Studies in American Literature (378-0-20)
Topic
American Girlhood
Instructors
Ilana Vine Larkin
Meeting Info
University Hall 112: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
What does it mean to be an American Girl? The phrase itself has spawned a lucrative line of dolls and other merchandise, but long before the rise of American Girl dolls, authors used the figure of the ‘girl' to make claims about the imagined future of the nation. What kinds of ideas about race, gender, sexuality, and class underpin these fantasies about who the American girl is? How does literature about the ‘American girl' further white, colonial ideas of nation building or protest against these norms? In this class, we will study key texts about American girlhood from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to examine how the figure of the girl is deployed as a figure making and remaking claims about the nation. Beginning with Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie, we will move to contesting visions of girlhood from Black and Indigenous authors, including Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Zitkala-Ša's American Indian Stories. We will pair these texts alongside critical readings from scholars in childhood studies.
Teaching Method
Seminar discussion.
Evaluation Method
Participation, in-class presentation, papers.
Class Materials (Required)
Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868), Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie (1935), Harriet Jacobs' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861), Zitkala-Ša's American Indian Stories (1921), Julia Alvarez's How the García Girls Lost Their Accent (1991).
Texts will be available at: Bookends and Beginnings (1712 Sherman Avenue); individual readings available through Canvas.
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
SDG Reduced Inequality
SDG Peace & Justice
SDG Gender Equality