ENGL368C - Caribbean Stop: Poetry and Short Stories from the Region

Instructor: Merle Collins

Prerequisites: One course in English (can be ENGL 101) or Latin American Studies

Description: This is a project-based course.  Students will work in the classroom and with Cultural Academy for Excellence (CAFÉ), a community group in Prince George’s Community, on a project aimed at developing a “global tour” to give young people an understanding of the literature and culture of various parts of the world.  This course is designed as the community group’s “Caribbean Stop” on its global tour.  You will work alternatively in the classroom and at the CAFÉ location in Mt. Rainier, Md.   In the classroom, you will be introduced to selected Caribbean poems, plays and short stories.   At CAFÉ, you will assist young people with homework and, having established a relationship, design a program to teach the youth some of what you are learning of Caribbean literature. During the course, in online and face-to-face discussions, you will continually assess what you are learning and how successfully you are able to communicate with young people in grade school.  This class offers an opportunity both to be introduced to Caribbean literature in the classroom and to enhance your understanding by teaching young people in a community organization.  In the classroom, you will be introduced to more than you need for teaching the youth.  You will discuss contexts for the emergence and development of Caribbean literature, focusing on issues such as use of language and the colonial influence on development of the region's literature. Writers to be studied include Edwidge Danticat, Nicolás Guillén, Earl Lovelace and Paule Marshall

This course was developed as part of the Foxworth Creative Enterprise Initiative, which was created to support learning environments bringing students in contact with their surrounding communities as community partners and allies in practices of transformation and social justice.  It is currently under review to have Gen Ed Designations for both Humanities and Understanding Plural Societies.