ENGL 1260 Introduction to Women’s Literature
Instructor Contact:
Dr. Rebecca Schneider (she/her)
Email: rebecca.schneider@colorado.edu
About the Course:
This section of ENGL 1260: Introduction to Women’s literature, introduces short novels, a play, poetry, and essays that examine subjects’ personal and collective autonomy in opposition to contemporary beliefs about gender, race, and class. Our readings – including texts written by a British spy, the first Black womxn published in the U.S., a Jamaican sociologist, a Mojave Indigenous American, and a queer CU poet – cover issues that remain relevant from the 17th to 21st centuries, such as civil rights, government corruption, free speech, and social activism.
Objectives:
Students who actively participate in the work of the course, and who read carefully and closely, will have the ability to do the following by the end of the semester:
- Comprehend basics like what actions are happening to whom or what in course texts
- Intuit or deduce the possible implications of the events in course texts
- Synthesize personal experience and knowledge of the world with ideas in course texts
- Analyze a text’s implications to identify the stakes of the narrative
- Identify/evaluate gaps in existing knowledge about topics introduced in course texts
Required Texts:
Behn, Aphra. Oroonoko and Other Writings. ISBN 978-0199538768
Brodber, Erna. Myal. ISBN 978-1478623223
Diaz, Natalie. When My Brother Was an Aztec. ISBN 978-1556593833
McMillan Cottom, Tressie. Thick. ISBN 978-1620974360
Wheatley, Phillis. Complete Writings. ISBN 978-0140424300
Wollstonecraft, Mary. Vindication of the Rights of Woman ISBN 978-1844674466
And various PDFs and links made available on the course Canvas page
Grading (out of 500 points):
Reading quizzes, discussion prompts, and other weekly assignments make up 50% of the overall grade. A group multimedia digital exhibit (grades will be assessed on individual work) makes up 30% of the overall grade. A literary analysis essay makes up the remaining 20%.