Instructor: Prof. Karen Nakamura
Last taught: Spring 2003
Next offered: -
Instructor: Prof. Karen Nakamura
Last taught: Spring 2003
Next offered: -
In this course, we will examine how interactions of language and culture construct our ethnic, racial, class, and gender identities. We will first explore what has been called the "spoken soul" of Black identity, African American Vernacular English, delving into issues such as the Ebonics controversy. Then we change gear and look at language, gender and power and focus on inequalities in the court system. One author has described us as living in a "Prisonhouse of Language," but can we find means of escape?
You will be required to keep a running field journal and write weekly reports relating their observations with the theories we are encountering in class. At the end of the course, you will be required to write a 15-20 page research paper based on a topic approved by the instructor. This may either be a field research based paper or library research.
The required textbooks are available at the campus bookstore. Course readings in the forms of articles will be distributed in class and available on the library e-reserve system.
Optional
| Schedule
of Readings (When each reading is due; last updated 03.01.31) |
| Schedule for Discussion Leaders |
| Participation | 10% |
|---|---|
| Weekly Fieldnotes | 20% |
| Quizzes and Exams | 20% |
| Final Project | 50% |
| Total | 100% |