Fall 2022 Final Exam! [Update: now live!]

Course Announcements:

Our last class meeting was Tuesday December 13. Scroll down for details on the final: visible on a new page on the website (linked here when open) starting Friday December 16.

Travel to Cuba with the Venceremos Brigade! See their website for details. They go every summer and I can put you in touch with people who’ve done the trip. Also: consider medical school in Cuba with a full scholarship @ the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM)! Details here.

Submitted papers will be returned via email when done

SPRING COURSES: If you haven’t had enough of me yet, consider my sections of AAS 166 (Intro to Africana Studies–website here) or AAS 245 (African American History–site here), both offered through the Africana Studies Department. Both meet in person on campus–a plus or minus depending how you look at it. Both have evening sections available.

Highlights from the last class:

• Finished Assata’s Autobiography with a focus on the theme of identity and how she sees herself evolve throughout the text and a close look at how she moves through urban spaces–the Upper West Side–and the significance of her reverse immigration to Cuba in the Postscript.
• Slide deck is on the Lecture Notes page and audio is on the Zoom archive page
• Zoom audio: Buena Vista Social Club’s “Chan Chan,” On YouTube here; Jazzmeia Horn’s “Strive (To Be)” On YouTube here

Final Exam Info:

• The final exam will be posted on this website on the new Final Exam Page (Usual password & VISIBLE FROM DECEMBER 16-18 ONLY)
• The format will be a single essay.
• Same password as everything else
• The exam page with full details will be visible starting on Friday morning December 16th and then–like pumpkin spice everything–will disappear until the next final exam season.
• You can complete and return it anytime between Friday December 16 and 11:59 PM EST Sunday December 18
  
• Submission will be via a Dropbox upload link on the Submissions Page, like we’ve used for papers all semester
• You will be given an essay question based on one major theme that we’ve seen repeatedly in books this semester and you will have to compare how four different texts (novels, film, plays, or individual poems) we’ve read or watched during the semester deal with the theme. One book must be Assata or Soledad; the other three texts you compare can be anything else that’s been on the syllabus. For instance, you could compare Soledad, Bodega Dreams, Dutchman, and “A Lower East Side Poem” or Assata, Do The Right Thing, “Puerto Rican Obituary,” and Short Eyes.
• You will have a choice of essay questions
• Help/ questions: I’ll be prioritizing exam-related emails during daytime hours on the weekend. Please use the subject line “Final Exam Help” for finals-related questions only. I’ll respond within a couple of hours. Simple questions will be quickest to answer: I might ask you to call me on Zoom if it’s too much to sort out.

Read my guide to final exams, “Zen and the Art of Finals” (PDF), which will help you begin to prepare for our final (and hopefully others as well). It summarizes much of what is usually in my prep sessions.

Remember the materials to help you review on this website:

• Scroll through the weekly Course Updates posts for a quick overview of the entire semester’s work (and reading questions)
• My own Lecture Notes
• Your own discussion board responses

Final Grades:

Yeah, I know … I hate them too but they’re a necessary evil. They’ll be posted on CUNYFirst by Tuesday December 27. (No, not on Blackboard, which isn’t the official place to put them: please don’t email to ask when they’ll be on Blackboard.) Your final assignment will be returned directly to you via email.

Week 16: Assata, Part 2

 

Image: Assata Shakur. | Credit: Free SVG. Creative Commons licensed

General Announcements:

• NY African Diaspora International Film Festival runs from 11/25-12/11. course-related highlights are documentaries on Lowndes County (11/26, 29), Ella Baker (Schomburg, 11/29),  Fannie Lou Hamer (Schomburg, 11/29), Sonia Sanchez (Baruch College, 11/30). Early reservations are highly recommended–especially for free documentary film screenings! Details at their site

Course Announcements:

• SUBMIT THE SECOND WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT! Due on or before Wednesday December 7th 2022.
• Prof. Williams Zoom live chat hours: Mondays/Wednesdays from 4-5 PM on Zoom here or on campus in Carman 291. Or call: +1 929 205 6099 then add meeting ID: 528 450 5381.
• SCROLL TO THE END OF THIS POST FOR FINAL EXAM INFO
• The second assignment will be returned to you with a grade and comments via the same email you put on your paper when you turned it in. Same process as last paper
• Spring 2023 Courses: For those interested, I’ll be teaching Introduction to Africana Studies (AAS 166). There’ll be in-person sections on Tuesday night and M/W afternoon. I’ll also have one section of African American History (AAS 245) that meets Monday night on campus.

Highlights from last week:

• Started Assata’s Autobiography with a focus on themes of urban space and neighborhoods and identity–particularly racial identity–as a child, how she evolves, and how Assata develops her view as a Black woman. Focus on chapters 2, 6 and 8 set in Wilmington NC, Queens/Greenwich Village and the Upper West Side, respectively.
• Audio is on the Zoom archive page; no slide deck this week
• Zoom audio: Common “A Song for Assata,” On YouTube here; Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane” On YouTube here
• Kiri Davis’s A Girl Like Me on YouTube. 7-minute video streamed in class as background for Assata’s evolution of her identity as a Black woman.

DO THIS for week 16–Tuesday December 13:

FINISH AND SUBMIT the second paper. 

This week we finish the autobiography of Assata Shakur. Tuesday December 13 is the last class meeting.

 FINISH Assata Shakur’s Autobiography–pages 148-274 (Chapters 9-Postscript). Again, make sure to pay attention to the various poems she includes in the story. Think also about the themes that you should now be able to identify that we’ve been working on all semester. Note specific places in the book where they appear and mark examples of them in your text.

RESPOND to the questions at the bottom of this post and DISCUSS them with classmates and myself using the comment field on this post. (Scroll all the way to the bottom after the sharing buttons to see the comment field.)

OPTIONAL–LISTEN to my 52 minute lecture (sorry!) on the second half of Assata:

Pay close attention to the following:

• Poems: Again, what do they add to the narrative? What insight do they give you about Assata’s inner thoughts?
• What spaces/ neighborhoods does she move through? Note them and how each of them either shapes the story and what it means to Assata.
• Keep track of major themes that emerge in the story as you read. It’s a good idea to mark examples of them in the text and make a small note in your notebook.

Final Exam Info:

• The final exam will be posted on the website during final exams week and the format will be a single essay. It will be visible on the site from Friday December 16 to 11:59 PM Sunday December 18. You can complete it at any time during the weekend.
  
• Submission will be via a Dropbox upload link, like we’ve used for papers all semester
• You will be given several essay questions to choose from based on one major theme that we’ve seen repeatedly in books this semester and you will have to compare how four different texts (novels, film, plays, essays, or individual poems) we’ve read or watched during the semester deal with the theme. You need to write only one essay from the options given. One text you discuss must be Assata or Soledad; the other three texts you compare can be anything else that’s been on the syllabus. For instance, you could compare Soledad, Bodega Dreams, Dutchman, and “A Lower East Side Poem” or Assata, Do The Right Thing, “Puerto Rican Obituary,” and Short Eyes, etc.

Some prep tips:

Read my guide to final exams, “Zen and the Art of Finals” (PDF), which will help you begin to prepare for our final (and hopefully others as well). It summarizes much of what is usually in my prep sessions.

Remember the materials to help you review on this website:

• Scroll through the weekly Course Updates posts for a quick overview of the entire semester’s work (and reading questions)
• My own Lecture Notes
• Your own weekly discussion board posts: use these as a quick review and to generate ideas for the final exam

If you keep up with the weekly reading and take good notes, then you’ll be well prepared for the final exam and get much more out of the class!

Comments on posts:

You’ll notice the “Let’s Talk” button is below. Here’s how it’ll work: you can use this to discuss points raised here.  A few points:

• Your first comment will have to be approved by me: after that, you can comment without approval
• Comments section will only be open to enrolled students
• You have to leave your name (enter as first name and last initial only) so a) I can make sure only people in the class are commenting and b) you get credit for the comment
• Remember to be respectful, especially when responding to classmates
• The comments section closes 14 days after a post goes live

To ‘participate’ in the class, I’d like to see everyone 1) post a substantive comment of their own based on either the reading or my lecture using some of the questions raised or conversation prompts, and 2) to respond thoughtfully to someone else’s comment—not just agree/disagree, but add on evidence or ask a follow-up question. You can also ask a question–for me or others–but that doesn’t count toward your comment and reply needed for the grade. It’s fine with me if conversation continues in a thread as long as it does, but two responses showing a clear engagement with the reading will count for being ‘present.’ Does that make sense? You have 14 days to write those two comments for credit.