Hi Everyone,
Tomorrow’s class (Thursday 4/27) will take place in the English Department’s Computer Lab, VC 7-205. It will be a working session designed to get you started on your research for your final projects. We will also be choosing numbers to determine the order of presentations! Don’t forget to comment on your original blog post before tomorrow’s class. You should let me know what topic you’ve settled on and what your research question is.
See you tomorrow!!
Professor Sylvor
Your final project for this course will have three parts: an annotated bibliography, a research summary, and a creative presentation to the class. We will discuss the timeline and specifics of each part of the project when we return from Spring Break, but it is time to begin thinking about your topic! Your topic must be, in some way, related to our theme of DISPLACEMENT.
Below I have listed some very broad ideas of subjects related to the theme. These are only intended to get your creative juices going. The topics listed are quite broad and would need to be narrowed considerably to become workable research topics. Once you have an idea of a topic, you need to formulate a research question. What are you hoping to learn or figure out about your topic?
By Sunday, April 23rd, please post THREE possible research topics to our class blog (as independent posts). Indicate the topic you are interested in and the question you are asking about your topic. All three of these ideas should be things that genuinely interest you!!!
Displacement Topic Ideas
Anything related to immigration:
Trump’s immigration policy
Immigration from a particular place at a particular time
A particular aspect of the immigrant experience – immigration during childhood, for example.
Immigrant labor
Experience of being an illegal immigrant
Immigrant neighborhoods in NYC
Anything related to topic of refugees:
Experience of Jewish refugees in WWII
Life in contemporary refugee camps
America’s role in current refugee crisis
Refugees adjusting to life in Europe
Moral/ethical dilemmas raised by issue
Adoption
Experiences of moving that aren’t related to immigration – what does it mean to start somewhere new?
Migrant workers
Gender and Displacement – Is being transgender a form of displacement?
Language and Displacement – bilingualism, language and education
Nursing Homes (the elderly and displacement)
Amish practice of Rumschpringen
Space exploration
Experience of field anthropologists
School integration
Eviction
Convents, Monasteries, and other forms of escaping the secular world
Siblings and psychological displacement
Adjustment to the armed forces
Homelessness
Gentrification
Building on the posts that you did about examples in popular culture that use the Superman/Fresh Prince/Kimmy Schmidt model and the conversation we had in class about the selections you made, write an analysis of the show/movie/video you’ve selected. Your analysis should be approx. 500 words. This assignment must be uploaded to turnitin.com by 5 pm on Thursday, April 20th. No late submissions will be accepted. Your analysis will, of course, be in paragraph form, but be sure that you address the following:
–Provide a concise summary of the premise of your show. Be sure to include its genre
–What is the relationship between the “outsider” and the “host community”? How do they differ?
–What function does the “outsider” serve in the “host community”?
–What happens as a result of the displacement?
–What underlying meaning can you derive from your text? Is it offering any kind of cultural critique or commentary?
Use these questions to help guide you in creating your own analysis. Feel free to address issues I haven’t raised here.
Today in class, we watched three short clips from Superman, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. All three clips follow roughly the same basic structure. In the first two, the son is sent away from home by his parents and finds himself in a new and unfamiliar place. In the third, Kimmy emerges from her captivity into a strange and unfamiliar world. In all three narratives, the protagonist has to figure out how to manage in a place where he/she does not fit in. Your homework for Tuesday is to find a piece of popular culture that follows this basic “fish out of water” structure. It could be a tv show, movie, song, video, cartoon, etc…. All that the designation “popular culture” means is that is it designed for a mass audience. Once you’ve chosen your “text,” post a short, representative clip from it or a link to it here on the blog, together with a description of the text and an explanation of how you see it conforming to the model we saw in Superman The Fresh Prince, and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. If you have any questions about this assignment, please contact me.
Your selection must be posted to the blog (as an independent post) before class on Tuesday in order to receive credit.
1. Respond to two of your classmates’ questions about “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere.” You cannot respond to any questions that have already been answered. Most of the questions are in stand-alone posts, but five sets of questions can be found in the comments on the original assignment post, so you will have to scroll back to find them!
2. Read Jhumpa Lahiri, “Interpreter of Maladies”
As we discussed in class on Thursday, we will not be meeting during our regularly scheduled class time on Tuesday. Instead, you will be attending one or more of the events of the Weissman School’s Art-A-Thon. In addition to attending a session, you will be posting a description and review (1-2 pages) of your experience here on the class blog, including photographic evidence of your attendance at the event. I know that you all have busy schedules, but I am hoping that we will spread out and go to many different events, rather than all attending the same one. The event is flexible, so you can walk in to the workshops late and leave early, if necessary. You can access the schedule via the listing on the Baruch College homepage if, for some reason, you misplace the schedule I distributed. Your reviews should be posted by class (2:55) on Thursday.
We will be shifting our discussion of Z.Z. Packer to Thursday, but your questions about “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” are still due on Tuesday!
Feel free to get in touch with me if you have questions about any of this!
Have fun!!!
For Tuesday, please read Z.Z. Packer’s short story, “Drinking Coffee Elsewhere” (link on blog) and post three discussion questions about the story to our class blog. Your questions should be posted no later than 12pm on Tuesday. Be sure to bring a print out of the story with you to class!
Just a reminder that we are changing rooms! Our new room is 17 Lex, room 1302. We will be meeting there for the first time on Thursday, February 8th.
This will be our class blog for ENG 2150 KTRC! Please get into the habit of checking this site regularly for updates to our syllabus, links to supplementary readings, assignments, and other announcements! You are, no doubt, more technologically savvy than I am, but please let me know if you run into any difficulties navigating the site or accessing the materials! The best way to reach my is by email at [email protected]. I am looking forward to a fantastic semester!!!
Jennifer Sylvor