Intro to Lit: Genre: Pacific Poetry

ENG 271: Pacific Poetry

Spring 2018

MWF 12:30-1:20, KUY 304

Instructor: Lee Kava, lkkava@hawaii.edu

 

“In their individual journeys into the Void, these artists, through their work, are explaining us to ourselves and creating a new Oceania.”

– Albert Wendt

 

Samoan poet, painter, and novelist Albert Wendt, in his description of what artists can do, beautifully locates the power of creative expression within the artistic work in Oceania. But how are these artists using their craft to explain us to ourselves?

In this course, we engage with elements and techniques of Pacific poetry and how this particular medium engages and shapes Oceania. During the semester, we explore and analyze themes and techniques of Pacific poets in order to develop skills for reading and analyzing Pacific poetry.

Through our exploration of multiple types of poetic texts (collections, anthologies, visual pieces, music, performances, etc.), we engage in discussions of place-based writing, connection to land and ocean, responsibility, movement, and desire (to name only a few). Some of the major conversations we will cover include: What do we mean by Oceania? How is Oceania shaped through poetry and poetics? How do we understand the current issues and possibilities of Oceania through poetry? Why is poetry important to Oceania? How does Oceania shape our understanding of poetry?

To begin answering these questions in this course, we engage broader issues that include gender, race, myth/legend, genealogy, colonialism, decolonization, and identity in the region. What we highlight in this course is that the power of poetry is ultimately the power of storytelling. Through the study and discussion of Pacific poetry and poetics, we look to develop an ability to understand our own stories in connection to this ocean across time and place.

Required Texts

Apisai Enos, High Water

Brandy Nālani McDougall, The Salt Wind, Ka Makani Paʻakai

Robert Sullivan, Star Waka

Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Iep Jāltok: Poems from a Marshallese Daughter

Course Reader*

**The course reader for this class will be available the first week of the semester at the UH Mānoa MaPS department.

Class Requirements and Expectations (assignments & attendance/participation)

Assignments:

  1. Weekly reading responses (250 words minimum)
  2. Literary Review 1 (600-800 words)
  3. Midterm Paper (1,200-1,400 words)
  4. Midterm exam (in class)
  5. Literature Review 2 (600-800 words)
  6. Final Paper (1,200-1,400 words)
  7. Final Take-Home exam

Attendance Policy

  • The first two unexcused absences (those that are not covered by a doctors note or a documented family emergency) will not count against you.
  • Each unexcused absence, starting with the third, will negatively affect your grade.
  • Being absent 6 or more times will result in an automatic F.
  • At the beginning of each class, I will send around an attendance sheet. If you arrive to class after it has been circulated, this counts as being late. Being late and/or leaving early twice counts as one absence.