Over the past two years, I have taught three multicultural American literature courses, at various levels from sophomore to graduate. This fall, I am teaching my fourth, and I am doing things a little differently because it is an upper level course. As I constructed each of the previous courses, I purposefully thought about a wide variety of texts and assignments for students. I … Read More Multicultural American Literature Syllabus 2021
+ a small place, american literature, antigua, caribbean literature, innocents abroad, jamaica kincaid, lillian e smith
One of my favorite quotes comes from Mark Twain. Talking about what travel does to one’s worldview, he wrote in Innocents Abroad, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” … Read More Why do we travel?
+ african american literature, american literature, Americans Want to Believe Jobs are the Solution to Poverty. They're Not, caribbean literature, drown, Junot Díaz, Literature, matthew desmond, yunior
Reading Junot Díaz’s “Drown,” my mind constantly kept going back to texts such as Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun and James Baldwin who said, “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” Along with these items, I also thought about the power structures that keep Yunior de Las Casas in subjugation and essentially strip … Read More Education and Poverty in Junot Díaz’s “Drown”
+ african american literature, american literature, bergen, Norway, caribbean literature, early american literature, Fløyen, fulbright, kindred, louisiana literature, mississippi literature, native american literature, nineteenth century literature, norway, southern literature
Since it has been a while since I have shared an update about our time here in Norway, I thought today would be a good time to do it. From the beginning, we decided to partake in this adventure for what it promised, a once in a lifetime experience for the kids and our family as a whole. We embarked to Norway in hopes … Read More Update from Norway!
+ african american literature, banana bottom, bita plant, caribbean literature, claude mckay, frank yerby, the little black boy, william blake
If you enjoy what you read here at Interminable Rambling, think about making a contribution on our Patreon page. In the last post, I wrote some about how Frank Yerby and Claude McKay each challenge western ideals of beauty. Today, I want to continue that discussion by looking at how Bita Plant interrogates these ideals in Banana Bottom, specifically when she looks at William … Read More Claude McKay’s “Banana Bottom” and William Blake
Interminable Rambling 