Week 8 – March 24 & 26

Monday: Randa Jarrar, A Map of Home
READ Chapters 1-10, pp 3-180
Wednesday: Randa Jarrar, A Map of Home
READ Chapters 11-20, pp 181-End

Blog Entry 6:  Reflect about the notion that A Map of Home is a Bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel). OR Describe Nidali’s struggle with her multiple identities. OR Find 10-15 Arabic words in the novel and explain their meaning and role in the book.  Blog is due by Wednesday, March 26 by midnight.

Week 7 – March 10 & 12

Tuesday: READ: Susan Muaddi Darraj: The Inheritance of Exile. Stories from South Philly

READ: Each student will prepare one part of the book and will give a short summary of that part.

Thursday:  Midterm Exam will cover all materials studied in the first 7 weeks in the semester.

 

Week 6 – March 3 & 5

Week 6: March 3 & 5

 

Monday: Diana Abu-Jaber Crescent

READ: Crescent, Part 2, Chapters 28-End, pp. 308-395 plus the interview with Andrea Shalal-Esa at the end of the novel.

Wednesday:  Guestspeaker: Andrea Shalal, Reuters-Thompson, Washington, DC
Poetry by Arab-Americans: Naomi Shihab-Nye, Nathalie Handal, Khaled Mattawa, and more

Blog Entry 5: In an interview with Andrea Shalal-Esa, Abu-Jaber said “... food is such a great human connecter, it’s so intimate. ... Let the food be a metaphor for their experiences.” What does Abu-Jaber mean by that? Write a reflection about the role of food in the novel. OR Write a reflectio0n on one the following topics: Political issues raised in the book; images of the Arab-American community in LA; gender issues; role of exile; relationship between main and frame story; Arabic words, their meaning and role in the book; role of rituals in the book. Your entry MUST be at least 300 words in length. Add a word count at the end of your entry. Blog is due on Wednesday, March 5 by midnight.

Week 5 - Feb. 22 & 24

Week 5 - Feb. 24 & 26

Monday: Diana Abu-Jaber Crescent

READ: Crescent, Part 1, Chapters 1-19, pp. 15-237, plus the biography of Diana Abu-Jaber at the end of the novel.

Wednesday: Diana Abu-Jaber Crescent

READ: Crescent, Part 2, Chapters 20-25, pp. 241-307

Week 4: Feb. 15 & 17

Week 4 - Feb. 17 & 19

 

Monday: Arab-Americans after 9/11

READ: “How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America” by Moustafa Bayoumi, “Preface” and “Rasha,” pp. 1-44 (On Blackboard under Course Documents)

Watch Film at Home: Detroit Unleaded (2014) (92 minutes) Written and Directed by Rola Nasheff

 

Wednesday:  READ:“How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America” by Moustafa Bayoumi, “Afterward,” pp. 259-270 (On Blackboard under Course Documents)

Discussion of Readings and Film

Blog Entry 4: How does it feel to be Arab-American after 9/11? Discuss some of the problems and issues Arab-Americans are facing and that Moustafa Bayoumi writes about. Your entry MUST be at least 300 words in length. Add a word count at the end of your entry.   Blog is due on Wednesday, Feb. 19 by midnight.

 

Week 3 – Feb. 8 & 10

Week 3 – Feb. 10 & 12

 

Monday: Suheir Hammad: Born Palestinian, Born Black

READ: Each student will prepare two poems from the book. Read one aloud in front of the class and tell us what this poem means to you. You may want to find out whether that poem is available on YouTube read by the author herself.

Watch Film at Home: Annemarie Jacir Salt of this Sea (2010) (104 min.) with Suheir Hammad

 

Wednesday:  Discussion of Film and Readings

READ: “I Wanted That Story to Be Told: Interview with Annemarie Jacir” by Ferial Ghazoul, Moustafa Bayoumi and Hamid Dabashi, on Blackboard under Course Documents.

Blog Entry 3: After reading and hearing a few poems by Suheir Hammad and watching the film Salt of the Sea, write a reflection on Suheir Hammad and her poetry. What does she mean with “Born Palestinian Born Black”? Why did she choose this title for a collection of her poems? Your entry MUST be at least 300 words in length. Add a word count in parenthesis at the end of your entry. Blog is due on Wednesday, Feb. 12 by midnight.