English 420. Pre-1800 Exploration & Travel Literature

"You can observe a lot just by watching." --Yogi Berra   Prerequisite: 6 units of English  Classroom: LA 528  Days/Times: Th-6:15-9:00 pm Syllabus link Schedule link Professor: Dr. Roxanne Kent-Drury  Office: LA543  Office Hour: Telephone: (859) 572-6636  E-mail: rkdrury@nku.edu(best) Website: http://www.nku.edu/~rkdrury/

Course Description.

In this course, you will gain perspective on the historical, cultural, and aesthetic ways in which Western European explorers and travelers imagined the "New World" people and landscapes they encountered in the late 15th through the 18th centuries. Through film and text, we will also investigate such ideas as they are represented in popular culture as well as in media debates of public policy. 

We will begin by analyzing the observations of explorers and travelers which they reported in the popular narratives they published for Western European audiences. By analyzing their attempts to describe in European terms what they had never before encountered, we will learn about what the authors thought about themselves, about other peoples and places, and about how land and natural resources should be used. 

To students in the arts and sciences, these narratives are important for several reasons. Although extremely popular when written, these narratives have emerged only recently as an important topic of study. Also, although their authors nearly always claim that they are telling the truth, many of the accounts were, in fact, fictional or exaggerated. Such texts also give us important insights into the concerns and interests of the reading population because they reached larger audiences than many of the texts we think of as traditional "literature." Also, aside from their popularity with readers, these narratives had "official" lives: they were relied upon or even distributed by political, social, and economic policymakers and speculators, who relied upon (or exaggerated) their accuracy to guide and accelerate exploration and colonization of unknown territory. As such, the representations made in these works found their way into official land use and environmental practices as well as into later popular culture representations in adventure films. And finally, understanding what such works contained adds to our understanding of many literary works seen as important by literary scholars today.

Core Primary Readings

Readings for all students will be drawn from the following course textbooks (available at Campus Book & Supply). Please use these translations as other translations may differ considerably from the texts we will be discussing in class.

The films that are required are provided. These include Raiders of the Lost Ark, Black Robe.

Secondary Readings and many films that can be used for presentations are available on loan.

Grading & Milestones

For any project to be graded, you must fulfill all of the milestones listed under it. In addition, you must complete all of the assignments listed below to pass the class.

Presentations (20%) Sign up for 1 presentations on a critical article or book chapter Contact me for the article Provide a one-page precis to each member of the class, including me. Note: The Lit & Lang Dept has clamped down on printing. Please arrange to print these out before you get to class on the day of your pesentation

Papers (20%) MLA/plagiarism workshop completed and quiz passed Annotated bibliography turned in (see below) Paper written in direct response to the paper assignment Title and one-paragraph description turned in on schedule Paper with appropriate number of sources, documented in MLA format Works cited page (no exceptions)

Annotated Bibliography (included in paper grade) Set up according to the course handout Bibliography with the appropriate number of resources, documented in MLA format Annotations describing the contents of the work as it relates to your paper

In-class Assignments (20%) Study questions are attached to the class website—print them out and think about them before coming to class In-class assignments include group work Quizzes are unannounced and cannot be made up

Midterm & Final Exam (20% each) Two quotations per work submitted to me by e-mail on the date scheduled Written in class the day scheduled

Course Components

Papers. During the term, you will write one paper on a topic you choose in consultation with me. Papers must be written on the materials we study in this course and must meet the requirements of the assignment. Papers written on topics or materials not studied in this class will not receive a passing grade unless you receive prior approval. In addition, papers that do not make a recognizable point, do not use appropriate quotations from the text, or do not cite the sources used cannot receive a grade higher than a "D." Papers are expected to be written on a topic negotiated with your instructor and typed in a 10-12 point font, double-spaced, with 1 inch margins all around. Undergraduate papers must be at least 10 pages in length. All quotations and sources must be cited in proper MLA documentation style. You are also expected to use and cite recent critical sources in your paper beyond any citations you make to the primary texts and its accompanying introductory material. Please note that although many researchers use Wikipedia and many other web resources as beginning points for research, these may not provide authoritative information. Any resource you use should be carefully scrutinized to ensure that it will support your research paper. As part of this assignment, you are expected to meet several milestones listed in the grading table, including a paper proposal, an annotated bibliography, and a final draft of your paper. I will not grade any paper for which any of these milestones is not completed. In addition, once you begin working on a particular paper topic, you may change to another topic, but any milestones will have to be completed for the new topic as well.

In-class/Out-of-Class  Assignments. At several points during the semester, I will ask you to complete short assignment inside or outside of class. Such assignments will be due in writing either at the end or that class meeting or at the beginning of the class meeting following their assignment. These assignments will usually linked to the class website; if you must miss a class, you should get the assignment from the website.

Presentations. Undergraduates are expected to give one short presentation on a scholarly article or book chapter. I will circulate a signup sheet early in the term.

Participation. You are expected to participate regularly and thoughtfully in class discussions and group activities.

Exams. This course includes a midterm and a final exam. All exams consist of identifications of terms, significant characters, and quotations from the materials assigned during on the course schedule. To do well on the exams, you will need to take careful notes on any materials we discuss in class and refer to the materials provided on the course website for your benefit. Detailed information about exact point breakdowns for term, character, and quotation identifications are as follows:

Quotations
1 point--title of the work
1 point--author of the work
3 points--context of the quotation within the work (i.e., the speaker(s), if any, and what is happening in the story where the quotation appears)
3 points--significance of the quotation and the ideas it expresses to the period

Terms
2 points--complete definition of the term
2 points--example from the texts we read (author and title)
2 points--explain how the example you gave illustrates the term (give specific details)

Characters
2 points--title of work in which the character appears
2 point--name of the work's author
2 points--explain the character's significance to the work

Please take into account the exam requirements as you read the materials, attend class, and take notes. If you wait until just before the exam, you will be unprepared.

Late work. All work is due at the beginning of class on the date posted on the course schedule. I will not accept late work except in extraordinary circumstances. If you cannot attend class on a due date, send your work along with one of your classmates, or make arrangements with me to turn it in before the due date. I will distribute a voluntary student contact sheet to help you contact one another should it be necessary.

Attendance. I am required to take attendance by the university; however, daily in-class assignments make attendance mandatory anyway.

Cheating & Plagiarism. All work submitted must be written exclusively for this course. The use of sources (ideas, quotations, argument structures, and paraphrases) must be properly documented. Any plagiarism, whether on a regular assignment or on an extra credit assignment, will result in failure of the course. Please see me if you have any questions about your use of sources. The use, without citation, of anyone else's actual or paraphrased words will result automatically in a failing grade in this course whether the plagiarism occurs on a regular or an extra credit assignment. Cheating on any exam will result in failure of the course. Please also refer the NKU Student Honor Code, which is available online at http://www.nku.edu/~deanstudents/policies.htm.

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