In-Class Final Project: Critical Questions

Tuesday: “Sweetness”; “Brownies”; “Gorilla, My Love”; and “oh she gotta head fulla hair”

Thursday: “First Day”; “White Rat”; “Shift”; “And Love Them”; and “A Butterfly on F Street”

1. Review Feedback (5-10 minutes)

Read the comments I made on your project proposal, and mark any questions you may have.

2. Annotate Text (15-20 minutes)

Pull up a copy of your group’s text, and annotate the portion(s) of the text that your group’s project examines. Your notes should address the following:

• A) Content:
  • What information does this part of the text explicitly communicate?
  • What information does it implicitly communicate?
  • Your annotations should make clear both the answer to these questions and the specific part of the text that leads to you make this response.
• B) Form:
  • What formal choices does this part of the text employ, in terms of Language ?
    • (e.g. syntax, diction, rhythm, tense, length of sentence, punctuation, rhythm, sounds (ex alliteration, assonance, rhymes, etc.)
  • What formal choices does this part of the text employ, in terms of Rhetoric & Style ?
    • (e.g. tone, audience, appeals to reason, appeals to pathos, anecdotes, analogies, metaphors, etc.)
  • What formal choices does this part of the text employ, in terms of Narrative & Genre ?
    • (e.g. plot, PoV, sequencing, juxtapositions, omissions, pacing, flashbacks, foreshadowing, breaking the fourth wall, allegory, character foils, rising action, central crisis, tension, dialogue, interjections, scene and chapter breaks, etc.)
• C) Critical Theme:
  • What aspects of this part of the text address the subject(s) of race and / or blackness?
  • How does this part of the text address the subject(s) of race and/or blackness?
    • (ex: Does it do so explicitly? Does it highlight racial conflict, foreground the image of a racialized body feature? Does it allude to a historical figure prominent for theorizing blackness?) Basically how do you know this part of the text is addressing the topic.
  • How does the text encourage readers to think or feel about this instance of race or blackness?
    • (ex. Does the text present it as a source of tension; or a curiosity; or a point of fact; or something abstract and elusive; or a communal practice; etc.)
  • What does the text do in terms of form and content in order to encourage readers to think or feel about blackness or race in this way?
    

3. Draw Proposed Exhibit Piece (10-15 minutes)

Draw an illustration of your proposed piece. Make the illustration as large and as clean as you can on the paper provided in class.

4. Annotate Illustration (20 -25 minutes)

Annotate your illustration. Be sure to note:

• A) The practical details of each component of the piece. To this end, you should
  • Label each components of your piece. And for each component
  • Identify and describe:
    • The component’s function in relation to the aims of the piece as a whole
    • The material(s) and method/technique with which you plan to construct this component
    • The material(s) and method/technique with which you plan to connect various components to each other

• B) The symbolic relation between this component and the text that you’re examining. Specifically you should:
  • Explain how this component of your piece helps articulate and/or extend your understanding of how the text encourages readers to feel and/or think about blackness and/or race; AND
  • Address the significance of your choice of material(s); method of construction; physical attributes (e.g. shape, weight, color, etc.); and relative position and function within the piece as a whole.