In her poem entitled “Now,” Gloria Fuertes writes “For Though I’m small, I know many things,/And my body is an endless eye/Through which, unfortunately, I see everything.” This course treats a range of contemporary English language literatures about girlhood. Our comparative analyses of texts will pay particular attention to their play with genre and their use of literary devices – e.g., structure, voice, point of view, dialogue, temporality, language – to render narratives about girlhood in contexts of (im)migration, loss, displacement, violence, revolution, war, and trauma. To one degree or another, each of our texts represents experiences of girlhood at the borders and crossings of gender, class, race, nation, ethnicity, and sexuality.

We will conduct close readings of novels, memoirs, autobiographies, and graphic narratives in order to explicate from a critical feminist perspective how these works narrate the intersectional and intergenerational formation of gendered identities in youth, taking care to historically contextualize the perspectives that we treat. Central to our studies will be investigations of narrative strategy and effect: what stories are made possible, and why, when told from young people’s perspectives? How does considering children’s experiences facilitate new knowledge and other imaginaries regarding both unfamiliar and assumedly familiar objects, relationships, and events?

Course Requirements:

Students will demonstrate their engagement with the material and course concepts through reading quizzes, regular discussion posts, a group presentation, reading response papers, and a final paper.