What to Expect
In an interview titled, “Hasan Minhaj on Being an Indian-American Muslim Comedian in the Trump Era,” Hassan Minhaj cannot say anything about his Muslim identity that is not burdened with reminding Americans that Muslims, too, are American, that they belong. "I'm part of this generation of people who look slightly different or who have slightly different names, but we're adding these amazing ideas to America. This to me is the narrative I'm fighting for. The things I'm fighting for are actually American ideas." In trying to make a case for being American, Minhaj brings up his identity as Muslim separate from his identity as American. This is ultimately, one of the hypocrisies of the hyphenated American identity. To be Muslim-American is to be both Muslim and American, but it is also to recognize that there is always a hyphen between the two. Perhaps we can see this hyphen as a bridge, bringing one identity closer to the other? But in doing so, aren't we also always keeping one outside and beyond the other? Are we not suggesting that the two will always be estranged?
Hassan Minhaj is not alone in exploring what it means to be Muslim-American. In fact, millions of Muslim-Americans do so every day in America. And many of them translate that experience into artistic expression. In this course, we will read, study, and interrogate representations of the Muslim experience of America. Questions we will consider include:
Often, you will find that it is in a single sentence that the most complicated claims are made about this experience. You will find that often artists translate vast, abstract concepts in the most minute, concrete details, and that in their day-to-day experiences, place, power, and community are always implicated.
You will notice the tension between the minute and the general in the art of writing, as well. Often, you will find that the best way to write about a general concept, such as belonging or alienation, is by analyzing the way a character describes moving his/her hands during a single conversation of a book, that meditating on a hyphen can open up worlds of inquiry for you. The world of the novel or poem or image is painted by way of single words, small, individual brushstrokes. And over the course of this class, you will learn not only how to notice those details, but also how to make sense of them in your writing, in your own written expressions of your mind.
The goals of this class are two-fold: Firstly, its aim is to help you develop and strengthen your close reading and critical thinking skills. And secondly, the course aims to help you develop the ability to craft your analyses into clear and effective writing through drafts, revisions, peer-review feedback, and weekly writing exercises.
It is important to remember that the skills you develop over the course of this semester are transferrable and applicable to any career path-- both inside and outside of the Humanities. Keep that in mind as you invest time and energy into improving your critical thinking, research, and writing skills.
You should expect to do worlds of reading and worlds of writing in this course, both inside the classroom and outside of it. In fact, it is not so much the work you do during the class that will make you a stronger writer, that will be the most rewarding. Rather, it is the work you do beyond this class and outside of its hours. In other words, consistent writing (much like sketching) is the only way to improve your skills as writers. So use the opportunity of R1a to adopt a new lifestyle for this semester, or form a new habit. Write often— everyday, anywhere, on anything.
Finally, three qualities will help you get the most out of this class:
We have so much to learn from one another. I can’t wait to get started,
Shokoofeh
Hassan Minhaj is not alone in exploring what it means to be Muslim-American. In fact, millions of Muslim-Americans do so every day in America. And many of them translate that experience into artistic expression. In this course, we will read, study, and interrogate representations of the Muslim experience of America. Questions we will consider include:
- How do Muslim Americans represent their identities?
- How do Muslims represent the disempowerment that accompanies their struggle with Islamophobia?
- How do they represent their resistance to racism, nativisim, and Islamophobia in their artistic, literary, musical, or political expressions?
- How do they inscribe racism or sexism in those same representations?
Often, you will find that it is in a single sentence that the most complicated claims are made about this experience. You will find that often artists translate vast, abstract concepts in the most minute, concrete details, and that in their day-to-day experiences, place, power, and community are always implicated.
You will notice the tension between the minute and the general in the art of writing, as well. Often, you will find that the best way to write about a general concept, such as belonging or alienation, is by analyzing the way a character describes moving his/her hands during a single conversation of a book, that meditating on a hyphen can open up worlds of inquiry for you. The world of the novel or poem or image is painted by way of single words, small, individual brushstrokes. And over the course of this class, you will learn not only how to notice those details, but also how to make sense of them in your writing, in your own written expressions of your mind.
The goals of this class are two-fold: Firstly, its aim is to help you develop and strengthen your close reading and critical thinking skills. And secondly, the course aims to help you develop the ability to craft your analyses into clear and effective writing through drafts, revisions, peer-review feedback, and weekly writing exercises.
It is important to remember that the skills you develop over the course of this semester are transferrable and applicable to any career path-- both inside and outside of the Humanities. Keep that in mind as you invest time and energy into improving your critical thinking, research, and writing skills.
You should expect to do worlds of reading and worlds of writing in this course, both inside the classroom and outside of it. In fact, it is not so much the work you do during the class that will make you a stronger writer, that will be the most rewarding. Rather, it is the work you do beyond this class and outside of its hours. In other words, consistent writing (much like sketching) is the only way to improve your skills as writers. So use the opportunity of R1a to adopt a new lifestyle for this semester, or form a new habit. Write often— everyday, anywhere, on anything.
Finally, three qualities will help you get the most out of this class:
- Curiosity: All good papers, especially research papers, are informed by questions that are interesting and fascinating to you, as the writer. Research itself is the process of asking and answering questions endlessly. Live by curiosity when reading, researching, and writing and you will find new directions to take your work.
- Resilience: What makes a good, strong writer is not the ability to write, but the willingness to rewrite and revise. We will spend the bulk of our time discussing the process of revision (not to be confused with editing. More on this later). Accept the challenge of discarding your drafts, of breaking down your pieces and building them back up from scratch at any point in the drafting process.
- Collaboration: The moment we signed up for this class and showed up to this room, we formed a micro-community. Let’s take advantage of that. You are each other’s greatest assets in the revision process. Your audience is sitting in this room. If they are confused by a paragraph, if a sentence sounds awkward to them, it will most likely also by confusing or awkward to me. Find a few readers to share work with, exchange numbers, and emails and meet up to write, revise, or reread. I never hand in work I am serious about without having multiple people read it first.
We have so much to learn from one another. I can’t wait to get started,
Shokoofeh