Category: ernest j gaines

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History, Sharecropping, and the Shack Up Inn

Last week, Time named Ruddy Roye (@ruddyroye) its Instagram photographer of 2016. The same week, they unveiled Donald Trump as their 2016 Person of the Year. Today, I want to briefly discuss how we can bring one of Ruddy Roye’s photographs into the classroom, specifically into the literature classroom. In an upcoming post, I will write about how we can bring  Nadav Kander’s portrait … Read More History, Sharecropping, and the Shack Up Inn

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Why We Teach: Literature and the Presidential Election

In the Republic, Plato famously claims that there is a longstanding quarrel between philosophy and poetry, even stating that poets are nothing more than imitators and cannot relate truth to their audience, thus perverting them: “the tragic poet is an imitator, and therefore, like all other imitators, he is thrice removed from the king and from the truth.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, in Nature (1836), … Read More Why We Teach: Literature and the Presidential Election

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Colin Kaepernick, the National Anthem, and Progress?

Over the past few weeks, I have seen numerous responses to Colin Kaepernick’s demonstrations during the National Anthem. Last week, an article even appeared on ESPN pointing out which players chose to demonstrate during the anthem in week three of the NFL season by kneeling, raising their fists in protest, or through some other means. Editorials and opinion pieces have appeared in various media … Read More Colin Kaepernick, the National Anthem, and Progress?

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Some Pedagogical Takeaways from the NEH Summer Institute

Part of this post appears in “‘I think Aladdin looked kinda white’: Teaching Cultural Projection in the Classroom” on the Pedagogy and American Literary Studies’ blog. The links throughout provide more insight into the technique being discussed.  During the NEH Summer Institute, Ernest J. Gaines and the Southern Experience, pedagogy was a big topic of discussion. Throughout the institute, the visiting lecturers and scholars shared with … Read More Some Pedagogical Takeaways from the NEH Summer Institute

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Personal Identity Narrative Essay

When I teach first year composition courses, I have students write some type of personal narrative for their first essay. This typically involves them relating a story about themselves and creating an argument based off of what they learned from their own personal experience. Recently, instead of having students do a personal narrative where they relate any story from their lives, I have been … Read More Personal Identity Narrative Essay