English 508: Historical and Realistic Fiction for Children

"Constructing Race, Ethnicity, Histories and Realities"

Course Description:

John Stephens, author of Language and Ideology in Children's Fiction tells us that historical fiction is probably the "most radically ideological" genre of children's literature (202). This is our opportunity to find out, for we'll be exploring, as the title of the class suggests, historical and realistic literature written for children. However, how we read those texts will probably be even more ideologically charged, for we will focus on the construction of race and ethnicity in historical and realistic fiction for children and adolescents. Some of the questions we will be considering:

How are race and ethnicity treated in these genres and in children's/adolescent literature? What kinds of constructions do we see occurring? Who has the "right" to write race and ethnicity? Who has the "right" to theorize race and ethnicity? How is it that whiteness is unseen, yet non-whiteness is also unseen, but they are quite different in their seeming "invisibility"? What do racial differences and sexual differences have in common in psychoanalytical terms? As Kelpana Seshadri-Crooks asks in Desiring Whiteness: A Lacanian Analysis of Race, "how and why do we read certain marks of the body as privileged sites of racial meaning? . . . Why some marks like hair, skin, and bone and not others?" (2). What does it mean when Shannon Sullivan suggests in Revealing Whiteness: The Unconscious Habits of Racial Privilege that "white privilege operates as unseen, invisible, even seemingly nonexistent . . ." (1) and how might that play out in the fiction we will be reading?

In addition, we must think about the nature of historical and realistic fiction. For instance, The Education of Little Tree, once touted as a wonderful autobiography written by a Native American, isn't actually an autobiography and it wasn't written by a Native American. Thus, it's shifted from non-fiction to "realistic" fiction. Or has it? Or, consider how history is presented. History, in postmodern terms, is a construct (well, everything is a construct in postmodern terms). How do these authors represent history? Whose history are they representing? What are the agendas? How will the historical fiction written now be theorized in the future?

We should encounter many questions and if we're lucky and smart, a few tentative answers.

An important note: Realize that "children's literature" is a very broad term. For this class, children's literature also includes adolescent and young adult literature. Also realize that "historical fiction" and "realistic fiction" can be problematic (as you will discover through discussion and reading), and if they aren't, we should problematize them.

Course Goals and IDEA Objectives:

Course Goals

• Students will:
  • Read a variety of children's, adolescent, and YA historical and realistic fiction as well as accompanying scholarship
  • Gain an understanding of the cultural and social milieu that produces these texts and genres
  • Become conversant on the construction of history and the social realities addressed in the texts, including ethnic, racial, and global considerations.
  • Produce a high-quality bibliographic essay and research-based conference-length paper of student’s own design that reflects some aspect of the course

 

IDEA Objectives:

• Gain factual knowledge (terminology, classifications, methods, trends)
• Learn fundamental principles, generalizations or theories
• Develop specific skills, competencies, and points of view needed by professionals in the field most closely related to this course

Assignments and Grading

Bibliographic Essay:

• What is a bibliographic essay? Visit http://www.haverford.edu/library/reference/rkieft/bibess.html for a good overview. Please note that a bibliographic essay on an author will not be appropriate for this type of work. And we'll talk about it in class as well.
• What does a bibliographic essay look like? Go to eCollege in document sharing. There you will find a former master's student's bibliographic essay on graphic narrative.
• What are the requirements?
  • Your essay needs to be a minimum of 4500 words (not including the works cited page). Please provide the word count at the end of your paper.
  • Your works cited page should consist of a minimum of 15 entries. Those entries should be scholarly publications (journals and books).
  • The essay should explore a specific topic dealing with children's, adolescent or YA literature. You will need submit a proposed topic 3 weeks before the essay is due.

Conference-length paper, abstract, and presentation on a topic relating to children's, adolescent, or YA literature.

This essay will be no more than 8 or 9 pages, double-spaced, not including works cited page. You should provide new insights and scholarship on this topic. For instance, it will not be enough to examine how a text is a trauma narrative unless that text wouldn't necessarily be thought of as a trauma narrative. Identify something unique, something that challenges previous ideas, that adds a new perspective regarding the topic, or that contributes to the ongoing scholarly discussion in new, interesting, and insightful ways. (Presentations on authors will not be appropriate for this type of paper). Before writing this paper, you will need to submit an abstract (one will be available for your perusal in eCollege). Quite often you will be able to use that abstract as the beginning of your essay. You will present your paper at the end of the semester in a mock conference. You can read your paper or "talk" it, but it needs to be well organized, for your audience will be listening to your presentation, which is often more challenging that reading essays.

Discussion Board Entries:

Beginning with week 2, submit a substantial observation regarding the text (novel) AND critical text (unless we're only reading one text). Post your observations in the eCollege discussion board area. Please do not post an entry solely to establish the fact that you've fulfilled the requirement of posting. They should be submitted by 10:00 p.m. Monday evening. Everyone should print out the entries, think about them, and bring them in with you. I will generally avoid commenting on individual entries for I want you to think about these texts without too much interference from me. You will not need to post on the day that you do an article presentation.

Neglecting to post will result in the following:

• Missing one posting will result in a score of no more than 20 pts.
• Missing two postings will result in a score of no more than 17 pts.
• Missing three postings or more will result in a score of 0. That means in order to make an A in the class, you will have to make a score of 100%. I wouldn't take that chance.

Article/Chapter Presentation:

Beginning with week 2, students will be "teaching" a scholarly article or scholarly book chapter that addresses some aspect of this class. It can be about children's/adolescent/YA realistic fiction, historical fiction, the text we're reading that week or have read previously; genre studies, mutli-racial/ethnic issues, including "whiteness studies," etc. Author studies will not be appropriate for this presentation. The goals of this presentation are to provide more insights and to help us think theoretically and critically about the texts we're reading. Please note that those presenting during Weeks 2 and 3 will be presenting on Desiring Whiteness. While it's not the easiest read, you don't have to look for articles.

• Make the document available to us through eCollege in "document sharing" by Monday at 10:00 p.m. Some articles are available through electronic databases, which means that you can download them to your computer and then upload them into eCollege. If it is not available through an electronic database, you will need to scan the document (go to the Foreign Language Lab) as a pdf file and upload it there. If you run into trouble, come see me.
• In preparation for this presentation, you will need to write and upload to the eCollege dropbox (before class) a 700-word abstract of the article/chapter and briefly explain why this article might be important and/or relevant for our understanding or might give us added insights to the texts we're reading or topics we discuss.

Attendance, Participation, and Late Papers: First, I know how very complicated life can be. Still, as graduate students, you have greater responsibilities than undergraduate students in terms of attendance and discussion, for you're demonstrating your professionalism through the classes you take and how you conduct yourself in those classes. . If you miss classes, I will assume one of two things: you have other priorities or you're not taking the course seriously. You DON'T want me to think that, for I won't make you a priority and it will be difficult to take your work seriously. The classes I teach are my priority; I expect the same from you.

Having said that, if you are absent on a day an assignment is due, you nevertheless need to make certain I receive that assignment when it is due unless other arrangements have been made. Otherwise, I reserve the right to not accept that paper. But understand that I REALLY don't like to accept late papers.

Academic Honesty: Instructors in the Department of Literature and Languages do not tolerate plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty. Instructors uphold and support the highest academic standards, and students are expected to do likewise. Penalties for students guilty of academic dishonesty include disciplinary probation, suspension, and expulsion. (Texas A&M University-Commerce Code of Student Conduct
5.b[1,2,3]).

You are responsible for indicating when you have used specific words, sentences, or paragraphs, which belong to other writers. These words, sentences, or paragraphs should be designated via quotation marks and in-text citations. Additionally, identify when you use ideas from other sources. If you use the exact wording of something you've read or if you paraphrase it, provide a specific citation indicating where you found your information. If in question, cite it, and indicate that you've cited it by using quotation marks and in-text citations. Think of it in these terms: knowledge is a commodity, especially in the academic community. If you had a brilliant idea, or a wonderful way with words, would you like it if someone used your idea or words without acknowledging you? In short, I will fail papers that are copied or that do not acknowledge sources. If you have questions, ask me, and I will help you. If I discover a paper has been plagiarized, I will fail the paper, which will likely result in an F for the class. See also the following link: http://www.ilstu.edu/~ddhesse/wpa/positions/WPAplagiarism.pdf

Classroom Etiquette: Students are expected to be civil, polite, and accommodating to differences of opinion. University policy provides the means for dismissing students who do not meet these requirements, and I will take politeness very seriously.

Americans with Disabilities Act Statement: Students requesting accommodations for disabilities must go through the Academic Support Committee. For more information, please contact the Director of Disability Resources & Services, Halladay Student Services Bldg., Room 303D, (903) 886-5835.

TExES/TOPT Statement: Students who plan to teach English, Spanish, or English as a Second Language in Texas public schools must pass the appropriate state certification tests. The Department of Literature and Languages grants approval to take the content-area tests, subject to the policies described at this URL: http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/bolin/texes.html