SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS University of Virginia, Academic Sponsor

Transcription

1 1 Voyage: Fall 2014 Discipline: English Literature ENLT 2555: Travel Literature Division: Lower Faculty Name: Reade W. Dornan Credit Hours: 3; Contact Hours: 38 Pre-requisites: None. SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS University of Virginia, Academic Sponsor COURSE DESCRIPTION Fellow travelers will read extracts from journals, diaries and books by 19th and 20th century tourists, explorers and adventurers about the countries we're visiting. Throughout the semester, we will read how these writers have dealt with issues of difference and compare our reactions to their observations. Selections cover a wide range from accounts by and about 19th century intrepid lady travelers of Britain to Che Guevara's Motorcycle Diaries on his travels in Argentina. Lectures will include information about authors' biographies and their historical contexts. Discussions cover the authors' perspectives as "outsiders" in "strange lands" and their writing styles. Some time in the course will also be given to an understanding of additional topics such as navigating the seas, gender and travel, and imperialistic exploitation. Assigned writings include weekly responses to the readings, personal narratives, and self-reflections about ourselves as an outsiders looking in. The final project is a 5-7 page paper that responds to the key philosophical questions of the course raised by Appiah at the beginning of it. COURSE OBJECTIVES To ground the trip in ethical questions about travel To read a variety of approaches to travel writing To give travelers a focused theme for each of our onshore visits To offer political, geographical, and historical introductions to some of countries we visit as interpreted through the writings of earlier travelers To write a variety of responses to the readings, including a "free observation" in Dublin, in which student writers experiment with a new style of travel writing To complete an in depth ethical response to our experiences REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS 1

2 AUTHOR: Appiah, Kwame Anthony TITLE: Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers PUBLISHER: W.W. Norton ISBN #: pbk. DATE/EDITION: AUTHOR: Sobol, Dava TITLE: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. PUBLISHER: Penguin ISBN #: pbk. DATE/EDITION: 1995 AUTHOR: Calvino, Italo TITLE: Invisible Cities PUBLISHER: Harcourt ISBN #: pbk. DATE/EDITION: 1978 AUTHOR: Mernissi, Fatima TITLE: Beyond the Veil: Male/Female Dynamics in a Muslim Society PUBLISHER: Indian University Press, revised edition ISBN-13 #: DATE/EDITION: 1987 AND A COURSEPACK OF READINGS IN THE INTRANET ELECTRONIC FILE FOR DORNAN TOPICAL OUTLINE OF COURSE Travel Writing 3 focuses on clusters of readings from three continents--europe, Africa, and South America. The general theme for the course is the question of difference--how can we as outsiders gain a fair-minded perspective on the inhabitants we're meeting? What do we talk about when we talk about difference? Is any form or relativism right? When do morals and manners clash? Can culture be "owned"? What do we owe strangers by virtue of our shared humanity? A1- August 25: The Ethics of Travel Read Chapters 1-5 Write a two-page response to any of Appiah's KEY points. You may agree/disagree with his argument, or you may consider qualifying it, but explain yourself fully. 2

3 3 A2-August 27: Read to the end of Appiah Write a two-page position paper answering any one of the six questions at the top of p. xxi: What do we talk about when we talk about difference? Are we talking only about values regarding race, culture, or history? Are our views real and immutable? Is any form or relativism right? When do morals and manners clash? Can culture be "owned"? What do we owe strangers by virtue of our shared humanity? St. Petersburg: August 28-30: A3- September 1: Read Mark Twain Tramp Abroad (1880) on "Student Life in Germany," Chapters 1,4, 5, 6, 7 and Appendix D, "The German Language" Discussion: Mocking the Inhabitants Hamburg: September 2-5 A4- September 7: Read Italo Calvino Invisible Cities (1978). Skim most of it, focus on Parts 5-7 Discussion: Imagined Geographies--in what ways are our perceptions of cities "real" or do we see only what we expect to see in our travels? Antwerp: September 8-10 Le Havre: September A5-September 15: No reading assignment. Instead, view the DVD, James Joyce's Dublin: The Ulysses Tour. No writing assignment due. In-class discussion of expectations for field trip and report. Galway: September 16 In transit: September 17 Dublin: September FIELD TRIP: A LITERARY DAY IN DUBLIN A6- September 21: Read Richard Halliburton, Royal Road to Romance (1925), Chapters VI-XIl, pp Discussion: Callow Young Men Abroad in the 1920s Lisbon: September Cadiz: September A7-September 29: Read Fatima Mernissi's Beyond the Veil: Male/Female Dynamics in a Muslim Society (1987), Chapts

4 Discussion: Mernissi's books on the Muslim culture and reviews on her works 4 Casablanca: October 1-4 A8- October 5: Read Teddy Roosevelt's diary, African Game Trails (1910), Chapts. I, II, IV, pp & ` Lecture/Discussion: Teddy Roosevelt and colonialism A9- October 7: Read Mungo Park Life and Travels of Mungo Par (1793), Introductions & Chapts. 1-2, Lecture/Discussion: The Age of European explorers before colonialism Study Day: October 8 A10- October 10: Read Dorothy Middleton's Victorian Lady Travellers (1993), Chapt. VII, pp Lecture/Discussion: Those crazy Victorian women--mary Kingsley & co. Tema: October A11- October 16: Read: Mary Kingsley's Travels in Africa (1893), Chapters 12 and Lecture/Discussion: Mary Kingsley's return home Study Day: October 18 A12- October 19: Read Dava Sobel's Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time (1995), Read all of it, skimming the slow parts. Lecture/ Discussion: Inventions that made ship's travel possible Cape Town: October A13- October 26: Read Alfred Lansing, Endurance (1959), Part VI, pp Study Day: October 28: Lecture/Discussion: The astonishing Shackleton A14- October 29: Read Richard Dana's Two Years Before the Mast (1834), Chapts. 1-VI and XXXI-XXXIV Discussion: Cape Horn and its risks in the 18th & 19th centuries A15- October 31: : Read Paul Theroux, The Old Patagonian Express (1979), Chapts. 19-4

5 22, pp Discussion: The attractions of travel in Argentina 5 Study Day: November 2 A16-November 3: Read Bruce Chatwin's, In Patagonia (1977), Chapts , pp Discussion: Building character profiles in travel writing Buenos Aires: November Montevideo: November 8-10 A17-November 11: Read Ernesto "Che" Guevara's, Motorcycle Diaries (1979), Introductions & pp Discussion: Che Guevara and his place in Latin American history A18- November 13: Read "Brazil, a Study in Black, Brown, and Beige" by Leslie B. Rout, Jr. (1999), pp Lecture/Discussion: Race and Ethnic Relations in Brazil Rio de Janeiro: November A19- November 18: Read "The Amazon" in Gerard Helferich, Humboldt's Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Latin American Journey That Changed the Way We See the World (2004), Chapt. 1, pp. 1-28, "Tegel." Lecture/Discussion: Humboldt's amazing achievements A20- November 20: Read: Mary Louise Pratt, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (1992), Chapt. 6, pp Discussion: (Re)presenting Humboldt Study Day- November 21: A21- November 23: (Enter Amazon): Read Up de Graf, Headhunters of the Amazon (1923), Chapts. XIX- XXII, pp Discussion: A spectrum of views on "natives" Manaus- November Study Day- November 28: A22- November 29: (Exit Amazon): Excerpts from Alexander von Humboldt's Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America During the Years , 5

6 Chapt. 3.1 "Cuba's Slave Trade" Lecture/Discussion: Columbus' visit to Dominica and Humboldt's visit to Cuba and their views toward the inhabitants A23- December 1: Class Presentations of the Final Project Roseau- December 4-6 December 7: study day A24-December 8 (A Day Finals): More Class Presentations METHODS OF EVALUATION / GRADING RUBRIC To earn a passing grade in this class, students must accomplish ALL of the basic assignments: complete a 2-3 page paper on each of the Appiah assignments (two responses in total) participate fully in the field lab report and write about it in a 2-3 page paper finish the final 5-7 page paper on self-reflection AND present in class on it maintain regular attendance (only 2 unexcused absences) To earn a D in this class, students must also write 2-3 page responses to 11 readings To earn a C in this class, students must also write 2-3 page responses to 13 readings To earn a B in this class, students must also write 2-3 page responses to 15 readings To earn an A in this class, students must also write 2-3 page responses to 17 readings All papers are graded on a pass/fail basis. To receive a "pass," written responses (to Appiah, the field report, the final project and to the remaining readings), should engage with the texts in ways that demonstrate a thoughtful understanding of them. Papers should show effort, be well written and "original" with the author (see statement on plagiarism below). The final project should likewise be serious and synthesize multiple readings including Appiah's views and at least 3 other readings. ATTENDANCE: You are permitted TWO absences without question. Please save those days for emergencies-- heavy study schedule, external activities, long shore time- -allow excused absences ONLY for serious illness accompanied by a doctor's excuse or another equally serious event. Excess absences reduce your final grade in the course by a half grade (-.5) for each time missed beyond the allotted one. An absence for the final presentation could mean a significant decline in your grade. If you are having problems attending the class or reading the selections, please discuss new arrangements with me. 6 6

7 7 The Honor System assumes that you do your own thinking, reading, and writing in this course. Plagiarism is the use of material that is in part or whole not entirely your own work without crediting those same portions to the original source. You must credit ALL ideas, sequences of ideas, wording, facts, opinions and any other intellectual property to the person or group of people who generated them. This applies to taking material verbatim from the Internet and to short phrases that you might borrow from another source as well as to full length sentences or whole paragraphs. Failure to treat your information sources honestly is a serious breach of academic protocol and could lead to failure in the whole course. If you have any doubt about how to treat your sources honestly, please ask me to read your paper before you hand it in for credit.. LATE PAPERS are accepted only in case of very serious illness or if unmanageable circumstances, such as the ship's schedule, makes the deadline too difficult to meet. You glean little benefit from a personal response paper after the class discussion, therefore papers are due at the BEGINNING of class. Field Work Field lab attendance is mandatory for all students enrolled in this course. Please do not book individual travel plans or a Semester at Sea sponsored trip on the day of our field lab. FIELD LAB (At least 20 percent of the contact hours for each course, to be led by the instructor.) Proposed Field Lab #1: Title Literary Dublin Port Dublin, Ireland Academic Objectives: 1. To introduce James Joyce's Ulysses through a video showing an overview of the book's geography in and around Dublin 2. To write a "stream-of-consciousness" journal entry in imitation of James Joyce's style 3. To connect with the other great Irish writers--george Bernard Shaw, W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, and Jonathan Swift, among others. 4. To attend a play at and perhaps tour the historic Abbey Theatre Field Lab Description: We will prepare for the Field Lab with the DVD, "James Joyce's Dublin: The Ulysses Tour." Students will also read excerpts from Ulysses before disembarking the ship. In Dublin, students will visit several key locations associated with Joyce, tour the Writer's 7

8 Museum, and attend a play at the Abbey 8 Associated Assignments: Students will write a 2-3 page "stream-of-consciousness" journal entry in the manner of James Joyce's famous style (example: Stephen Daedalus' walk on the beach in the Proteus Chapter). These experiences--the observations that students make in Dublin, the trip to the Abbey, the readings of Joyce's travels through Dublin--will be folded into the final writing project in the course that synthesizes the readings and writings over the semester. Proposed Field Lab #2: One day in Islamic Casablanca Port: Casablanca Academic Objectives: 1. To compare Mernissi's descriptions of male/female relations in a Muslim society in Beyond the Veil to students' own observations in the streets of Casablanca and at the National Mosque 2. To write a well-crafted travel journal entry with a purposive focus 3. To visit the vast and beautiful Mosque Hassan II 4. To dispel some myths about the treatment of females in a Muslim country as progressive as Morocco Field Lab Description: Before arriving in Casablanca, students will read several chapters in Beyond the Veil by Fatima Mernissi, which is contested by some reviewers who challenge her depictions of male/female relations in Islamic culture. To demonstrate the complexity of relations in a big city, I would like students to observe behaviors among men and women around the center of Casablanca--in upscale and everyday market places, and in the National Mosque, which has baths and rooms for praying set aside for as many as 5,000 women, and on the sophisticated streets of Casablanca. Associated Assignments: Students will be asked to write a well-honed journal entry, one that reflects on the ethical questions of the course as well as describes their experiences in the city. The journal should be taken into account when writing their final reflection in the course as well. RESERVE LIBRARY LIST (in order of importance, first to last) AUTHOR: Middleton, Dorothy. TITLE: Victorian Lady Travellers PUBLISHER: Academy Chicago Publishers ISBN #:

9 DATE/EDITION: AUTHOR: Lansing, Alfred. TITLE: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage PUBLISHER:: Semester at Sea Stacks DATE/EDITION: 2003 AUTHOR: Guevara, Ernesto "Che" TITLE: Motorcycle Diaries PUBLISHER: Melbourne: Ocean Press ISBN #: DATE/EDITION: 2004 AUTHOR: Levine, Robert M. and John J. Crocitti, eds. TITLE: The Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics PUBLISHER: Duke UP ISBN #: DATE/EDITION: 1999 AUTHOR: Helferich, Gerard TITLE: Humboldt's Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Latin American Journey That Changed the Way We See the World PUBLISHER: Gotham Books ISBN: DATE/EDITION: 2004 ELECTRONIC COURSE MATERIALS - Many of these materials for the Intranet Electronic Coursepack are available at Gutenberg.org. If you cannot access some of the chapters, I can send you photocopies. I know I'll need to get permissions from Alfred Lansing, Bruce Chatwin, Paul Theroux, and Che Guevara.. AUTHOR: Twain, Mark ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapters 1, 4, 5, 6, & 7 and Appendix D "The German Language" JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Tramp Abroad VOLUME: Available copyright free at Gutenberg.org DATE: 1880 AUTHOR: Joyce, James ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE; Chapter 3 "Proteus" JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Ulysses DATE:

10 AUTHOR: Halliburton, Richard. ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "Spanish Dancing" "New Tales from the Alhambra," "The Sirens of Seville," "The Jails of Gibraltar," "The Count of Monte Carlo." JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Royal Road to Romance DATE: 1925 PAGES: Chapts. VII-XI, pp (I can send you photocopies of chapters if you need them). AUTHOR: Roosevelt, Theodore ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapters I-II and IV JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: African Game Trails VOLUME: Scribner's DATE: 1910 PAGES: 1-66 and (I can send a photocopy if you do not have this volume.) AUTHOR: Park, Mungo ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Introductions and Chapters 1-2 JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: The Life and Travels of Mungo Park VOLUME: Available copyright free at Gutenberg.org DATE: 1795 (released recently as Travels in the Interior of Africa as a Dover edition in 2010) AUTHOR: Middleton, Dorothy. ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "Mary Kingsley" " JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Victorian Lady Travellers DATE: 1993 PAGES: pp AUTHOR: Kingsley, Mary ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapters 12 and 14, 15, 16 JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Travels in West Africa VOLUME: These chapters are available at Gutenberg.org copyright free DATE:1893 AUTHOR: Lansing, Alfred ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Part VI, Chapters 1-6 JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage PAGES: pp DATE: 1959 AUTHOR: Dana, Richard 10 10

11 ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapts. 1-VI and XXXI-XXXIV JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Two Years Before the Mast, VOLUME: These chapters are available copyright free at Gutenberg.org DATE: AUTHOR: Theroux, Paul ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapters JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE:. The Old Patagonia Express DATE: 1979 PAGES:, pp AUTHOR: Chatwin, Bruce ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapters JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: In Patagonia DATE: 1977 PAGES: pp AUTHOR: Guevara, Ernesto "Che" ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Introductions and up through "and now, I feel my great roots, unearth free and..." JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: The Motorcylce Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey DATE: 2004 PAGES: AUTHOR: Rout, Leslie B., Jr. ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "Brazil, a Study in Black Brown, and Beige" JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics DATE: 1999 PAGES: pp AUTHOR: Pratt, Mary Louise ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: Chapter 6 JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation DATE: 1992 PAGES: pp AUTHOR:: Helferich, Gerard ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: "Tegel" JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Humboldt's Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Latin American Journey that Changed the Way We See the World DATE:

12 PAGES: pp AUTHOR: Up de Graf, F.W. ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE: XIX-XXIV JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Headhunters of the Amazon DATE:1923 PAGES: (I can send you photocopies of these chapters, if you need them from me) AUTHOR: von Humboldt, Alexander. ARTICLE/CHAPTER TITLE:3.1 "Cuba's Slave Trade" JOURNAL/BOOK TITLE: Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America During the Years DATE: