GSFS 218 - To Write a Life: A Course on Memoir

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
In this course, we will examine women and queer peoples’ uses of memoir to illuminate the ways they struggled against racial, caste, class, sexuality and gendered oppression. Throughout this course, we will read excerpts of memoirs while grounding their experiences within their historical contexts. We will also examine how the memoirists we study found ways to build full and fulfilling lives despite the oppression they fought constantly. By the end of this course, students will gain a deeper understanding of the lives of the memoirists we examine in the class and the work they contributed to creating social change in their communities. Students will finish this course writing a short memoir-like essay about their own lives, following the many examples we read in class.

This course is appropriate for new students.
This course is cross-listed with CAST-218