Using Hawaiʻi as a theme, this course teaches academic
writing by exploring the connection between place and culture. This approach,
which investigates an Indigenous understanding of place, includes a critical
examination of sensitive, complex issues connected in one way or another to a
history of colonialism such as questions of identity, relationship to place,
sovereignty, militarism, exotification of culture, racism, and competing
ideologies on the value of land and water resources. The course design uses class
discussions, critical analysis of texts and written assignments to foster reading,
writing, and critical thinking skills. Course readings are intended as a basis
for your writing and as a starting point for researching the topics that will
be the focus of your papers.
According to the Writing Foundation GenEd
requirement, at the end of this FW course, students can:
1. compose college-level writing,
including but not limited to, academic discourse, that achieves a specific
purpose and responds adeptly to an identifiable audience.
2. provide evidence of effective
strategies for generating, revising, editing, and proofreading a text
in order to produce finished prose.
3. compose an argument that makes
use of source material that is relevant and credible and that is integrated in
accordance with an appropriate style guide.
To help you achieve these learning outcomes, this English
Composition 100 section teaches writing as a process (prewriting, writing and
re-writing). Three assignments will require extensive research on topics
related to Native Hawaiian culture and cultural perspectives on place. Please
be aware that although knowledge of Hawaiian language is not required in this
course, there will be a substantial amount of Hawaiian words in the
English-language resources for a few of these papers. These assignments will be
divided into four phases and each phase requires you to submit one or more of
the following: brainstorming map, outline, works cited list, introduction,
self-evaluation letter, a preliminary version and a final (graded) version of
the paper. Coursework includes workshops on MLA 7th edition.
Required Texts:
ʻŌiwi 4: A Native
Hawaiian Journal (You may purchase this text directly from me)
(Additional readings will be assigned in the form of handouts,
or PDFs on Laulima)
MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers: Seventh edition.
Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing2nd
Edition.
Value of Hawaiʻi:
Knowing the Past, Shaping the Future. Eds. Craig Howes and Jon Osorio.