Active Outline

General Information

Course ID (CB01A and CB01B)
HUMID005.
Course Title (CB02)
Storytelling in American Culture
Course Credit Status
Credit - Degree Applicable
Effective Term
Fall 2023
Course Description
This course critically examines how stories are told, memories are selected, organized, transformed, contested, and retold among different racial and ethnic groups within the United States, during the 20th and 21st centuries. The stories of primarily Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinx peoples in conversation with White Supremacy. The course articulates and critically analyzes concepts including race, racism, racialization, ethnicity, ethnocentrism, Eurocentrism, white supremacy, equity, self-determination, resistance, liberation, decolonization, sovereignty, imperialism, settler colonialism, and anti-racism.
Faculty Requirements
Course Family
Not Applicable

Course Justification

This course serves as an introduction to the humanities by focusing on the interconnections of cultural studies, critical race and ethnic studies theories, and the postmodern condition in addressing the various ways that the dominant and different ethnic groups, primarily Native Indigenous, African American, Latinx, and Asian American along with numerous subgroups and subcultures make-up what are known as the stories, myths, truths, legends and more of the United States. This course is UC and CSU transferable and belongs on the Liberal Arts degree. This course meets a general education requirement for °®¶ą´«Ă˝, CSU GE, and IGETC.

Foothill Equivalency

Does the course have a Foothill equivalent?
No
Foothill Course ID

Course Philosophy

Formerly Statement

Course Development Options

Basic Skill Status (CB08)
Course is not a basic skills course.
Grade Options
  • Letter Grade
  • Pass/No Pass
Repeat Limit
0

Transferability & Gen. Ed. Options

Transferability
Transferable to both UC and CSU
°®¶ą´«Ă˝ GEArea(s)StatusDetails
2GC2°®¶ą´«Ă˝ GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
CSU GEArea(s)StatusDetails
CGC2CSU GE Area C2 - HumanitiesApproved
IGETCArea(s)StatusDetails
IG3BIGETC Area 3B - HumanitiesApproved

Units and Hours

Summary

Minimum Credit Units
4.0
Maximum Credit Units
4.0

Weekly Student Hours

TypeIn ClassOut of Class
Lecture Hours4.08.0
Laboratory Hours0.00.0

Course Student Hours

Course Duration (Weeks)
12.0
Hours per unit divisor
36.0
Course In-Class (Contact) Hours
Lecture
48.0
Laboratory
0.0
Total
48.0
Course Out-of-Class Hours
Lecture
96.0
Laboratory
0.0
NA
0.0
Total
96.0

Prerequisite(s)

Corequisite(s)

Advisory(ies)

EWRT D001A or EWRT D01AH or ESL D005.

Limitation(s) on Enrollment

Entrance Skill(s)

General Course Statement(s)

(See general education pages for the requirements this course meets.)

Methods of Instruction

 Lecture and visual aids

Discussion of assigned reading

Discussion and problem solving performed in class

In-class essays

In-class exploration of Internet sites

Field observation and field trips

Guest speakers

Collaborative learning and small group exercises

Collaborative projects

Other: Weekly Informal Reflections: Writing assignment that will allow the student to reflect on the week's reading material, visual, audio, or Internet presentation, question the material, and closely interact with classmates during online or in-class discussion groups.

Laboratory discussion sessions and quizzes that evaluate the proceedings weekly laboratory exercises

Assignments

  1. Reading
    1. Assigned reading from required text, such as but not limited to college-level essays, fiction, and non-fiction, short essays, poetry, spoken-word, letters, journal entries, lyrics, newspaper/magazine articles and commentaries, and current events topics from online sources, reading assignments from library reserves with the intended purpose of providing student access to historical context and primary documentation from which they can develop their own conclusions
    2. Reading assignments from student identified "texts" of varied length and number, such as but not limited to: fiction, non-fiction, short essays, poetry, spoken-word, letters journal entries, lyrics, newspaper/magazine articles and commentaries, and current events topics from online sources, reading assignments from library reserves with the intended purpose of providing student access to historical context and primary documentation from which they can develop their own conclusions
  2. Viewing of films, visual arts, documentaries, and videos shown in-class, online, or in the media lab. Each viewing assignment is accompanied by specific questions to assess, reflect, and summarize.
  3. Listening to assignments of audio/visual recordings of music, interviews, discussion, debates, radio, podcasts, or other broadcastings in class, online, in the media lab, and/or at the student's discretion with specific criteria to assess, reflect, and synthesize.
  4. Participation and Discussion
    1. In-class conversations, debates, inquiries, presentations, enactments, and discussions within small groups and as a class, likewise, with criteria to analyze, reflect, summarize, synthesize and critique
    2. Assigned library or internet research
  5. Writing done either individually or collectively and that includes all or some combination of the following:
    1. A major project or series of smaller projects that require a substantial monograph to be produced and may also include audio and video representations
    2. A monograph that calls for components that require students to incorporate the course objectives into their own lives and experiences and the lives of others
    3. A monograph that calls for guided research and draws on theories, concepts, methods, and approaches introduced by the course material
    4. A monograph that calls for biographical, lineage, historical, narrative structure, form, and theme viability analysis
    5. A monograph that critically examines how collective memories are selected, organized, transformed, contested, and retold through numerous rhetorical and narrative strategies
    6. A monograph that calls for reflection that integrates student's personal experiences with ideas from the course material to explore how the concept of race and ethnicity have shaped not only their racial and ethnic identities, experiences, differences, intersections and interconnects, but also in relation to or in comparison with that of Native Indigenous, African American, Asian American, Latinx, “Whites” and other ethnicities’ stories within a 20th and 21st-century American context of citizenship, immigration, or legal status
  6. Collaborative Projects
    1. Written outside of class
    2. Performed in-class
    3. Presented in-class

Methods of Evaluation

  1. In-class participation based on preparedness and contributions.
  2. Short quizzes and/or writing assignments on topics from the reading and viewing assignments or lectures will assess student synthesis and mastery of learning objectives and prepare them for in-class activities. Examinations based on reading and viewing assignments or lectures will test students’ ability to analyze the course work in relation to their experiences and demonstrate critical mastery of course objectives. A final examination and/or written project will require students to demonstrate comprehension, critical mastery, and personal engagement with the concepts, processes, and interrelationships of the course objectives.
  3. A written research project that evaluates the student’s skill in interpreting and synthesizing the data contained in the various narratives presented in conjunction with the theories and concepts from the disciplines of the humanities, critical race theory, or ethnic studies. May include a preliminary outline or synopsis, a complete set of response paragraphs, or a portfolio project.
  4. A collaborative project, where students synthesize their critical thinking, imaginative, cooperative, and empathetic abilities through some combination of writing, research, audio, or visual presentations. Students are evaluated on their aptitude to contextualize knowledge, interpret, communicate meaning and cultivate their capacity for personal as well as social change through the use of storytelling.

Essential Student Materials/Essential College Facilities

Essential Student Materials: 
  • None.
Essential College Facilities:
  • Instructional technology for 35 mm slides

Examples of Primary Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisherDate/EditionISBN
Desmond, Matthew and Mustafa EmirbayerRace in AmericaNew York: W.W. Norton & Company2nd Edition, 2014
Espana, Carla and Luz Yadira HerreraEn Comunidad: Lessons for Centering the Voices and Experiences of Bilingual Latinx StudentsPortsmouth: Heinemann2020
Hughes, Richard T.Myths America Lives By: White Supremacy and the Stories That Give Us MeaningUrbana: University of Illinois2nd Edition, 2018
Treuer, DavidThe Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America from 1890 to the PresentNew York: Riverhead Books2019
Wilkerson, IsabelCaste: The Origins of Our DiscontentsNew York: Random House2020

Examples of Supporting Texts and References

AuthorTitlePublisher
Latinx Studies: The Key Concepts
Same Difference: How Gender Myths are hurting Our Relationships, Our Children, and Our Jobs
Mythologies
Handbook of Native American Mythology
Our Stories Remember: American Indian History, Culture, and Values through Storytelling
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery
Myth of the Model Minority: Asian Americans Facing Racism
The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
Whispers on the Color Line: Race and Rumor in American Culture
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning
Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America
America for Americans: A History of Xenophobia in the United States
Heart Berries: A Memoir
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and The Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies
Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir
An African American and Latinx History of the United States
Through Alien Eyes: A View of America and Intercultural Marriages
American Insurgents: A Brief History of American Anti-Imperialism
Other People's Stories: Entitlement Claims and the Critique of Empathy
Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race
America’s Racial Karma: An Invitation to Heal

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

Course Objectives

  • Define "storytelling" as a fundamental process of human communication, focusing on the stories of Native Indigenous, African American, Asian American, and Latinx peoples in conversation with “Whites” and other ethnicities, during the 20th and 21st centuries that involve narratives such as, but not limited to: racialization, myths, legends, folktales, memories, lineages, nationalities, origin stories, histories, testimonies, cultural and communal practices, and rumors through mediums such as, but not limited to: poems, fiction, non-fiction, spoken-word, lyrics, written and oral, visual presentations, music, news, social media and films.
  • Recognize the humanities as an inquiry into human dignity and identity: especially regarding race, ethnicity, legal status, religion and otherwise; and as a means of communication; and as an endeavor to find meaning and order in the cultural stories and prevailing beliefs of humankind with a focus on the texts, both oral and written, and the contexts of the 20th and 21st century American Cultures. Highlight the intersection of ethnicity and race as they relate to issues such as, but not limited to: class, racism, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, slavery, immigration status, ability, settler-colonial, anti-colonial, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, language, resistance (Civil and global), liberation, reparations or age within these stories.
  • Evaluate established and traditional theories, critiques and techniques, such as, but not limited to: race, economic, spirituality, gender, sexuality, cultural, anti-colonial and ideological by which to identify and interpret the meanings and values inherent in multiple forms of storytelling created by members of both dominant or Eurocentric and marginalized or racialized members.
  • Examine, analyze, compare, and contrast the historical, anti-racist, anti-colonial, civil, political, international and transnational movements, philosophical, psychological, and the social significance of the motifs, themes, symbols, characters, plots, structures, versions, and forms of stories detailing their cognitive and affective impact, either in terms of the destruction, inclusion, isolation, resistance or with the intent to build a more just and equitable society, upon specific individuals, groups, regions, and nations in 20th and 21st century American context.
  • Discuss how stories are experienced, performed, and represented among the different racial and ethnic groups within the 20th and 21st century American context. Highlight the diverse, multicultural, and constantly changing immigrant stories that make up American Culture. Explore narrative tensions between concepts such as, but not limited to: the telling of stories that focus on memory and history, identity and difference, dominant and subordinate, childhood and adulthood, gender and sexuality, class ideologies and power relations, fact and fiction, humor and horror.

CSLOs

  • Students synthesize their critical thinking, imaginative, cooperative, and empathetic abilities as whole persons in order to contextualize knowledge, interpret and communicate meaning, and cultivate their capacity for personal, as well as social change.

  • Students will identify, facilitate, and communicate the various concepts, themes, intersections and components of storytelling among the different racial and ethnic groups within the United States during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Outline

  1. Define "storytelling" as a fundamental process of human communication, focusing on the stories of Native Indigenous, African American, Asian American, and Latinx peoples in conversation with “Whites” and other ethnicities, during the 20th and 21st centuries that involve narratives such as, but not limited to: racialization, myths, legends, folktales, memories, lineages, nationalities, origin stories, histories, testimonies, cultural and communal practices, and rumors through mediums such as, but not limited to: poems, fiction, non-fiction, spoken-word, lyrics, written and oral, visual presentations, music, news, social media, and films.
    1. Storytelling as fundamental to the human condition
    2. Storytelling in the United States during the 20th and 21st centuries that necessitates the weaving of Native Indigenous, Africans and African Americans, Latinx, Asian and Asian American, and Anglo- and European or “White” American stories. Highlight the history and significance of Ethnic Studies
    3. Storytelling that speaks to the specific beliefs, philosophies and theories, cultural and communal practices, and agency of Native Indigenous, African American, Asian American, Latinx, “Whites” and other ethnicities
    4. Narratives such as, but not limited to: myths, legends, ambiguity, folktales, memories, lineages, nationalities, origin stories, histories, testimonies, rumors, news, fiction, fantasies, contemporary knowledge and consequences of settler-colonialism, genocide, racialization, slavery, Jim Crow, misogyny, xenophobia and the various forms of assimilation, resistance, and liberation to domination and eurocentrism
    5. Storytelling as narratives that are told through a variety of mediums, such as, but not limited to: poems, fiction, spoken-word, lyrics, essays, books, news, music, art, non-fiction, knowledge, films, the Internet, and much more
  2. Recognize the humanities as an inquiry into human dignity and identity: especially regarding race, ethnicity, legal status, religion and otherwise; and as a means of communication; and as an endeavor to find meaning and order in the cultural stories and prevailing beliefs of humankind with a focus on the texts, both oral and written, and the contexts of the 20th and 21st century American Cultures. Highlight the intersection of ethnicity and race as they relate to issues such as, but not limited to: class, racism, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, slavery, immigration status, ability, settler-colonial, anti-colonial, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, language, resistance (Civil and global), liberation, reparations or age within these stories.
    1. The Humanities as an interdisciplinary inquiry into human dignity and identity, including but not limited to: racialization, assimilation, domination, resistance, liberation, reparations, agency, and communication
    2. The Humanities as a discipline that underscores and maps the various histories, complexities, consequences, and intersections of what it means to be racialized or ethnic humans within a 20th and 21st-century American context
    3. The Humanities as a set of disciplines, distinguished in content and method from the sciences, including language arts, history, philosophy, comparative religion, and criticism of the arts
    4. The Humanities as the endeavor to find meaning and order in the cultural stories, collective memories, and contested histories of humankind, especially within the context of 20th and 21st century American context, and particularly the weaving of Native Indigenous, African Americans, Latinx, Asian American, and Anglo- and European or “White” American stories
  3. Evaluate established and traditional theories, critiques, and techniques, such as, but not limited to: race, economic, spirituality, gender, sexuality, cultural, anti-colonial and ideological by which to identify and interpret the meanings and values inherent in multiple forms of storytelling created by members of both dominant or Eurocentric and marginalized or racialized members.
    1. Evaluate and apply established criteria, written primarily by Native Indigenous, African American, Asian American, Latinx, and dominant cultural and critical producers including but not limited to: Anti-Colonial, Critical Race Theory, Critical Ethnic Studies, Critical Anthropology, Hermeneutic, Folkloristic, Gender, Sexuality, Semiotic, Linguistic, Rhetorical, Formalist, Marxist, Psychoanalytical, Socio-cultural, Theological, Critical Feminist, and Postmodern
    2. Recognize and articulate patterns from established nomenclatures
    3. Utilize narrative "texts," and both historical and oral accounts that support, challenge, conflict, or contradict case studies as examples
    4. Synthesize these articulations into a personal system of values by which the student may render cohesive critical judgments pertaining to the quality of specific stories of their own, friends, family, and others in relation to the national narratives
    5. Highlight the complexity and interactions of this layering
  4. Examine, analyze, compare, and contrast the historical, anti-racist, anti-colonial, civil, political, international, and transnational movements, philosophical, psychological, and the social significance of the motifs, themes, symbols, characters, plots, structures, versions, and forms of stories detailing their cognitive and affective impact, either in terms of the destruction, inclusion, isolation, resistance or with the intent to build a more just and equitable society, upon specific individuals, groups, regions, and nations in 20th and 21st-century American context.
    1. Examine the Motifs, Themes, Events, Symbols, and more that are used within different cultural stories, especially among Native Indigenous, African American, Asian American, Latinx, “Whites” and other ethnicities, showing how they reflect, challenge, complicate, provide alternatives or distort cultural norms: e.g., Origin Myths, Histories, War Memorials, Immigrant Testimonies, Coming-of-Age Stories, Heroic Epics, Urban Legends, Popular Fairy-tales, Stories of Subjugation, Resistance and Liberation, Humorous Jokes, News Stories, Television Westerns, Sci-Fi Films, etc.
    2. Analyze Character and Plot Structures found in stories: e.g., Heroes, Villains, Donor Figures, Struggles, Weddings, etc. (Propp, Raglan, Rank, Eco, Dundes, etc.) In relation to Native Indigenous, African American, Asian American, and Latinx communities to the larger “White” and other Ethnic groups
    3. Analyze the various intersections of race and racism as they relate to class, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, immigration status, ability, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, language, and/or age in Native Indigenous, African American, Asian American, Latinx, “Whites” and other ethnicities’ stories within a 20th and 21st-century American context
    4. Compare and contrast different versions of similar stories in order to emphasize their significance within particular contexts: Face-to-Face Occasions, Public Performances, Oral History versus Historiography, and Political and Philosophical Settings, to name a few
    5. Compare, and contrast the dynamics such as historical, anti-racist, anti-colonial, civil, political, international, and transnational movements, philosophical, psychological, and social significance of the different racial and ethnic stories in terms of the destruction, inclusion, isolation, resistance, or with the intent to build a more just and equitable society, upon specific individuals, groups, regions, and nations in 20th and 21st-century American context
    6. Explore the Cognitive and Affective impact of cultural stories and myths upon specific individuals, groups, regions, and nations. (Tylor, Freud, Jung, Barthes, Warner, Dundes, etc.) In addition to the cognitive and affective impact of the various intersections of race and racism as they relate to class, gender, sexuality, religion, spirituality, national origin, immigration status, ability, tribal citizenship, sovereignty, and with regard to anti-racist and anti-colonial practices and much more
  5. Discuss how stories are experienced, performed, and represented among the different racial and ethnic groups within the 20th and 21st-century American context. Highlight the diverse, multicultural, and constantly changing immigrant stories that make-up American Culture. Explore narrative tensions between concepts such as, but not limited to: the telling of stories that focus on memory and history, identity and difference, dominant and subordinate, childhood and adulthood, gender and sexuality, class ideologies and power relations, fact, and fiction, humor and horror.
    1. Memory and History, such as, but not limited to: Time and Place in Narrative Recollections; Nostalgia for Family and Homeland; Cultural Utopias and Dystopias; Golden Ages and Uncertain Futures; The Narrative Construction of "American" Identities
    2. Identity and Difference, such as, but not limited to: American Indian Myths, Trickster Tales, Excluded Histories; African-American Slave Narratives; Latino, Chicano, Cuban, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Japanese, Chinese, and Vietnamese Immigrant Testimonies (to name a few); Narratives of "Manifest Destiny" and Land Possession in Frontier Myths; Shifting Religious Affiliations and Contested Beliefs: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc.; Constructions of Whiteness, Success, and Privilege in Celebrity Biographies; Envisioning The American Dream
    3. Dominant and Subordinate, such as, but not limited to: Colonizer and Colonized, Master and Slave, Husband and Wife and Children, etc.
    4. Childhood and Adulthood, such as, but not limited to: Coming-of-Age Stories, Developmental Narratives, Life Histories, Popular Fairy-Tales, The Oedipus Complex and its Mythological Analogues
    5. Gender and Sexuality, such as, but not limited to: Notions of Masculinity, Femininity, and Beauty; Monstrous Mothers and Innocent Children; Cinderella Recycled, Marriage Ideals
    6. Class Ideologies and Power Relations, such as, but not limited to: Immigrant Histories, Labor Struggles, Storytelling Rights, Legal Storytelling, Political Asylum Narratives; Assimilation and Accommodation; Rhetoric of Citizenship; The Emergence and Spread of Consumer Capitalism
    7. Fact and Fiction, such as, but not limited to: The Suspension of Disbelief and Uses of Enchantment in Myths and Legends; The "Rashomon" Effect and Multiple Points of View; Establishing Narrative Authority and Authenticity, Credibility and Plausibility
    8. Humor and Horror, such as, but not limited to: Parodies of Public Knowledge, Popular Joke Cycles, Cultural Satire, AIDS Narratives and Memorials, Traumatic Stories; War, Disaster, Genocide
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