Introductory Topics in Literature
Topic: Race and Gender in the Western
Class Information
Instructor: Du, Bowen
CRN: 31926
Time: TR 4:40-6:00
Location: 141 Olson
GE Areas: Writing Experience
Description
Novels, films, television shows, and other media in the Western genre continue to enjoy great popularity, even--or especially--when they attempt to subvert the Western's traditional tropes. Our readings and texts view the American West from both familiar and surprising perspectives, including those of Jane McKeene, a young Black woman who hunts zombies during the American Civil War; Rosa Medina, a Chicana social worker who travels back in time and crosses paths with the ChupaCabra; the Black Panther, who similarly travels in time to encounter Thor and Loki in a Texas town; Ming Tsu, a Chinese gunslinger with a gruesome vendetta; and Tazbah Redhouse, a Navajo astronaut on a mission to colonize Mars. We will also look beyond the United States to think about the concept of the frontier in a transnational sense, focusing in particular on the Australian context. Throughout, we will pay attention to how our texts spotlight and rethink the ways in which settler colonialism racializes and genders certain forms of labor so as to coopt them into the expansionist project of nation-building. The question we will ultimately try to answer through our class discussions and critical writing assignments is whether the Western can ever escape its settler colonial premise.
Texts
ChupaCabra Meets Billy the Kid, Rudolfo Anaya
Ruby Moonlight, Ali Cobby Eckermann
The Marrow Thieves, Cherie Dimaline
Dread Nation, Justina Ireland
The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu, Tom Lin
Black Panther: Saddles Ablaze, Christopher Priest
How Much of These Hills is Gold, C Pam Zhang