Focus designations: Contemporary Ethical Issues and Writing Intensive
This class introduces you to some of the most common genres of autobiography (for example, autobiographies, print and graphic memoirs, diaries, blogs, vlogs, zines, and various forms of self-portraiture, including selfies) and gives you the opportunity to build your writing skills by composing your own autobiographical texts, sharing them with others, and revising them based on the feedback you receive.
Our writing assignments will give you the chance to think and write about a range of topics, including identity, family, love, illness, loss, food, and money. The class also familiarizes you with some of the key concepts and terms in the field of auto/biography studies, which will give you useful vocabulary for responding to your classmates’ work and reflecting on your own.
Some class sessions will take the form of workshops in which you and your peers respond to each other’s writing; other sessions will involve lecture and discussion. Our class discussions will focus on the reading assignments as well as on conceptual and ethical questions relating to autobiography: What compels you to write about your life? Why do you choose particular genres and media (such as written narrative, diary, drawing, video, or photography) in which to tell your story? Does it matter if you tell the story truthfully? How do you decide what to include and what to leave out? How much can you trust your memory? Are you the sole “owner” of your life story, or can other people make claims to it, and on what grounds? How does your personal story connect with the broader experiences of your community and that community’s history? Who might be harmed if your story goes public? What social and political benefits might you and others gain from your writing?
Student Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this class you should be able to
- Compose clear, coherent, and engaging autobiographical texts
- Undertake disciplined revision of your autobiographical texts in response to constructive critique
- Articulate constructive critical responses to other people’s autobiographical texts
- Demonstrate a familiarity with conventional genres of autobiographical texts
- Demonstrate an ability to employ the key concepts and terminology of auto/biography studies when discussing autobiographical texts
- Demonstrate an ability to identify the ethical issues that arise in connection with creating and consuming autobiographical texts
- Employ online text-editing and commenting tools effectively
Writing Assignments
You will write five autobiographical essays (at least four pages each), two reflective essays on assigned readings (at least two pages each), and a final reflective essay on the class (at least three pages). The parameters for your autobiographical writing are flexible: rather than five separate essays, you may choose to develop a smaller number of longer narratives over the course of the semester, and for some of your assignments you may work in media such as video, audio, graphic narrative, and other formats.
Reading Assignments
You are not required to purchase any books for this class. Assigned readings will be available in electronic formats through the UHM library system, in the library reserves, via links to online resources, or as files in the Resources folder in our Laulima class site.