ENGL 379 - Welfare Queens and Tiger Moms: Narratives of the Maternal

FC ARHU CD WADV

4 credits
This course reads the cultural politics of the maternal in contemporary American literature. It explores, in particular, the role that the maternal occupies within narratives of migration, nationalism, and globalization. It analyzes how categories like race, gender, sexuality, and class infuse meaning into the maternal to whom we ascribe maternal roles; how labor (reproductive and productive) manages and is managed by the maternal; and the significance of the nuclear family unit and its alternatives. Rather than asking us to make claims about maternal figures in our own lives, the course demands distance, an alienating gesture that enables a critical knowledge.
Prerequisites & Notes: ENGL 299 or two 200-Level courses. Requirements can be waived with instructor consent.