ENGL 291 F22 Smyth

ENGL 291 Global Literatures

Territorial Acknowledgement

I acknowledge that the University of Waterloo is on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. This university is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised and given to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. All of us, learners and instructor, are participating in this online course from different traditional territories. I am a settler living and teaching from Toronto, the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, and which is now home to many diverse First Nations,

Inuit and Métis peoples. Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. I encourage you to learn the history of the land and traditional peoples where you live and reflect on the mutual responsibilities that we inherit as Treaty people.

Contact Information

Dr. Heather Smyth - Instructor Associate Professor, English

hsmyth@uwaterloo.ca

Office Hours: 9-10 am Wednesdays, in MS Teams

Announcements

Welcome to the course! I will use the Announcements widget on the Course Home page during the term to communicate new or changing information regarding due dates, instructor absence, etc., as needed. You are expected to read the announcements on a regular basis.

To ensure you are viewing the complete list of announcements, you may need to click Show All Announcements.

Discussions

We will meet once a week on Tuesdays (10-11:20 am) using Microsoft Teams. At that time we will discuss the week's lecture videos and reading material and related topics arising. Those meetings will be videotaped and uploaded to LEARN to ensure access for anyone who could not be at the meeting.

I created a General Discussion forum for class-wide discussions and an Ask the Instructor discussion forum. Use the Ask the Instructor Forum when you have a question that may benefit the whole class. Also, check this forum to see if your question has already been answered before reaching out to me.

Say hello to the class by posting in the Introduce Yourself discussion forum. Discussions can be accessed from the Course Home page by clicking Connect and then Discussions on the course navigation bar.

The Discussions space will also be used for Writing Response Prompts and for Peer Workshopping of your essays.

Contact Us

Who and Why	Contact Details
Instructor Course-related questions (e.g., course content, deadlines, assignments, etc.) Questions of a personal nature	Post your course-related questions to the Ask the Instructor discussion topic*. This allows other students to benefit from your question as well. Questions of a personal nature can be directed to your instructor. Instructor: Dr. Heather Smyth hsmyth@uwaterloo.ca I check email and the Ask the Instructor discussion topic* frequently and will make every effort to reply to your questions within 24 hours, Monday to Friday. When emailing me, please indicate the course code in the subject line.
Technical Support Technical problems with Waterloo LEARN	learnhelp@uwaterloo.ca Include your full name, WatIAM user ID, student number, and course name and number. Technical support is available during regular business hours, Monday to Friday, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM (Eastern Time). LEARN Help Student Documentation
Student Resources	Student Resources Academic advice Student success WatCards Library services and more

Discussion topics can be accessed by clicking Connect and then Discussions on the course navigation bar above.

Course Description

How have cultural exchange, border crossings, and globalization shaped English language and literature? In this course students will discuss literary and cultural productions from around the world and explore themes such as colonialism, migration, transnationalism, and globalization. We will address the many ways--chosen and involuntary--that people and cultures become global, and the motivations and consequences of mobility: forced movement through the Atlantic slave trade, war and refugeeism, economic and academic migration, tourism, the creation of diasporas, and the ways we make places our home. We will also have a special focus this term on

water, as a connection between the global and the local.

Undergraduate Studies Calendar

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

Identify some of the major themes in global literatures;

Understand and apply literary concepts such as genre, narrative, and poetics; Reflect on and engage closely with works of literature;

Collaborate with peers in discussion and through essay workshop; Outline, draft, revise, and polish a university-level academic essay.

Grade Breakdown

The following table represents the grade breakdown of this course.

Activities and Assignments	Weight (%)
Introduce Yourself	Ungraded
Writing Responses (4)	35%
Community participation	15%
Peer Workshop	10%
Professor meeting	5%
Essay	35%

Writing Responses

Throughout the term, there will be writing prompts posted in the Discussion forum in Learn, a total of 4. You will read the prompt then start your own thread in response to the questions in that prompt. You will write 500-

750 words reflecting on and answering the question. Then, read your classmates' writing and offer 150-200 word responses to three of them, using the reply function. Reflections and responses are due by the posted dates.

Peer Workshop

You will be assigned to peer workshop groups for the purpose of sharing a draft of your essay and giving/receiving constructive feedback.

Essay

On a topic relevant to the course material and texts. Some suggestions will be offered partway through the term but you are invited to pick your own topic and check it with me. 8-10 pages (12 pt Times New Roman or

equivalent), MLA format for citations. Rough draft due for peer workshop November 28-Dec 2. Final draft submitted to dropbox Dec 9.

Professor meeting

Partway through the term I will meet each of you for 15 minutes to talk about your essay ideas and offer support. I will create a schedule for signing up.

Community participation grade

It is critical that everyone participate and have a voice in our discussions -- to bring your own insights and

experiences to the classroom; to amplify, disagree, nudge, cheer, and collaboratively learn with each other and the instructor; and to form your own classroom community for learning. I recognize that this can be difficult in an online course, and that each student has their own talents and capacities for contributing to the course. I

recognize a range of ways that you can gain your community participation grade in this course, including but not limited to:

Attending the weekly synchronous class discussion;

• Talking and commenting in the synchronous class, or commenting in the chat window; Listening to your peers in synchronous class, engaging with them, including them;
• Participating in your breakout group: being the notetaker if you prefer not to talk, or presenting if you do; helping draw ideas from your groupmates; encouraging quieter students; facilitating discussion or disagreement;
• Writing a question or observation in the "General Discussion" forum, including something you'd like discussed in synchronous class, or emailing me privately if you prefer;
• Attending my office hours to talk with me or ask questions; Extending care to another student in need

At the end of the course you will write a self-assessment of your community participation: a one-page reflection on the ways you have participated in the course, including efforts you made that are not reflected in the list above or that I may not have been aware of, and how your participation fits your strengths and your personal goals for the course. You will assign a participation grade to yourself. Full marks or no marks would require a significant explanation and are not expected. I will review your self-assessment and assign a participation grade from my standpoint, reserving the right to raise or lower your self-assigned grade - but will communicate that with you. If needed the conversation about your participation grade can continue to be negotiated.

Your Instructor

I've been teaching in the Department of English Language and Literature since 2003. I began my research and teaching in social justice studies in the humanities and literature: postcolonial and transnational studies with an emphasis on gender and sexuality, and guided by critical race studies approaches. Caribbean literature and

Canadian multiracial literature are areas of focus. I've gradually been moving towards social science approaches to research, including community-based research. I am pursuing qualitative data-gathering projects in

collaboration with social services and nonprofit agencies and people with lived experiences of homelessness,

substance use, sex work, transphobia, and racial oppression. These projects’ findings are used for education and advocacy by community partners and for academic publication (e.g. my work in progress on discourses of harm reduction, & advocacy and narrative change). These two fields cross over in my work exploring literatures and rhetorics of advocacy and activism.

Textbook(s)

Required

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Thing Around Your Neck

Mosin Hamid, Exit West

Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being

Rita Wong and Cindy Mochizuki, Perpetual

*Any edition or format of these books is fine*

Booklook info

For textbook ordering information, please contact the W Store | Course Materials + Supplies.

Course Reserves

Course Reserves can be accessed using the Library Resources widget on the Course Home page.

Resources

Library COVID-19: Updates on library services and operations.

Course Policies

For this term, I am not going to set late penalties for work that is submitted past the due date. During this pandemic, all of us are dealing with many pressures and difficulties, and I trust you are going to figure out how best to manage your workload during the term. It's better for both of us if you try to submit your work on time so you can pace yourself during the course (and so can I), but I am not going to ask you to explain if you do miss a deadline. If you are having troubles keeping up please contact me so I can help.

University Policies

Academic integrity: In order to maintain a culture of academic integrity, members of the University of Waterloo community are expected to promote honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. [Check the Office of

Academic Integrity for more information.]

Grievance: A student who believes that a decision affecting some aspect of his/her university life has been unfair or unreasonable may have grounds for initiating a grievance. Read Policy 70, Student Petitions and

Grievances, Section 4. When in doubt, please be certain to contact the department’s administrative assistant who will provide further assistance.

Discipline: A student is expected to know what constitutes academic integrity to avoid committing an academic offence, and to take responsibility for his/her actions. [Check the Office of Academic Integrity for more information.] A student who is unsure whether an action constitutes an offence, or who needs help in learning how to avoid offences (e.g., plagiarism, cheating) or about “rules” for group work/collaboration should seek guidance from the course instructor, academic advisor, or the undergraduate associate dean. For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students should refer to Policy 71, Student Discipline. For typical penalties, check Guidelines for the Assessment of Penalties.

Appeals: A decision made or penalty imposed under Policy 70, Student Petitions and Grievances (other than a petition) or Policy 71, Student Discipline may be appealed if there is a ground. A student who believes he/she has a ground for an appeal should refer to Policy 72, Student Appeals.

Note for students with disabilities: AccessAbility Services, located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with disabilities without

compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with AccessAbility Services at the beginning of each academic term.

Turnitin.com: Text matching software (Turnitin®) may be used to screen assignments in this course. Turnitin® is used to verify that all materials and sources in assignments are documented. Students' submissions are stored on a U.S. server, therefore students must be given an alternative (e.g., scaffolded assignment or annotated