HUM 211 Course Information
for Winter 2002 Open Campus Students
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"If in my life
I have developed any ability to understand those who are other to me,
other in race or gender or culture or sexual preference,
a good deal of my training in empathy must have come from
the practice fiction and poetry have given me
in taking on other selves, other lives."
--David H. Richter, Falling into Theory, 1994

HUM 211 MIC, WIC, & Transfer Credits

A or B List Humanities Transfer Credits: Hum 211 may be taken as part of an A-list Humanities sequence or a B-list Humanities course credit for an associate’s degree. An A-list Humanities sequence requirement may be fulfilled by successfully completing any three of the following courses: Hum 210, Hum 211, Hum 212, Hum 213, Hum 230, Hum 240, Hum 256. To find out which courses are offered this year and to read brief course descriptions, see:

 COCC Class Schedule, Catalog & Calendar:
http://web.cocc.edu/admit/schcat/index.htm 

*"M" or "MIC" Credit: The "M" in "Hum 211 M/W" means you will earn Multicultural Infusion Course ("MIC") credit on your transcript for successfully completing this course, which may satisfy cultural diversity or non-Western course requirements at transfer institutions.

Learn more about MIC courses:  http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/courses/mic.htm 

*"W" or "WIC" Credit: The "W" in "Hum 211 M/W" means you will earn Writing In Context of other disciplines ("WIC") credit on your transcript for successfully completing this course, which may satisfy lower division course requirements for writing in the context of specific academic disciplines (like humanities, history, anthropology, etc.) at transfer institutions.

Learn more about WIC courses:  http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/WIC/index.htm 

  "I am, however, encouraged
    by a keen sense of WORLD LITERATURE as the one great heart
    that beats for the cares and misfortunes of our world,
    even though each corner sees and experiences them in a different way."
    --Alexander Solzehnitsyn, Nobel Lecture, 1970

HUM 211 Course Description & Competencies

In Hum 211, we will study significant subSaharan African works of traditional oral arts (or "orature"), modern literature and film, representing a diversity of peoples and cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora from key historical periods. We will approach these works as creative expressions of their historical and cultural contexts to build a better informed understanding of African cultures and language arts.  The continent of Africa is vast and diverse, with 750-to-2000 languages and ethnic groups (depending on how you classify them).  Thus, this one-quarter introductory course seeks to lay a solid foundation for understanding and appreciating Africa’s rich diversity and creative achievements. Students will also be given the chance to investigate further African topics and questions of personal interest.  Hum 211 Syllabus Course Plan

HUM 211 Competencies:  HUM 211, one course in the Non-European Cultures and Literatures sequence, has been designed to help students achieve nine core competencies, or learning goals.
Introduction to significant works of subSaharan African language arts (orature, literature, and film), representing a diversity of African peoples and cultures from key historical periods, will enable the Humanities 211 student to:

A. Build knowledge of language arts and cultures different from one’s own:

1. Identify distinctive characteristics, genres, and periods of traditional and modern African orature, literature, and film (e.g., proverb wisdom, call-and-response, praise-poetry, African griot traditions, African "response" literature, anti-colonial resistance arts)

2. Situate individual African texts in their contexts, and analyze significant ways that these texts reflect or represent those contexts (e.g. cultural values and beliefs, intellectual and creative traditions, historical and biographical backgrounds, social and political realities).

3. Evaluate the limitations and benefits of studying African works in cross-cultural translation (i.e. across one or more different languages; across oral and literate-based cultures; and/or from oral to written systems and to cinematic media).

B. Apply this knowledge to cross-cultural comparative analysis

4. Identify and analyze significant cross cultural differences and similarities--among different African texts and their cultures; between African language arts/cultures and one’s own; and/or between African works and cultures and those of other non-Western groups.

5. Examine the effects of individual and culturally-determined factors (such as race, gender, class, nation, biases of information sources, prior cross-cultural experiences) in one’s own and others’ responses to African texts and cultures.

6. Identify topics of personal interest, unanswered questions, controversial claims and alternative viewpoints arising from one’s comparative study for further research and investigation.

C. Construct and communicate persuasive cross-cultural interpretations

7. Formulate responses and interpretations using varied strategies and resources (e.g., close, active reading/viewing skills; self-reflection, critical and empathetic thinking, oral discussion and writing, multiple perspectives, comparative analysis, and interdisciplinary knowledge).

8. Create a persuasive cross-cultural interpretation of an African text that integrates ethno-relative perspectives and analytical criteria appropriate to African language arts and their cultural contexts.

9. Communicate one’s interpretations in informal and formal writing, using relevant, well-selected evidence from African texts and their cultural contexts to support one’s points.

--Cora Agatucci, Rev. July 1999

Non-European Cultures and Literatures Course Competencies
including HUM 211 Course Competencies:
http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/courses/world/competencies.htm  

Open Campus Services for Students:
http://www.cocc.edu/opencampus/students/services.htm  

Online COCC Resources for Students:
http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/resources.html   

. . . courtesy of the COCC Humanities Department
Home Page: http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/index.html 

 Hum 211 Resources: Cultures & Literatures of Africa
HUM 211 Home Page Syllabus Course Plan Assignments Online Course Pack TV Meetings African Storytelling Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions
African Links African Timelines: History, Orature, Literature, & Film
African "Literary" Map African Films African Contexts: Film Afrique, Je Te Plumerai 
Printing Announcement Student Writing Site Map

You are here: HUM 211 Course Information - Open Campus, Winter 2001
URL of this page: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/info.htm
Last Updated: 29 August 2006  

This webpage is maintained by Cora Agatucci, Professor of English, 
Humanities Department, Central Oregon Community College
I welcome comments: cagatucci@cocc.edu
© Cora Agatucci, 1997-2002
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