ENGL 3245: Introduction to Drama
Performance and Adaptation
Spring 2018 Monday, Wednesday & Friday 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM CAB 337
Office Hours: M/W 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM, 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM, and by appointment
Instructor: Adrianna M. Santos, Ph.D.
Office Location: CAB 319A
Course Description: This course will introduce you to a wide variety of drama, as it works you through the history from Ancient times to the present. You will develop an understanding of how early drama influenced what follows, and you will learn how to write about drama in several ways, from close scene analysis to play reviews. You will also develop your skills in close reading and gain an understanding of how plays work as performance. Finally, we will be paying special attention to ways that traditional works have been adapted for modern audiences.
Required Materials: The required text is available at the bookstore. You may also purchase them from Amazon or another book vendor, but be aware that we will begin using the text immediately. You must get the specified edition.
Norton Anthology of Drama, Third Shorter Edition
College-level Dictionary & Thesaurus
Student Learning Objectives: At the end of the course students will:
Ÿ discuss and analyze aspects of drama, including plot, characterization, setting, staging, etc.
Ÿ place plays in their social and historical contexts.
Ÿ analyze and compare the themes and subjects of different plays both in conversation and through writing.
Ÿ describe and analyze historical and contemporary trends in performance.
Ÿ evaluate performances.
Ÿ develop an appreciation for drama and theater as an art form.
Course Requirements:
- Professionalism 10%
- Production Oriented Essay 20%
- Scene Reading & Presentation 20%
- Reading Quizzes 20%
- Final Project & Presentation 30%
ENGL 4370: Special Topics in Literature – Border Narratives
Texas A&M University-San Antonio Spring Semester 2018
M/W 3:30-4:45 Central Academic Bldg. CAB 219
Instructor: Adrianna M. Santos, Ph.D.
Email: Adrianna.Santos@tamusa.edu
Office Hours: Mondays/Wednesdays 10:00 - 11:00 a.m.,
1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. in CAB 319A, and virtually, by appointment
Catalog Description: Selected topics in British or American literature and/or world literature and language. A topic for intensive investigation will be selected for each offering of the course. May be repeated once for credit.
Course Description: This course will focus primarily on an examination of works by writers, filmmakers, and artists that deconstruct representations of the U.S.-Mexico border, as cultural, geographical, and political divide. Contemporary critical theories of borderlands, Chicanx/Latinx and, race, gender, and sexuality studies, women of color feminisms, literary criticism, and queer theory are applied to a broad spectrum of forms including prose, poetry, journalism, memoir, film, visual art, and young adult literature. The course will also place a strong emphasis on secondary sources such as critical articles on the course topic, government documents, and relevant web resources.
Course Description:
- Professionalism (Attendance & Participation) 10%
- Journal 15%
- Personal Narrative 15%
- Literary Analysis Paper 15%
- Film Review 15%
- Final Project and Presentation 30%
- Outside Learning Opportunities (extra credit)
Grade Breakdown: Grades will be calculated using the following scale.
90-100=A 80-89=B 70-79=C 60-69=D 59 or lower=F
Learning Objectives: At the end of the course, students will…
- Exhibit a broad and substantial knowledge of border literature and writers and comprehend key literary movements, themes, tropes, topics, arguments, and questions in the study of border literature and discuss in detail why immigrants cross significant cultural, linguistic, and geographic boundaries (based on border theory and the perspectives of authors we read in the course).
- Demonstrate recognition of the literary, cultural, historical, political and theoretical contexts within which these works were produced in order to promote a complex understanding of the way history and politics inform literature and discuss how the history between the U.S. and Mexico has impacted and continues to impact migration and responses to it.
- Gain confidence in oral and written expression through the use of techniques of literary criticism and creative writing exercises as well as rhetorical tools.
Required Materials: Most of the required texts listed below are available at the bookstore. You may also purchase them from Amazon or another book vendor, but be aware that we will begin using the texts immediately. In addition to the texts below, additional required reading will be placed on the class Blackboard site.
- Castillo, Ana. The Mixquiahuala Letters
- Cantú, Norma. Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la Frontera
- Grande, Reyna. The Distance Between Us
- López, Josefina. Detained in the Desert (Available as PDF on Blackboard)
- Martinez, Valerie. Each+Her
- Pérez, Emma. Forgetting the Alamo (Available as an eBook through our library)
- Rivera, Tomás. Y no se lot tragó la tierra/And the Earth did not Devour Him
- Urrea, Luís Alberto. The Devil’s Highway