W.E.B. Dubois Scholars Institute
Princeton University
Academic Composition: Literature, Social Criticism and the Deep Democratic Tradition
Instructor: Frank Roberts
Office Hours: By Appointment
Email: [email protected]
This reading-intensive writing course serves as an advanced introduction to the craft of U.S. social and
cultural criticism. Drawing from a range of perspectives within the humanities and social sciences (including,
but not limited to the fields of literature, history, philosophy, and sociology) we will focus our attention on
what philosopher Cornel West has referred to as the “deep democratic tradition.” This tradition (exemplified
in the work of U.S. writers as diverse as Emerson, Morrison, Baldwin, and Lorde) can best be described as a
radical attempt to undo, recodify and remake the symbolic meanings attached to the predicament of “being
American.” As such, in this course we will think critically about how to write/right American identity from
“the margins.” These thematic inquiries will be engaged alongside an attention to the mechanics and poetics
of forceful expository writing. They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, co-authored by
former MLA President Gerald Graff, will serve as our foundational writing textbook.
Required Texts:
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Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, They Say I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing
(W. W. Norton & Company; Second Edition, 2009).
Coursepack Readings:
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Gloria Anzaldua, “Borderlands/La Frontera” (Poem)
James Baldwin, “In Search of a Majority.”
Kimberle Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex”
W.E.B. Dubois, “Prologue” + “Of Our Spiritual Strivings”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “On Self Reliance” + “The American Scholar”
Lani Guinier, “The Tyranny of the Majority”
Audre Lorde, “Age, Race, Sex, and Class: Women Redefining Difference”
Toni Morrison, Beloved (Excerpt)
Plato, Phaedo (Excerpt)
Plato, Apology (Excerpt)
Cornel West, “Philosophy” + “The Socratic, the Prophetic, and the Democratic”
Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes:
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Develop composition proficiency in the two key areas evaluated on the annual U.S. AP Literature and
Composition Exam: rhetorical analysis and synthesis of information sources.
Introduce students to the academic “response paper” genre (i.e. brief essays that critically engage an
author’s ideas beyond simply summation).
Provide students with an advanced introduction to major moments (ranging from literary classics, to
philosophical treatises and current affairs) in the nineteenth and twentieth century American social
criticism, literature, history, and theory.
Prepare students for the kind of variegated archives they can expect to encounter in university-level
interdisciplinary courses (such as “Introduction to American Studies”).
Course Requirements:
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Active Participation and attendance to every class.
Two 1-2 page critical response papers.
One 3 page critical response/criticism paper.
One 4 page literary analysis paper.
Grading:
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75% Written Assignments (See requirementsabove)
25% Participation
Course Schedule:
Week 1
Monday, June 26th
 In-Class Screening: James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket
Diagnostic Exercise (Due Wednesday June 28th)
Write a one page response paper to the film James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket.
 In-Class: Introduction to the Academic Response Paper
Wednesday, June 28th
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Read and Discuss Chapters 1-4, They Say I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing:
Chapter 1, “Introduction: Entering the Conversation”
Chapter 2, “They Say: Starting With What Others Are Saying”
Chapter 3, “Her Point Is’: The Art of Summarizing”
Chapter 4, “‘As He Himself Puts It’: The Art of Quoting”
“Identifying the Argument” In-Class Exercise
Citing with Sources: Introduction to MLA Format
Week 2
Monday, July 2nd
 In-Class: Cornel West, “The Socratic, the Prophetic, and the Democratic” (Audio)
 Read and Discuss: Plato, Phaedo (Brief Excerpt)
 Read and Discuss: Toni Morrison, Beloved (Brief Excerpt)
 Read and Discuss: Plato, Apology (Brief Excerpt)
 Read and Discuss: Cornel West, “Philosophy”
Wednesday, July 4th
 Read and Discuss Chapters 5-7, They Say I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing:
 Read and Discuss: “And Yet’: Distinguishing What You Say from What They Say” in They Say I Say
 Read and Discuss: “So What? Who Cares? Saying Why It Matters” in They Say I Say
 Read and Discuss: “Tying It All Together” in They Say I Say
Critical Response Paper #1: Critical Analysis/Interpretation (Due Friday, July 6th)
Drawing both from West’s lecture as well as our in-class discussion, provide an interpretation (1-2 pages) of
the related meanings of life and death in the following three excerpts:
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“The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates (Plato’s Apology, Line 38A)
“That to Philosophize is to learn to die.” –- Michel de Montaigne (Essays)
“Anything dead coming back to life hurts.”---Toni Morrison (Beloved, 35).
What do these passages mean to you? What is the philosophical significance of “death” here?
Week 3
Monday, July 9th
 Read and Discuss: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “On Self Reliance”
 Read and Discuss: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar” (Excerpt)
 Read and Discuss: Cornel West, “The Deep Democratic Tradition in America” (in Democracy Matters)
 In-Class Workshop on Citing with Sources and Researching Academic Journals/Databases
Wednesday, July 11th:
 Read and Discuss: W.E.B. Dubois, “Foreword” + “On Our Spiritual Strivings” (in Souls)
 Read and Discuss: Cornel West, “The Deep Democratic Tradition in America” (in Democracy Matters)
 In-Class: Crafting a Thesis Statement (Handout)
Midterm Paper (Due Friday): Write a three paper that critically assesses Cornel West’s thesis in his essay
“The Deep Democratic Tradition” alongside either Emerson’s “On Self Reliance” or Dubois’ Souls. In what
ways are these authors in conversation with each other, politically and philosophically? In other words, in
what ways are Emerson or Dubois engaged in what West might call “Socratic critique”?
Week 4: Democracy, Marginality and the Politics of Difference
Monday, July 16th:
 Read and Discuss: Kimberle Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection”
 Read and Discuss: Audre Lorde, “Age, Race, Sex, and Class: Women Redefining Difference”
 Read and Discuss: Chapters 8-9, They Say I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing
 Review of AP Literature and Composition “Response” Prompts (Analysis)
Wednesday, July 18th:
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Read and Discuss: Lani Guinier, “The Tyranny of the Majority”
Read and Discuss: James Baldwin, “In Search of a Majority”
In-Class Workshop: Techniques for Incorporating Secondary Scholarly Sources
Critical Response Paper #2 (Due Friday, July 20th):
How do Guinier and Baldwin engage the notion of “the majority” in their respective essays? (2 pages).
Week 5: Literary Criticism
Monday, July 23rd:
 In-Class Lecture, “The Craft of Criticism”
 In-Class Workshop of Final Paper Drafts
Wednesday, July 25th:
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Writing Workshop: Revision
Course Wrap-Up
Final Paper (Due Friday, July 27th):
 Using the work Lorde, Crenshaw, and/or Dubois as theoretical frameworks, craft a four page
paper that offers a feminist intersectional critique of one of the following poems:
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Gloria Anzaldua, “Borderlands”
Audre Lorde, “Who Said It Was Simple”
Audre Lorde, “Poetry is not a Luxury”
Be sure to include several evidentiary examples and at least one secondary scholarly source to
support your argument.