English: Jazz& The Cultural Imagination (A)

About ENGL 2223 A

Interdisciplinary topics in African American literature and culture. Representative topics include: The Harlem Renaissance and Negritude; Publishing Blackness. May repeat for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisite: Three hours in English numbered 1010 to 1990; minimum Sophomore standing. Cross-listed with: CRES 2670.

Notes

Prerequisite: Three hours in English numbered 1010 to 1990; minimum Sophomore standing. Crosslisted with CRES 2670 A. Total combined enrollment = 20

Section Description

Jazz is music. Jazz is also rhetoric, poetry, theater, film, painting, photography, dance, religion, philosophy, politics, and food. Jazz is social intimacy. Jazz is narrative — stories of freedom, democracy, dissent, individuality, improvisation, modernity, urbanity, hipness, soulfulness, struggle, authenticity, innovation, tradition. Jazz is an aesthetic practice that informs the work of advertisers, actors, athletes, architects, chefs, and video game engineers.

This course will examine jazz as a cornerstone of the modern cultural imagination, a site of intense fascination, desire, anxiety, and scrutiny by writers, artists, scholars, and others looking to the music and its cultural milieu for models of creativity, self-fashioning, and social transformation. While observing certain recurrent patterns and motifs in the representation of jazz and its cultural surround (especially as regards race and gender), we’ll remain attuned to the distinctiveness of each text (scholarly writings, poetry, recordings, films and other media) and consider what the texts reveal about modern life and culture that might otherwise remain hidden or invisible.

Section Expectation

My teaching style favors a combination of discussion, Socratic-style debate, and very careful analysis of assigned texts (which means that you must ALWAYS have the required reading material with you in class). I ask that you come to class with your mouth, ears, heart, and mind open; that you listen to and respect each other; and that you challenge yourself, your classmates, and me to do our very best.

Evaluation

Class attendance and participation: 20%
Reading quizzes: 15%
In-class exams: 30%
Jazz poetry presentation: 10%
Jazz poetry essay: 10%
Take-home final exam: 15%

Important Dates

Courses may be cancelled due to low enrollment. Show your interest by enrolling.

Resources

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• PACE Course Pricing
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