speech,” 26-28.
- “Manifesto of the Second Pan-African Congress” (1921), in The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois Reader, ed. Eric J. Sundquist (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), pp. 640-644.
- Browse the issue of The Crisis (Nov. 1921) in which this manifesto appeared.
- Universal Negro Improvement Association, “Declaration of the Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World” (1920).
Lecture: "Garvey and Du Bois: Competing Visions of Race and Politics"
Tamara Metz, Paddy Riley
Fri 22 Mar
Assignment
- From Survey Graphic, ed. Locke:
- Alain Locke, “Harlem” and “Enter The New Negro,” 629-634.
- W.A. Domingo, “The Tropics in New York,” 648-650.
- Elise McDougald, “The Double Task,” 689-691.
- Look at illustrations in the Survey Graphic volume.
Lecture: "Survey Graphic, March 1925: Locating and renewing a people"
Paul Hovda, Radhika Natarajan
Sat 23 Mar
Spring Break
March 23 – March 31
Week 9
Mon 1 Apr
Assignment
- From The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader, ed. Lewis:
- Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” 91-95.
- George S. Schuyler, “The Negro-Art Hokum,” 96-99.
- James Weldon Johnson, “Preface” to The Book of American Negro Poetry, 9-22, 34-48.
Lecture: "I got soul" and "The Vernacular Tradition, Literature, and the Canon"
Pancho Savery, Dustin Simpson
- Lecture Handout - Savery
- Lecture Handout - Simpson
Wed 3 Apr
Fri 5 Apr
Assignment
- Toomer, Cane, 76-160.
Lecture: "Tension and Style in Jean Toomer's Cane"
Dustin Simpson
Week 10
Mon 8 Apr
Assignment
- From The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader, ed. Lewis:
- Gwendolyn Bennett, “Song,” 221–222, “Hatred,” 223.
- Mae Cowdery, “The Young Voice Cries,” 238–240.
- Countee Cullen, “Yet Do I Marvel,” 244, “Heritage,” 244–247, “Tableau,” 248–249.
- Langston Hughes, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 257, “I, Too,” 257–258, “America,” 258-260, “The Weary Blues,” 260–261, “Jazzonia,” 261, “Mother to Son,” 261–262, “Elevator Boy,” 263–264, “Elderly Race Leaders,” 265, “Dream Variation,” 266.
- Poems read by Langston Hughes:
- “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” 257,
- “I, Too,” 257–258
- “The Weary Blues,” 260–261
- “Mother to Son,” 261–262,
Lecture: "Poetry, Masks, and the Blues"
Jan Mieszkowski
Wed 10 Apr
Assignment
- From The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader, ed. Lewis:
- Sterling Brown, “Southern Road,” 227–229, “Odyssey of Big Boy,: 229–231.
- James Weldon Johnson, “O Black and Unknown Bards,” 282, “The Creation,” 286.
- Claude McKay, “If We Must Die,” 290, “The White House,” 291, “The Tropics in New York,” 292, “When Dawn Comes to the City,” 293–294, “The Desolate City,” 294–296, “The Harlem Dancer,” 296.
- Anne Spencer, “Lady, Lady,” 299.
- Jean Toomer, “The Blue Meridian,” 303–307.
- "The Creation," 286, read by James Weldon Johnson
Lecture: No lecture
Fri 12 Apr
Assignment
- Viewing/listening assignment:
- Duke Ellington, "Blue Light" (1938), featuring Barney Bigard and Lawrence Brown
- Black and Tan (1929), 18:12 minutes, (movie)
- Duke Ellington, “Daybreak Express” (1934), (music)
- Duke Ellington, “Such Sweet Thunder” (1957), (music)
- Duke Ellington, “Heaven,” Second Sacred Concert (1968), (music)
- Mark Tucker, “The Renaissance Education of Duke Ellington,” in Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance, ed. Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1993), 111-127.
Lecture: "Duke Ellington v. Jazz"
David Schiff
Week 11
Mon 15 Apr
Assignment
- Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, 1-138 (chapters 1-15).
- Zora Neale Hurston, “What White Publishers Won’t Print,” in I Love Myself When I Am Laughing...And Then Again When I Am Looking Mean and Impressive: A Zora Neale Hurston Reader, ed. Alice Walker (Old Westbury, N.Y.: Feminist Press, 1979), 169-173.
Lecture: "Black, Feminist, Modernist: Their Eyes Were Watching God"
Gail Sherman
- Lecture Handout
- Log-in to access audio files of Their Eyes Were Watching God, read by Ruby Dee.
Wed 17 Apr
Assignment
- Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, 139-193 (chapters 16-20).
- Zora Neale Hurston, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” (1928), in The Story and Its Writer: An Introduction to Short Fiction, 8th ed., ed. Ann Charters (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011), 1484-1488.
Lecture: No lecture
Fri 19 Apr
Assignment
- Viewing/listening assignment
- Paul Robeson, “Old Man River,” from Show Boat (1936) [film clip]
- Paul Robeson, “Old Man River,” performed in concert, Moscow, 1949 [audio clip]
- Selections from Paul Robeson, Paul Robeson Speaks: Writings, Speeches, Interviews, ed. Philip S. Foner (New York: Citadel Press, 1978).
- “‘I’m at Home,’ Says Robeson at Reception in Soviet Union,” 94-96.
- “U.S.S.R.--The Land for Me,” 105-109.
- “Soviet Culture,” 136-137.
- “The Negro People and the Soviet Union,” 236-241.
- “Two Worlds--Ten Years of Struggle,” 486-490.
- “Thoughts on Winning the Stalin Peace Prize,” 336-339.
- “The Essence of Fascism and Communism,” 490-494.
Lecture: "Paul Robeson"
Mark Burford, Marat Grinberg
- Lecture Handout - Burford
- Lecture Handout - Grinberg
Sat 20 Apr
THIRD PAPER DUE
Due Saturday, April 20, at 5:00 PM to your conference leader.
Week 12
Mon 22 Apr
Assignment
- Listening assignment:
- Charlie Parker, “Wee,” from Jazz at Massey Hall (1953) (music)
- Barry Harris, “Moose the Mooche,” from At the Jazz Workshop (1960) (music)
- Oscar Peterson, “You Look Good to Me,” from We Get Requests (1964) (music)
- McCoy Tyner, “Passion Dance,” from The Real McCoy (1967) (music)
Lecture: "Jazz"
Peter Steinberger
Wed 24 Apr
Assignment
- Ellison, Invisible Man, 1-108 (chapters 1-4).
- W. E. B. Du Bois, “The Negro and the Warsaw Ghetto” (1952), in The Oxford W. E. B. Du Bois Reader, 469-473.
Lecture: "Multidirectional Memories of Du Bois and Ellison"
Marat Grinberg
Fri 26 Apr
Assignment
- Ellison, Invisible Man, 109-230 (chapters 5-10).
Lecture: No lecture
Week 13
Mon 29 Apr
Assignment
- Ellison, Invisible Man, 231-355 (chapters 11-16).
Lecture: "Is You Got the Dog?"
Pancho Savery
Wed 1 May
Assignment
- Ellison, Invisible Man, 356-478 (chapters 17-22).
Lecture: "Saying No and Saying Yes, Saying Yes and Saying No: Unambiguous Ambivalence in Invisible Man"
Lisa Steinman
Fri 3 May
Assignment
- Ellison, Invisible Man, 479-581 (chapter 23-epilogue).
Lecture: "Behold the Invisible"
Pancho Savery, Paul Hovda
Tue 14 May
Final exam
Tuesday, May 14, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Course Logistics
REQUIRED TEXTS:
- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Poems, Protest, and a Dream: Selected Writings, trans. Margaret Sayers Peden (New York: Penguin Books, 1997).
- W.E.B. Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
- Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (New York: Vintage International, 1980).
- Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (New York: Harper Perennial, 2006).
- David Levering Lewis, ed., The Portable Harlem Renaissance Reader (New York: Penguin, 1994).
- Alain Locke, ed., Survey Graphic; Harlem: Mecca of the New Negro (Baltimore: Black Classic Books, 1980).
- Jean Toomer, Cane (New York: Liveright, 2011).
Additional readings are available on e-reserves and through online galleries, accessible via links embedded in the syllabus below. You will need your Reed username and password to access these texts. Please bring a copy of the day’s reading assignment to class each day.The library has on reserve a limited number of each required texts, as well as multiple copies of each of two course packets of e-reserve readings, one for each of the two modules.
CONFERENCE ASSIGNMENTS:
Humanities 110 is a yearlong course, and students are generally expected to remain in the same conference throughout the year. The Registrar assigns all students to conferences at the beginning of the year. Thereafter students may change conferences only due to academic schedule conflicts and only with the authorization of the course chair, Margot Minardi. Any student who wishes to initiate such a change should contact Prof. Minardi for the appropriate form. Students granted a schedule change will be assigned to new sections based on available slots; requests to move into a particular conference generally cannot be honored. No conference changes are permitted after the second week of the term.
PAPERS, WRITING ASSIGNMENTS, AND EXAMINATIONS:
Three course-wide papers will be assigned in the spring semester, due at the times designated on the schedule of readings and lectures. Individual conference leaders may assign additional writing. If the due date for an assignment conflicts with a religious holiday or obligation that you wish to observe, please consult with your conference leader. A four-hour final examination for the spring semester will be given at the end of the semester; date and time to be announced. Rescheduling of the final exam will be allowed only for medical reasons. If you have a documented disability requiring accommodations on exams, please consult with your conference leader prior to the exam.
WRITING CENTER:
You can get help with all stages of the writing process from the Writing Center located in the Dorothy Johansen House. Drop-in help from writing tutors is available Sunday through Thursday, 7:00-10:00 p.m.; additional hours will be held in residence hall locations during weeks that a paper is due.