Reading & Composition

With the rise in protests and demonstrations across the Américas against Neoliberalism, Police violence, privatization of public resources, and the like, such as in the case of the BLM protests, Indigenous protests in Guatemala, and NODAPL in the Dakotas, we must ask ourselves: how do we remember violence? What is the State’s role in creating/allowing these various forms of violence to manifest and realize themselves? How do these forms of violence and trauma affect the way we perceive space and place? Our communities? The world around us? In this course, we will look at a variety of cultural productions, including the novel, the autobiography, poetry, the short story, and film, in an attempt to understand how State violence, trauma, and memory are textualized through artistic practice. Our analysis of State violence, space, and place will center works from Central America, California, New York, and the Caribbean. While we wander across the various texts, we will also practice our reading and writing skills, covering college-writing basics with the aim of supporting every student in their search to make space for their voice and ideas within academia.