Course Syllabus

ENGL 2410 Literature of the American West

Course Description

This course is a regional study of literature of the American West. Areas of emphasis include Native Americans, mountain men, settlers, the cowboy myth hero, and the American frontier. Manifest Destiny and the multicultural nature of westward expansion are emphasized in the course.

Justification

The mythos of the Western frontier shapes how Americans view the environment, history, and character of this region. Literary texts are placed in a historical context and viewed as a way of coming to a better understanding of self through universal themes expressed in a regional context. This course offers a general education opportunity to students who are not attracted to the traditional canon of literature written in English. Current trends in literary studies inform such approaches. The methods by which the Humanities study culture are analytical and interpretive, objective and subjective, historical and aesthetic.

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. Students will be able to identify and understand a selection of significant and representative texts addressing western American exploration and settlement including Manifest Destiny, Native American oral and written traditions, the cowboy myth hero, and the multicultural nature of westward expansion.
2. A student who completes the GE curriculum can read and research effectively within disciplines. Students will be able to closely read a variety of primary literary texts and use this reading as the basis for analysis along with consideration of secondary interpretations from outside sources.
3. A student who completes the GE curriculum can draw from multiple disciplines to address complex problems. Students will be able to apply insights from geography, history, sociology, gender studies, and other fields to read and analyze literature.
4. A student who completes the GE curriculum can reason analytically, critically, and creatively. Students will be able to analyze written texts to form conclusions about artistic excellence, the formation of literature, and cultural norms.
5. A student who completes the GE curriculum can communicate effectively through writing and speaking. Students will be able to respond to and create written and oral arguments.

General Education Knowledge Area Outcomes

1. Students will examine how literature of the American West expresses the human condition, particularly in relation to themes such as identity, conflict, survival, and belonging across time and culture. Students will examine how literature of the American West expresses the human condition, particularly in relation to themes such as identity, conflict, survival, and belonging across time and culture.
2. EXPLAIN: Explain how humanities artifacts take on meaning within networks or systems (such as languages, cultures, values, and worldviews) that account for the complexities and uncertainties of the human condition. Students explore how literary texts gain meaning through cultural, historical, linguistic, and ideological frameworks, considering how different worldviews shape the interpretation of Western American narratives.
3. ANALYZE: Analyze humanities artifacts according to humanities methodologies, such as a close analysis, questioning, reasoning, interpretation, and critical thinking. Students use close reading and other interpretive methods to analyze literary works representing the American West, developing arguments that engage with questions of authorship, form, and context.
4. COMPARE AND CONTRAST: Compare and contrast diverse humanistic perspectives across cultures, communities, and/or time periods to explain how people make meaning of their lives. Through reading and discussion, students compare perspectives from various communities—including Native Americans, settlers, women, Asian immigrants, and Latin American voices—to understand how meaning is shaped across cultures and time periods.
5. APPLY: Using humanities perspectives, reflect on big questions related to aesthetics, values, meaning, and ethics and how those apply to their own lives.  Students reflect on big questions related to values, ethics, and aesthetics as they emerge in literature of the American West, considering how these issues relate to their own experiences and worldviews through writing and discussion.

Course Content

This course focuses on early and contemporary literature of the American West and its role in shaping American identity and culture. The course explores the stories of inhabitants, the observations of historians, and the imaginations of writers and poets who attempt to capture the lived realities of its peoples.