Category: toni morrison

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Whiteness in “Ms. Marvel” and Tahereh Mafi’s “A Very Large Expanse of Sea”

As you know, I typically choose a few new texts to teach each semester, mainly so I can expand my knowledge on topics that I may not be familiar with. I do it to educate myself as much as to educate my students. This semester, for my Multiethnic American Literature class, I chose to include Tahereh Mafi’s A Very Large Expanse of Sea and I selected … Read More Whiteness in “Ms. Marvel” and Tahereh Mafi’s “A Very Large Expanse of Sea”

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Collaboration between the Author and Reader

This semester, I’m teaching Toni Morrison’s “Recitatif” again, and every time I teach it something new stands out to me. I read and thought about Morrison’s story in connection with the relationship between the author and her audience. Morrison invites her audience to become a co-creator of the text, and in this manner the author and audience engage within a dialogic where they each … Read More Collaboration between the Author and Reader

What’s Next? Norwegian Hip Hop

In my previous post, I wrote about the Norway and Slavery research group that I started with a couple of colleagues at the University of Bergen. Today, I want to dig a little more into what I plan to do with my work on Norwegian hip hop, specifically Karpe’s work. Over the past few months, I have written multiple posts on artists such as … Read More What’s Next? Norwegian Hip Hop

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The Problematic Nature of Willa Cather’s Final Novel

When I was constructing my “Introduction to Modernism” course this semester, I decided to use Ernest J. Gaines’ work as the focal point, moving outwards from his work back into the past and towards he present, not limiting modernist thought to one particular temporal period. I did this, mainly, because Gaines, time and time again, has spoken about the influence of Modernists and Russian … Read More The Problematic Nature of Willa Cather’s Final Novel

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“Why can’t we read this story as a universal text?”: Questions from the Classroom

Recently, I taught Louise Erdrich’s “The Red Convertible.” The story focuses on two Chippewa brothers, Henry and Lyman, and their relationship after Henry returns from the Vietnam War. During our discussion of the story in class, someone asked a question about the text and some of our previous readings that caused me to think well past the end of our session. The student posed … Read More “Why can’t we read this story as a universal text?”: Questions from the Classroom