Welcome to Global Lit! For the Fall 2024 semester, we’re meeting in Rounds Hall 304 from 2:00-3:40 PM on Tues and Thurs each week.
Professor Nic Helms (they/them) (nrhelms@plymouth.edu)
I’ll be in touch daily this semester via email and MS Teams (an Office 365 app available in my.usnh.edu). For drop-in appointments, I’ll be in my office in Ellen Reed 14 (top of the main stairs on the left) on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 10:00 AM – 1:45 PM. If you’d like to schedule a meeting for another weekday, contact me.
I try to respond to all communications within twenty-four hours, except on weekends. (I treat the weekends as days of rest for me and for you! If something breaks over a weekend, let me know, but don’t worry: it can always wait until the following Monday.)
EN 3515, Currents in Global Literature (4 Credits)
Focuses on global literature. Centers on a particular theme of the instructor’s choosing and investigates how this theme interacts with the historical events and literary trends. Not open to students who have earned credit for EN 3510. Falls. (GACO)
This iteration of the course is themed by imperialist uses of early modern ocean currents: in particular, the transatlantic slave trade and European trade with Asia (such as the East India Company).
GACO-Global Awareness Connection
Educated people are aware that human beings are interdependent members of a world community, that there are both similarities and differences in the societies and cultures of the world, and that the manners in which people live their lives need not be exactly alike.
Students take a three or four-credit Global Awareness (GACO) course (either within the major or not) designed to expose them to the important societal issues facing the world and to encourage them to develop the ability to appreciate and think about issues from different points of view. Global Awareness courses focus on the forces that have shaped peoples, cultures, nations, and regions of the world. They increase students’ understanding of each person’s position, participation, obligations, and responsibilities within the world community.
Habits of Mind
The General Education program at PSU focuses on developing the following Habits of Mind:
- Purposeful Communication
- Problem Solving
- Integrated Perspective
- Self-Regulated Learning
Click here and scroll down for detailed descriptions of these Habits of Mind.
As a course in the General Education program, Currents in Global Literature focuses on developing Integrated Perspective, a habit of mind characterized by the recognition that individual beliefs, ideas, and values are influenced by personal experience as well as multiple contextual factors—cultural, historical, political, etc. All human beings are interconnected through their participation in natural and social systems. An integrated perspective recognizes that individual decisions impact the self, the community, and the environment. Students will acknowledge the limitations of singular points of view and recognize the benefits of engaging with and learning from others in order to integrate multiple perspectives for effective communication, problem-solving, and collaboration.
While the nature of this course primarily focuses on Integrated Perspective, assignments will also ask you to develop Purposeful Communication and Self-Regulated Learning.
Student Learning Outcomes
Use cultural, historical, and aesthetic contexts to inform their understanding of all kinds of texts.
Display analytical skill in their written responses to texts.
Write fluently and understand writing as an artistic and/or intellectual process.
Understand the conventions of literary genre as creative writers and critics.
Capably use research to accomplish their reading, writing, and thinking goals.
Understand the role of emerging digital technologies in writing, literature, and communication.
Draw connections between literature and contemporary society, tracing back the roots of present-day systems of oppression.
Required Texts
Any editions are fine!
Danticat, Edwidge / The Dew Breaker / 1400034299 / Vintage 2005
Soyinka, Wole / Death and the King’s Horseman / 0393322998 / Norton 2002
Recommended Texts
These texts are required reading but optional to purchase. I’ll also be offering free online versions of all of these, but I’ve ordered a few copies in the bookstore for those of you who would like print editions. Again, any editions are fine!
Equiano, Olaudah / The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings: Revised Edition / 0142437166 / Penguin, Revised 2003
Kalidasa / The Recognition of Sakuntala: A Play In Seven Acts / 0199540608 / OUP 2008
Nguyen Du / The Song of Kieu: A New Lament / 0241360668 / Penguin 2019
Chikamatsu / Four Major Plays of Chikamatsu / 0231111010 / Columbia UP 1997
Optional Texts
If you’re feeling anxious about academic or literary writing, I suggest
Sprockets and Springes 