Kelanthæl - Visiting Professor of Creative Writing
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Exploring Foreign Culture through Creative Writing
LIT/CULT3150
Instructor: Assistant Professor Lorewalker Kelanthael
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday mornings or by appointment
Office: The wall west of Campus Administrative Housing
Mail: Professor Kelanthael
Prerequisites
To fulfill requirements for this course, you must have completed two literary focused courses and two courses with a significant focus on culture (these courses being able to come from any department, so long as the class outlines a focus of studying a culture). These courses may not be taken alongside this course as you will need to have the foundations of the combined fields to gain any meaningful growth. For certain stand out cases, exceptions can be made but are strongly discouraged.
Course Description
In this course, we still be setting the stage to focus on the understanding of cultures outside of traditional study. While not often critically examined, there is significant merit to be found in the works of many of the races beyond factional walls across Azeroth. We will be engaging with these foreign cultures to establish a deeper understanding and enrich our own writings through viewpoints many will initially consider alien to their own.
We will be trying out new tools for storytelling, specifically tools that are new to us, but have a strong cultural presence among other races. Look first. Then speak. The focus of this class is not to interject our own culture and preconceived notions into those we will be examining, it is to develop a rich understanding of theirs and in turn apply their own worldly interpretations to the stories we wish to tell.
Course Structure
Each week there will be a relevant reading which will be accompanied by a brief reflective piece on the material followed by an in-class discussion. As schedule permits, there will be bi-weekly field trips to visit with the current culture we are studying. Following the trip, one week will be given to complete a complementary creative piece (Poem, Story, Play, etc). Late work will be accepted but may be subject to point deductions. All material is strictly due by end-of-day of the second to last class and anything turned in afterwards will not be graded, but will be eligible for feedback after grades have been submitted.
Learning Goals
- Students will be able to learn and communicate what they learn.
- Students will negotiate their own world views with the world views of others while composing their creative pieces.
- Students revise their writing using the responses of the instructor and others, including other teachers, their peers, tutors, and consultants.
- Students effectively use sources and appropriately cite them in reflections.
- Students generate and pursue lines of inquiry appropriate to their written projects.
- Students practice critical reading and thinking skills.
- Students provide revision-based responses to their peers
- Students reflect on the writing process, their self-awareness as writers, and their own understandings of other cultures.
Class Participation
Being that this is a class heavily concerning the communication of stories and ideas, class participation is heavily stressed. As such, a significant amount of class time will be dedicated to group discussions and discussion-oriented lectures. Engagement is not required but will result in a significant loss in growth for yourselves and your classmates, thus it is very heavily encouraged. Your participation scores and left entirely to my discretion, as there is a difference between speaking and actually saying something.
Civility is required. While disagreements and debate are not only encouraged but desired, there will be zero tolerance for the belittling of another’s viewpoints. You will be excused from class for violating this classroom rule and should it be a reoccurring problem it will be brought up with the department head and may see your dismissal from the class or otherwise inability to attend future field-trips which will severely impact your final grade. Should there be disrespect intentionally given to our hosts during field-trips, there will be a zero-tolerance dismissal policy and the matter will be pursued with the both the department head and the dean.
Assessment
Each of the five creative pieces are worth 20% of your final grade. All other work is strictly supplementary and will be graded on completion and participation. As such, there will be no excused absences for field trips, but you will be able to recover lost points through diligence in participation and engagement with reading material. One day after a piece is initially due, it will be graded and ready to be received. At any point, the piece may be revised and resubmitted for a re-grade. This re-grade is not guaranteed to be higher than previous attempts. A critical point that will be assessed with your works in not only the quality of the work itself, but in how it engages with the topic it’s meant to.
Grading Weight
Reflections: 10 points
Participation: 20 points
Field-trip Attendance: 5 points
Creative Pieces: 100 points
Total: 135 points
Points Grade
>89 A
>74 B
>59 C
>50 D
<50 F
Academic Expectations
Should any work submitted be found to be plagiarised, the submitter will be referred to the disciplinary committee and will receive an automatic failure for their submitted work. We will comply with any sanctions given by the Disciplinary Committee, but you will still have an opportunity to submit original work for a failing grade in order to receive feedback. Please understand that the only person you hurt by plagarising is yourself, even if you go uncaught.
Schedule
Week 1
A: The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation by James O. Young, Conrad G. Bunk
B: Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples by Gregory Younging
Week 2
A: The Cultural Politics of the Fiction Workshop by Donald Mortan, Mas’ud Zavarzadeh
B: Cultural Thought Patterns in Intercultural Education by Robert B. Kaplan
Week 3
A: A Brief Introduction on the Morphology of Kobold adapted Common by Lorewalker Kelanthael
B: Question and Answer session with cultural ambassador Brokecandle Boots
Week 4
A: Kobold Creative Piece Proposal
B: 1st Draft Due for Peer Review
Week 5
A: Class Field Trip to Fargodeep Mine
B: 2nd Draft Due for Peer Review
Week 6
A: Class Field Trip to Lake Everstill
B: Final Draft Due
Week 7
A: A Brief Introduction to Kalu’ak Faith and Lifestyle by Lorewalker Kelanthael
B: Lecture and Discussion Day
Week 8
A: Question and Answer session with cultural ambassadors Fisherman Onaku and Elder Qachati
B: Kalu’ak Creative Piece Proposal
Week 9
A: 1st Draft due for Peer Review
B: Field Trip to Moa’ki Harbour
Week 10
A: 2nd Draft due for Peer Review
B: Contemporary Poetry from members of the Alliance
Week 11
A: Final Draft Due
B: Contemporary Poetry from members of the Horde
Week 12
A: Lecture and Discussion Day
B: TBD Cultural Ambassadors
Week 13
A: TBD Field Trip
B: TBD Creative Piece Proposal
Week 14
A: 1st Draft Due for Peer Review
B: Performances for and Discussion on Literary Conclave
Week 15
A: 2nd Draft Due for Peer review
B: Lecture and Discussion Day
Week 16
A: Final Draft due
B: All revisions due
All policies and plans are subject to chance at my discretion and I will provide fair warning on any changes.