First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood (Fall 2016)

First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 1 Department of Liberal Arts ENGL 1001-041 First Year Seminar 1 ZOMBIES, FROM HAITI TO HOLLYWOOD Fall 2016 Course syllabus, policies, and schedule Instructor: Michael Paradiso-Michau, Ph.D. Office hours: Tuesdays by appointment Email: [email protected] Course meetings: Tuesdays, 1:00-4:00pm in MacLean 818 I. DESCRIPTION In this course, we will trace the history of “the Americas” as a history of zombies and zombification. The contemporary zombie, inaugurated in 1968 by film director George A. Romero, did not emerge from nowhere. Anthropologists, historians, social theorists, comic book and graphic novelists teach us that the viral, cannibal, flesh-eating, collective zombie traces its direct lineage to the Haitian religion of vodou. By introducing ourselves to pertinent examples in fiction, film, and scholarship, we will critically engage the history of zombies as a dual-history of slavery and resistance. In this First Year Seminar, we will read, watch, imagine, discuss, think, and write about zombies in global cultures, past and present. We will critically consider zombies from within and across the Liberal Arts disciplines of Afro-Caribbean studies, anthropology, biology, cultural studies, film and media studies, gender and sexuality studies, geography, history, mythology and folklore, philosophy, political science, psychology and psychoanalysis, religious studies, and sociology. II. LEARNING GOALS 1. Students will develop their critical reading skills. 2. Students will develop their critical thinking skills. 3. Students will develop their critical writing skills, including topic selection, thesis-articulation, editing and revision. 4. Students will learn about a variety of zombies from a variety of global cultures. 5. Students will learn how to select and apply various Liberal Arts strategies to discover, articulate, and argue for an idea about which they are passionate, personally invested, and well informed. III. REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING Attendance and 15% Participation Minor Essays 25% Artifact Essay 10% Major Essays 50% Total 100% A: 90-100% B: 80-89.9% C: 70-79.9% D: 60-69.9% F: <59.9% NOTE: In order to be eligible to earn Credit for this course, each and every assignment must be (1) submitted on time in the proper format and/or venue, and (2) initially or eventually earn a grade of a “C” ≥70% or higher. First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 2 IV. READINGS* 1. Roger Luckhurst, Zombies: A Cultural History. London: Reaktion Books, 2015. ISBN: 9781780235288. (http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781780235288&nat=false&stem=true&sf1=key word&st1=zombies&m=1&dc=4) 2. Kyle William Bishop, American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead in Popular Culture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010. ISBN: 9780786448067. (http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book2.php?id=978-0-7864-4806-7) 3. Sarah Juliet Lauro, The Transatlantic Zombie: Slavery, Rebellion, and Living Death. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2015. ISBN: 9780813568836. (http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu/product/TransatlanticZombie,5547.aspx) 4. Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore, The Walking Dead, vol. 1. Days Gone Bye. Berkeley, CA: Image Comics. ISBN: 9781582406725 (https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/the-walking-dead-vol-1-daysgone-bye-tp-mr-) 5. Readings (.PDF) available on Canvas, abbreviated below as (C) RECOMMENDED BOOK ♦ Christopher M. Moreman and Cory James Rushton, eds. Race, Oppression, and the Zombie: Essays on Cross-Cultural Appropriations of the Caribbean Tradition. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2011. ISBN: 9780786459117. (http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-5911-7) V. POLICIES 1. Class Attendance: SAIC policy states that students are expected to attend all classes regularly and on time. Students are allowed no more than two (2) unexcused absences. Any more unexcused absences than two (2) constitutes issuing a final grade of NCR for the course. Students who are ill or expect to have an extended absence should notify the Office of Health Services; a notification is then sent to instructors informing them of the student’s absence. Students are allowed miss class only with reasonable cause. If a student needs to miss class with reasonable cause, it is the student’s responsibility to contact the instructor to receive instruction for how to make up for the missed class. Reasonable cause to miss a class might include: illness or hospitalization, observation of a religious holiday, family illness or death. It is then the instructor’s responsibility to give this information to the student as his schedule permits. SAIC’s institutional attendance policy is as follows: If a student misses three (3) or more classes without reasonable cause, the student will fail the class, if the student does not withdraw from the class prior to the deadline for withdrawal with a grade of “W.” Any amount (>0) of unexcused absences * Required course books are available for purchase, among other venues, at DePaul Barnes & Noble Bookstore: 1 East Jackson Blvd. Chicago, IL 60604. Phone: 312-362-8792. Web: http://depaul-loop.bncollege.com. First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 3 and/or arriving late to class and/or departing early from class (without reasonable cause, documented reason, and/or prior acknowledgment) will adversely impact one’s Attendance and Participation grade. 2. Class Participation (15%): Mere physical attendance does not necessarily equal course participation. A student’s active and fruitful presence is an essential precondition for success in this course. During every class session, students are expected to come to class with an open mind, having carefully read and reread the assigned text(s), and being prepared to actively contribute to conversations concerning the daily topics. If, after being invited to participate in class conversation two (2) times, a student is verbally unresponsive or unable to positively contribute to discussion, then s/he will be asked to leave class that day, and he/she will accrue one (1) unexcused absence. 2a. Presentations: As an integral component of a student’s Attendance and Participation score, at three points during the semester, each student will verbally present his or her ideas germane to the relevant course topics and readings. The first presentation will take the form of a classroom report, a more elaborate version of that class period’s Minor Essay. The second and third presentations will take the form of in-class discussions of the student’s Major Essays in draft form. Students are to submit paper copies of their presentations on time. 3. Readings and Class Preparedness: Students will be assigned new reading material for each class session, and will be held accountable for these readings. The typical class session will include serious discussion of the assigned readings and related issues, focusing on the meaning and significance of these ideas. One of the implicit tasks for this First Year Seminar is to “own” your course texts by carefully reading, highlighting, and writing in them, and dog-earring or otherwise noting the pages and ideas that are of great importance. It is mandatory that students bring the required, relevant readings with them to class. Failure to do so will result in one (1) unexcused absence for each infraction. Reading our sorts of ideas and texts very carefully could – and should – present difficulties to you. If you find yourself confused about a term or passage, that’s good – you’re definitely not alone. The experience of perplexity demonstrates evidence of an active, engaged, and curious mind. Your questions will give us material to discuss in our class conversations. These concepts are admittedly difficult, but not impossible, to comprehend, interpret, compare, critique, and apply. Admitting that one is confused is common and totally fine; however simply admitting confusion does not in itself qualify as constructive participation or excuse you from doing and continuing the work. 4. Minor Essays (25%): At eight points during the semester, students are to compose and submit a Minor Essay of 5-6 full and cohesive and coherent paragraphs, in which they accomplish five tasks: (1) identify and reconstruct the major point, perspective, or argument found in assigned reading – what do you think the author was trying to claim, and why is this argument important?; (2) briefly identify some aspect of the reading that you previously did not think, consider, or grasp; (3) identify one particularly moving or provocative quotation from the text that exemplifies your perspective on the reading, totaling 20-25 words; (4) thoroughly interpret the quotation that both elucidates its meaning and justifies your selection of it; and (5) open up and explore one question about the text that continues to trouble or intrigue you. Each Minor Essay will be typed, printed, and submitted for a grade, and needs to be 300400 words in length, roughly 1.5-2 full pages (double-spaced). Only printed, hard copies of Minor Essays will be accepted. Minor Essays that do not accomplish these tasks will be returned for resubmission. First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 4 5. Artifact Essay (10%): At one point during the semester, students will verbally present a short essay (2-3 full pages, double spaced) on a zombie topic not covered on our course syllabus. For that particular course meeting, that student need not submit a Minor Essay. Artifact Essays are due on the date of presentation in printed copy. 6. Major Essays (50%): At two points throughout the term, students will have the opportunity to compose, edit, receive feedback on, revise, and submit formal essays. Assignment sheets will be distributed, posted, and discussed as each deadline nears. Major Essays will be work-shopped in full draft-form one week before they are due, and then they are to be carefully edited and submitted to the appropriate Canvas folder by the assigned due date and time. 7. In-class Workshops: At two points during the semester, students will have the opportunity to workshop full drafts of their Major Essays with one another and the professor. It is imperative that students attend class these days, and that they bring two printed copies of their full drafts of their Major Essay to class on these days. 8. Rewrite Policy: In First Year Seminar 1, students will have the opportunity to rewrite and resubmit any work submitted for a grade. Students who take advantage of the opportunity to rewrite their assignment may do so in the hopes of improving their original score. However, students who earn a grade lower than 70% on any writing assignment are required to submit a thoroughly rewritten assignment within one calendar week of receiving the graded assignment. Rewritten essays need to fully and adequately respond to critical feedback and suggestions for improvement. 9. Mutual Respect: This class will be intense and may deal with personal and sensitive topics, so we need to treat our selves and each other with respect. If you feel that you are unable to devote proper time, attention, and energy to this course and its required workload, then you may wish to consider enrolling in another course, or re-enroll in this course at a different time. While reasonable amounts of food and drink are acceptable to have in class provided that you clean up after yourself, please do not bring campus or local newspapers or other homework into class or have mobile phones (or electronic devices) engaged in the “ring” mode, etc. Students are forbidden from text messaging, Tweeting, SnapChat, Instagram, Angry Birds-ing, Pokemon Go, Pinteresting, using FaceBook, etc., or using one’s iPad or laptop computer for any purpose other than taking notes during class. Students who violate any of these policies or cannot help themselves from engaging in extracurricular activities during class, such as excessive off-topic conversations, text messaging, or webbrowsing in class, will be asked to leave class and accrue two (2) unexcused absences (first offense), and then reported to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies and officially instructed to officially withdraw from the course (second offense). See the Honor Code Pledge below (p. 10) for more details. 10. Late work, missed assignments: If a student has not informed the instructor – at least one class session ahead of time – of a planned and justified absence which requires that work be submitted late, the following Lateness Policy will accrue to late work: one class period late = 25% deduction // two class periods late = 50% deduction // more than two class periods late = 100% deduction. Late assignments (without prior consultation) cannot earn full credit, even if rewritten and resubmitted. If a student has informed the instructor of a planned and legitimate absence when an assignment is due, First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 5 he/she may complete and submit the work at an agreed-upon date and location. 11. Academic Misconduct: From the 2015-2016 SAIC Student Handbook: “Academic misconduct includes both plagiarism and cheating, and may consist of: the submission of the work of another as one’s own; unauthorized assistance on a test or assignment; submission of the same work for more than one class without the knowledge and consent of all instructors; or the failure to properly cite texts or ideas from other sources” (pp. 9-10). In a writing-intensive course such as First Year Seminar, academic misconduct most often results from misattributing sources, or copying-and-pasting sections or paragraphs from the Internet into one’s assignment without offering proper documentation. Specific procedures for faculty to follow in the case of academic misconduct are detailed on pp. 72-79 in the Student Handbook. Even if a student successfully “beats the system” and successfully cheats on an assignment, he/she will have merely succeeded in cheating him or herself from a valuable learning opportunity, and will likely regret this series of poor decisions later. If you are unsure as to whether the writing or assignment is potentially in breach of the academic honor code, it is suggested that the student contact the Writing Center and/or instructor before the assignment’s due date. Additional resources include: Flaxman Library’s quick guide titled “AVOID PLAGIARISM”; and “How to properly cite”: http://libraryguides.saic.edu/citation. See also: http://www.saic.edu/media/saic/pdfs/about/student-rightsand-responsibilities.pdf (pages 85-86). 12. Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: SAIC is committed to full compliance with all laws regarding equal opportunities for students with disabilities. Students with known or suspected disabilities, such as a Reading/Writing Disorder, ADD/ADHD, and/or a mental-emotional health condition who think they would benefit from assistance or accommodations should first contact the Disability and Learning Resource Center (DLRC) to schedule an appointment. DLRC staff will review your disability documentation and work with you to determine reasonable accommodations. They will then provide you with a letter outlining the approved accommodations for you to deliver to your instructors. This letter must be presented before any accommodations will be implemented. You should contact the DLRC as early in the semester as possible. The DLRC is located within the Wellness Center on the 13th floor of 116 S Michigan Ave. and can be reached via phone at 312.499.4278 or email at [email protected]. Accommodations are not effective retroactively. See http://www.saic.edu/lifeatsaic/wellnesscenter/disabilityandlearningresourcecenter/resourcesforfaculty/ for more information. 13. The Writing Center: SAIC offers free, hour-long writing tutorials at the Writing Center. Tutors are available to assist all currently enrolled students with any stage of the writing process. To schedule an appointment with a Writing Center tutor, use the online sign-up system. To schedule an appointment with a Writing Center tutor, students first need to create an account through the online sign-up system linked here: https://www.supersaas.com/schedule/saic/WritingCenter. Once students have set up their own account, they may sign up for appointments. Weekly standing appointments are available upon request. When students come to their tutoring appointments, they should make sure to bring their assignments with them and have any work printed out. Writing Center location: MacLean Center Basement, 112 S. Michigan Ave., B1–03 / Coordinator: Leila Wilson ([email protected]) or 312-3453588 / Writing Center Suite: 312-345-9131 – Call to see if there are any last-minute openings. First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 6 Note: Your continued enrollment in this course declares your active consent and agreement to abide by these policies. VI. SCHEDULE Date Topic Introductions: students, professor, course 06 Sept. Film: Night of the Living Dead What is a monster? 13 Sept. Introduction to Zombie Studies 20 Sept. What is a zombie? Film: Doc of the Dead 27 Sept. Haiti, vodou, and zombies Film: Divine Horsemen 04 Oct. Haiti, vodou, and zombies Film: White Zombie • Discussion of Major Essay #1 assignment 11 Oct. Critical engagements with White Zombie 18 Oct. Anthropology and biology of zombies WORKSHOP #1 25 Oct. Zombies and cannibalism 01 Nov. Our zombies, ourselves 08 Nov. Film: Dawn of the Dead 15 Nov. 22 Nov. Zombies and cultural critique • Discussion of Major Essay #2 assignment Film: Land of the Dead To Read Course syllabus (C) Wilentz To Write Due Date Introductory Essay 11 Sept. (C) Minor Essay #1 13 Sept. (P) Minor Essay #2 20 Sept. (P) Minor Essay #3 27 Sept. (P) Minor Essay #4 04 Oct. (P) Minor Essay #5 11 Oct. (P) MAJOR ESSAY #1 full draft 18 Oct. (P) Two copies MAJOR ESSAY #1 is due 28 Oct. (C) Minor Essay #6 01 Nov. (P) Minor Essay #7 08 Nov. (P) (C) Lauro and Embry / Comaroff and Comaroff Minor Essay #8 15 Nov. (P) Bishop 158-196 Minor Essay #9 22 Nov. (P) Bishop 9-36 Lauro 1-25 (C) JJCohen Luckhurst 7-15 (C) Mariani / SSCohen / Boon () Rushton and Moreman (C) Browning / Girard / Trouillot / Olmos / Mintz and Trouillot / Hurbon Bishop 37-93 Luckhurst 17-41 Lauro 27-63; 108-145 Lauro 64-107 Luckhurst 44-96 (C) Rhodes / Fay Luckhurst 97-108 (C) Seabrook / Hurston / Davis () Inglis Bishop 94-128 (C) Kee / Sheller Luckhurst 109-166 (C) Pulliam / Zimbardo () Beisecker Bishop 129-157 (C) Romero / Degoul () Graham First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 7 (C) McNally 29 Nov. The Walking Dead WORKSHOP #2 Kirkman and Moore 06 Dec. The Walking Dead (C) Bishop Luckhurst 167-196 13 Dec. Wrap-up and course evaluations Bishop 197-208 Lauro 187-201 MAJOR ESSAY #2 full draft MAJOR ESSAY #2 is due Any remaining writings 29 Nov. (P) Two copies 09 Dec. (C) 13 Dec. (P) NOTE: (P) Papers are to be printed and physically brought to class at the beginning of class. (C) Essays are to be successfully posted to the proper folder on Canvas by 11:59pm of that date. VII. GRADING RUBRIC 1. Completion and proficiency: Is the assignment fully completed and submitted on time in the proper MLA format, file extension (Microsoft Word .DOCX), and/or venue? Does it follow the assignment directions closely? 2. Topic: Is the student’s chosen topic clearly indicated in the first paragraph? Is the topic itself unique, interesting, and provocative? Does the main topic receive consistent focus throughout, or does it seem to unexpectedly and inexplicably shift or wander throughout the assignment? 3. THESIS: Does this assignment feature and advance a clearly articulated claim, or original point of view that is supportable by argumentation, appropriate research, and/or other evidence? Does the thesis statement appear within the first paragraph? Is the claim significant, specific, and risk-taking? What sort of evidence is presented for the thesis to be persuasive? 4. Organization and development of ideas: How are the ideas organized and developed throughout the assignment? Immediately after the thesis-statement is announced, does there appear a list of subtopics to be explored? Is there a clear and easy sense of ‘flow’ throughout the paper, or does it appear haphazard and disconnected? 5. Audience awareness and consistency of tone: Is the author consistently writing to and for one and the same audience throughout the assignment, and maintaining consistency in the tone (style or manner) of writing? 6. Execution (grammar, editing) and mechanics: Is this assignment proficient in English language and grammar? Does it exhibit mastery of our language, turns of phrase, and various idioms? Is the assignment mechanically sound, or does it fall apart in sections? 7. Body paragraphs and sentence structure: Does each paragraph successfully perform its duty of substantiating and elaborating the assignment’s topic and major claim or sub-point? On the microlevel, are the sentences coherent and do they seamlessly flow from one to another? Is the student’s writing obtuse, uneven, or distracting? Does the assignment need more careful editing for ease of reading? 8. Transitions: Is the writing relatively fluid in moving from paragraph to paragraph and/or from subpoint to sub-point? Do the transitions construct a continuous piece of writing, or do they appear clunky and detract from a singular focus and theme? First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 8 9. Citation and formatting: Does the assignment follow MLA in-text citation and formatting properly? If external sources are required and incorporated, do they accomplish their designated task of sustaining the argument, or are they simply added to extend the paper’s length, presumably in order to meet the page requirement? 10. Conclusion: Does the essay’s conclusion indicate the larger significance of the ideas advanced in the assignment, or toward further research and thought? Or does the conclusion merely repeat the first paragraph, word-for-word? Or is the penultimate paragraph the last one, and the assignment is left without a clear concluding paragraph at all? First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 9 STUDENT INFORMATION SHEET How do you prefer to be addressed? Email address: Where are you from? Where do you live now? (campus housing, off-campus) What are you doing at School of the Art Institute of Chicago? Major field(s): Minor field(s): Extracurricular(s): Do you have on- or off-campus job responsibilities? What does your Fall 2016 schedule look like? Please list an interesting fact about yourself. What are you enrolled in this section of FYS? What is your favorite monster, and why?: @saic.edu First Year Seminar 1: Zombies, from Haiti to Hollywood / 10 HONOR CODE PLEDGE Academic and intellectual integrity are paramount virtues of higher education. They ensure our ability to research, think, write, and speak freely in a world of widely diverse viewpoints, and they protect the products of our scholarly work from misappropriation. In our contemporary “digital age,” the widespread availability of information continues to wield a tremendous democratizing force, opening up the world of scholarly and creative productions to many who previously did not possess the means or privilege to access them. However, the digitization of information has also made it much easier to reproduce the words and/or ideas of others without proper attribution. Students in this class should think of themselves as members of a community of scholars committed to upholding and protecting the virtues of academic and intellectual integrity, while simultaneously contributing to its development. The values of that community are only as strong as its community members’ promises to one another to honor them. Consequently, students should sign the following “pledge” as their promise to their instructor, their classmates, and the larger academic community that they will conduct themselves in an honorable manner. As a member of this class, I pledge that I will not lie, cheat, fail to attribute my sources, or indulge intellectual or academic laziness. I will afford to our reading assignments and my fellow classmates a generous interpretation of their arguments and positions. When there are disagreements and I become convinced that my own view is in error, I will concede as much. When I am able to demonstrate that my classmates’ positions are erroneous or wanting, I will endeavor to always allow them a graceful exit from their argument. I also pledge to do my part to create and maintain an environment in which diversity of both persons and ideas are valued and protected. I understand that disagreement does not by itself constitute disrespect, but I also pledge that I will not engage in, nor will I enable or excuse, discrimination or harassment based on (real or perceived) race, sex, gender, age, skin color, sexual orientation, ability or disability, national or ethnic origin, religious belief, or socioeconomic class. I pledge to actively encourage personal, intellectual and academic integrity in myself and my classmates and, as I am able, I pledge to intervene when it becomes evident to me that the principles of this class are being violated. ______________________________ Print Name ______________________________ Signature Date