GenEd Course Development Competition Proposal

Gary Storhoff, Department of English, UConn at Stamford

Course title: “Race, Gender, and the Culture Industry”[1]: English 1xy

“Describe the work that will be done….”

This 100- level course will encourage student discussions of the cultural construction of race and gender in music, film, and literature. This particular course will focus on African-American cultural history, but the course’s pedagogical intent is flexible and may vary in its ethnic/racial emphasis from semester to semester. Students will be required to view films, listen critically to popular music, and discuss literature. Music and film criticism will be assigned reading. In music, the students will explore the blues of the 1920’s and 30’s (e.g., Bessie Smith), the “race records” recording industry (e.g., the Black Swan label), the Motown sound (esp. Diana Ross), and rap (students will be introduced to the recent profusion of scholarly discussions of rap). In film, students will view primarily Hollywood classics of the 1930’s and 40’s (e.g., Imitation of Life, Cabin in the Sky) and nostalgic “biopics” (e.g., Lady Sings the Blues); these films may be supplemented with recent representations of gender and race, as in the “’hood films” (e.g., John Singleton) and the work of Spike Lee. Literature will include the study of African-American classics (e.g., Native Son, The Street, Cane) as well as more recent meditations on race and gender (e.g., Oxherding Tale, Brothers and Keepers).

During the grant period, I will select texts to be studied. My chief concern will be modes of transmission for these very different genres. I intend to use WebCT extensively, uploading selections from films, essays, film interviews, and songs that the students can download, then discuss in a detailed manner on the bulletin board.[2] An objective of this course is to make the student familiar with the cultural construction of the “Blues Culture” through history as expressed in music, film, and literature.

“Describe how the proposed course will fit into the new GenEd system ….”

I would propose this course as a 100-level English course; however, it has an obvious Interdepartmental component, so I would also be amenable to that designation. I would propose that this course have a W option (cf., Engl 127/W). There is no other 100-level course in English or any other Department that treats race and gender in this interdisciplinary manner (that I know of); the course would therefore presumably qualify as fulfilling the GenEd diversity and multicultural requirement. As a 100-level course, the course would provide an introduction to the problems of historicizing racial and gender constructions in a variety of genres.

“How will the proposed course add to and/or enhance current course offerings….”

If designated as a 100-level W English course, the proposed course would fill an important gap because it would function as a pedagogical bridge between Engl 110/111 and upper-division English courses. The W-requirement, with its intensive writing, would make this course an especially valuable bridge for the student.

This course would be special or distinctive in many ways. In being exposed to the scholarship on popular film and music, the student would become more alert to the subtleties of racial/gender themes in popular culture, in spite of the consumerism of performance entertainment. By linking serious literature with familiar forms of popular culture and recognizing possible connections between the two, the student’s understanding of the generic possibilities—and limitations—of a text (broadly defined) is considerably increased. These interpretive skills would be readily transferable, so a student would be better prepared to take not only “mainstream” literature courses, but also literature classes in African-American, U.S. Ethnic, Gay/Lesbian, and Women Studies. The course’s flexibility would make it particularly amenable to readapting it for Ethnic Studies, Asian-American Studies, etc. In terms of general University offerings, this course could enhance the recently created American Studies major. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of this course, it could be a model for introductory Honors Program classes at the Storrs and Stamford Campuses.

I am an experienced user of WebCT, and the application of WebCT would further enhance learning in this class. My use of the bulletin board thread would utilize WebCT’s multi-media capability: I would require the student to view an assigned film in its entirety on Campus, then upload a clip from the film to generate thread-discussion. With high-speed internet, this manner of delivery is very feasible. By downloading and repeatedly viewing a scene, all the while recognizing the scene’s narrative and thematic contexts, the student can confidently respond to questions within a thread. I would also upload clips from film interviews from authors and film directors, and songs that will supplement class discussions of literature and film.

“How do you intend to evaluate project objectives once the course is offered?”

I would follow the University’s guidelines for all W courses in evaluating the writing requirements of the course (e.g., 15 typed pages, revisions, etc.).

For the WebCT component, I will ask the students to print out all their thread contributions made throughout the semester. I will ask them to collate these contributions into a coherent text—a portfolio of observations, insights, and ideas on the genres studied. The goal of this exercise is that the students would draw provisional conclusions about the class’s content as developed throughout their threads. The WebCT assignment will be graded primarily on content rather than style.

English Department Head: Professor Robert Tilton

Stamford Campus Associate Vice-Provost (Interim): Professor Richard Watnick