Fall 2024
ENGH 400: The Witches of American Literature
Samaine Lockwood
In this seminar, we will study the range of ways that the witch has functioned in American literature and culture from the end of the Civil War to the present day. Often, though not always, the witch is an unmarried woman who lives on the margins of society, a figure through whom powerful ideas about gender, sexuality, race, ability, class, labor, and religion intersect. We will focus our attention on three historical periods crucial in literary history as well as US feminism: the turn of the 20th century, the mid-20th century, and the turn of the 21st century. In the main, we will look at the witch’s representation in drama and fiction, including young adult literature. Most texts we will read will be by woman-identified White and Black authors. We will attend to the witch as a liminal figure, asking who is excluded from the category of "witch," and we will also trace the witch's appearance in queer and feminist theory. Part of our exploration will focus on the example of Tituba, a Black Indigenous enslaved woman who was one of the first to be accused of witchcraft in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-93, and how she has been represented in US and Caribbean imaginative literature over the past 150 years.
Fulfills the Minority, Folkloric, or Popular Literary and Cultural Traditions Requirement
Spring 2025
ENGH 400: Literature and Human Rights
Amal Amireh
This course focuses on the intersections between human rights and literature, particularly fiction. We will read novels that have human rights at their center, in addition to some poetry, films, and secondary critical readings that deal with major debates relating to human rights and literature. Among the issues we will consider are the historical origins of human rights, the paradoxes that mark the regime of human rights, the relationship between aesthetics and politics, the power and limitations of empathy, and the ethics of representing the suffering of others.
Fulfills the Minority, Folkloric, or Popular Literary and Cultural Traditions Requirement
ENGH 401: Honors Thesis Writing Seminar
Jacqueline Burek
This course gives students who wish to write an English honors thesis guidance in research methods, while offering the opportunity to share works in progress in a workshop format. Scholarly or creative theses are written under the supervision of the instructor and a faculty mentor with expertise in the thesis area.
Note: To enroll in ENGH 401, students need to have taken ENGH 400 and receive permission from the English Honors Coordinator. BA students with a concentration in Creative Writing may substitute ENGH 495 for ENGH 401 with permission of the instructor and Honors coordinator.
Fulfills the Apex/Capstone Requirement