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Smithsonian Internship
Museum studies at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC
William Nash
Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures, Faculty co-Head, Wonnacott Commons
Email: nash@middlebury.edu
Phone: work802.443.5337
Office Hours: Spring Term: Monday and Wednesday 10:00-11:30 or by appointment
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William Nash is Professor of American Studies and English and American Literatures. He received his B.A. from Centre College of Kentucky and his M. A. and Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ans has taught at Middlebury since 1995. The author of Charles Johnson's Fiction and co-editor of Charles Johnson: The Novelist as Philosopher, he has also published scholarly articles and reviews in African American Review and Callaloo. His current research focuses on the interrelationship of space, race and place in mid-twentieth-century Chicago. His scholarly and teaching interests include contemporary representations of urban African America; Nineteenth and Twentieth century African-American Literature; American Soul and Blues music.
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
ENGL 7511 - 1st Century African Amer Lit
ENGL 7515 - American Renaissance
ENGL 7638 - The African American Novel
ENGL 7669 - Urban Black America
AMST 0252 / ENAM 0252 - African American Literature
African American Literature
This course surveys developments in African American fiction, drama, poetry, and essays during the 20th century. Reading texts in their social, historical, and cultural contexts—and often in conjunction with other African American art forms like music and visual art—we will explore the evolution and deployment of various visions of black being and black artistry, from the Harlem Renaissance through social realism and the Black Arts Movement, to the contemporary post-soul aesthetic. Authors may include Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Brooks, Ralph Ellison, Lorraine Hansberry, Amiri Baraka, Ishmael Reed, Toni Morrison, Charles Johnson, and Octavia Butler. 3 hrs lect./disc.
Spring 2009, Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2013
AMST 0310 - Livin' for the City
Livin' for the City
In this course we will engage the idea of the "ghetto" as constructed through literature, film, music, and television. Our exploration will relate this concept to geographic spaces and to a socially-constructed set of ideas about urban African American spaces and communities. We will combine critical textual analysis with fundamental concepts from human geography and social history to explore shifting conceptions of the “ghetto”, consider its impact on urban African American space, and examine how the responses of urban black American artists affect, resist, and change its imaginative geography. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Spring 2013
AMST 0358 - Reading Slavery and Aboliltion ▲
Reading, Slavery, and Abolition
In this course we will study both black and white writers' psychological responses to, and their verbal onslaughts on, the "peculiar institution" of chattel slavery. We will work chronologically and across genres to understand how and by whom the written word was deployed in pursuit of physical and mental freedom and racial and socioeconomic justice. As the course progresses, we will deepen our study of historical context drawing on the substantial resources of Middlebury's special collections, students will have the opportunity to engage in archival work if they wish. Authors will include Emerson, Douglass, Jacobs, Thoreau, Stowe, Walker, and Garrison. 3 hrs. sem.
Fall 2013
AMST 0500 - Independent Study ▲ ▹
Independent Study
Select project advisor prior to registration.
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
AMST 0700 - Senior Essay
Senior Essay
For students who have completed AMST 0400 and are not pursuing an honors thesis. Under the guidance of one or more faculty members, each student will complete research leading toward a one-term, one-credit interdisciplinary senior essay on some aspect of American culture. The essay is to be submitted no later than the last Thursday of the fall semester. (Select project advisor prior to registration)
Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Spring 2012
AMST 0704 - Senior Seminar:
Senior Seminar:
Topic is determined by the instructor - refer to section for the course description.
Spring 2009, Spring 2012
AMST 0710 - Honors Thesis ▹
Honors Thesis
For students who have completed AMST 0705, and qualify to write two-credit interdisciplinary honors thesis. on some aspect of American culture. The thesis may be completed on a fall/winter schedule or a fall/spring schedule. (Select a thesis advisor prior to registration)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014
CRWR 0701 - Senior Essay: Creative Writing ▲ ▹
Senior Essay: Creative Writing
Discussions, workshops, tutorials for those undertaking one-term projects in the writing of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction. (Formerly ENAM 0701)
Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
CRWR 0711 - Senior Thesis: Creative Writ. ▲ ▹
Senior Thesis: Creative Writing
Discussions, workshops, tutorials for those undertaking two-term projects in the writing of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction. (Formerly ENAM 0711)
Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
ENAM 0206 / AMST 0206 - 19th Century American Lit.
Nineteenth-Century American Literature (II, AL)
This course will examine major developments in the literary world of 19th century America. Specific topics to be addressed might include the transition from Romanticism to Regionalism and Realism, the origins and evolution of the novel in the United States, and the tensions arising from the emergence of a commercial marketplace for literature. Attention will also be paid to the rise of women as literary professionals in America and the persistent problematizing of race and slavery. Among others, authors may include J. F. Cooper, Emerson, Melville, Douglass, Chopin, Whitman, Dickinson, Twain, Hawthorne, Stowe, Alcott, Wharton, and James. . 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Fall 2009
ENAM 0358 - Reading Slavery and Abolition ▲
Reading, Slavery, and Abolition (II, AL)
In this course we will study both black and white writers' psychological responses to, and their verbal onslaughts on, the "peculiar institution" of chattel slavery. We will work chronologically and across genres to understand how and by whom the written word was deployed in pursuit of physical and mental freedom and racial and socioeconomic justice. As the course progresses, we will deepen our study of historical context drawing on the substantial resources of Middlebury's special collections, students will have the opportunity to engage in archival work if they wish. Authors will include Emerson, Douglass, Jacobs, Thoreau, Stowe, Walker, and Garrison. 3 hrs. sem.
Fall 2013
ENAM 0500 - Special Project: Lit ▲ ▹
Special Project: Literature
Approval Required.
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
ENAM 0560 - Special Project: Writing
Special Project: Creative Writing
(Approval Required)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012
ENAM 0700 - Senior Essay: Critical Writing ▲ ▹
Senior Essay: Critical Writing
Individual guidance and seminar (discussions, workshops, tutorials) for those undertaking one-term projects in literary criticism or analysis. All critical essay writers also take the essay workshop (ENAM 700Z) in either Fall or Spring Term.
Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
ENAM 0701 - Senior Essay: Creative Writing
Senior Essay: Creative Writing
Discussions, workshops, tutorials for those undertaking one-term projects in the writing of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012
ENAM 0710 - Senior Thesis: Critical Writ. ▲ ▹
Senior Thesis: Critical Writing
Individual guidance and seminar (discussions, workshops, tutorials) for those undertaking two-term projects in literary criticism or analysis. All critical thesis writers also take the thesis workshop (ENAM 710z) in both Fall and Spring terms.
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
ENAM 0711 - Senior Thesis: Creative Writ.
Senior Thesis: Creative Writing
Discussions, workshops, tutorials for those undertaking two-term projects in the writing of fiction, poetry, or creative nonfiction.
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012
FYSE 1263 - African American Migrations ▲
FYSE 1299 - Making Urban African America
Making Urban African America
In this seminar we will primarily explore: (1) the history of how a particular urban African American environment (Black Chicago) was built; and (2) the ways that artists from that community used their creative media to chronicle and explain the reactions of the people housed in that built environment. We will draw on readings in history, sociology, geography, and critical race theory as we map the development of the city. Armed with those insights, we will examine creative texts from a variety of media including visual art, literature, music, and film.
Fall 2010
