This seminar will provide a deep understanding of the complexity of race, ethnicity, and culture within the stories of historic and contemporary Detroit. Emphasis will be on skills for critical analysis, creativity, and communication, place-based literacies and learning, and learning from and advocating for the city and its people.In this course, we will explore:
- The long history of Detroit, as well as its contemporary relevance (Miles, Sugrue, Foley)
- Detroit’s outsized contribution to 20th and 21st century poetry (Blair, Levine, moore, Hughes, Murray, Langford, Rogers)
- A multiple award-winning dramatic cycle (Morriseau)
- Books for young readers (Shapiro and Brantley-Newton, Yoo, LaDelle)
- Literary novels (Flournoy, Eugenides, Foley)
- Graphic novels (Ahmed, other)
- Literary communities in Detroit (Source Booksellers, others)
Students will engage in a number of high-interest activities throughout the course of the semester, including several field trips and visits with guest speakers, building toward a final project rooted in one of the areas above.This course meets with EDUC 513.
