Taught in an NC state prison, this course explores the progression of American literature with an eye to investigating how these literatures reflect and refract the carceral in our society. As we chart this course, we learn terms and methods of analysis for fiction and poetry and develop an understanding of why a writer uses a certain literary technique—not just an ability to identify, but deeper skills in literary analysis.
Through exploring writings by prisoners, stories that deal with criminality, punishment, hope, and freedom, examine how the United States thinks about itself, using these perspectives on the fundamental right to freedom and the ways that those freedoms are denied.
Sample texts:
- Claudia Rankine, Citizen
- Angela Davis, Are Prisons Obsolete?
- Frank B. Wilderson, “We’re Trying to Destroy the World”
- Assata Shakur, “Women in Prison: How It Is with Us”
- Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish
Abigail Jinju Lee 