Reading & Composition

Reading & Composition

Frontiers and Borderlands
Course Number: 
R1A.005
Course Catalog Number: 
24145
Course Type or Level: 
Instructor: 
Sam Jackson
Days: 
MWF
Time: 
11am-12pm
Semester: 
Location: 
211 Dwinelle

The frontier is a tricky place to define: within, yet apart; the same, yet different. It shouldn’t surprise us that literary and cinematic depictions of these peculiar spaces often contain unexpected contradictions. Think, for example, of the Hollywood western – the genre most famous for depicting the American frontier. These movies are set on the outskirts of Western civilization, in the forests and deserts of the American West, and yet they’re all about the things that make up civilization: law and order, financial stability, and the family. The frontier is a space of exploration and collision; a place where definitions are up for grabs, and where the usual rules might not operate. This semester, we will look at works of film and literature in which North America is represented as a place where peoples and cultures collide.

This class fulfills the university’s first semester requirement for Reading and Composition. As such, this is a writing-intensive course that focuses on building an essential skill: the argumentative academic essay. Assignments will focus on close reading and literary analysis. Over the course of the semester, we will work on developing persuasive and complex written arguments through drafting, peer review, and revision.