Dr. Sarah Tharp Assistant Professor of English

ENG250LC - Literary Contexts

(4 credits) (NWCore option under Literary Contexts) ENG250LC offers students an introduction to literary study. The topics of individual sections vary by instructor and term. After completing this writing-intensive course, students will be able to imagine other lives, times, and places by reading a variety of texts; empathize with characters who have diverse stories and perspectives; analyze different genres of literature using the tools of literary study; craft a coherent essay with a clear thesis and careful textual analysis; articulate ways that literature speaks to and informs their own lives; express delight in God through the beauty of language and literary text; and witness God?s presence in the world through literature. Topics include: American Literature and the Rhetoric of Freedom: Americans often regard freedom as the defining characteristic of both their nation and themselves. This course examines how the rhetoric of freedom has been a force in American literature. We will complicate our understanding of American freedom by examining how it has been continually redefined throughout the nation?s literary history. We will consider how minority and oppressed groups have used the rhetoric of freedom to advance their own liberation and how Christian religions concepts and language have contributed to this rhetoric. Students will practice reading and writing critically and become familiar with a variety of literary genres, including historical narrative, autobiography, poetry, drama, essays, short stories, and novels. Literature in the World: This course teaches students to appreciate the aesthetic value of literature and consider its cultural contexts. The course explores the beauty of language, the importance of understanding the self and others, and invites readers to consider how literature contributes to our contemporary culture. The course is arranged thematically and content varies from year to year. Themes may include, but are not limited to: immigration, war, poverty, the power of metaphor, and visual art and literature. Literary Imaginations: For literature to be more than ink stains on white paper, we must use our imaginations to give it life. In this course we shall read works from throughout human history and around the world (India, Greece, Italy, England, Russia, Nigeria, Ireland, Japan) to imagine and understand the world that people have believed in, created, and inhabited. The Lives of Others: This course explores 4000 years of stories, from ancient Mesopotamia to the American South. Plays, poems, epics, and autobiographies broaden our perspective on the world and deepen our understanding of being human. Two central themes of the course are perceptions of difference and expressions of faith. Strangers, Gods, and Monsters: As careful, critical readers, we will come face to face with all sorts of strangers, gods and monsters (both mythic and modern) as we journey through New Mexico deserts, English monasteries, modern day American prisons, contemporary Nigerian villages, Aboriginal healing ceremonies, and deep into the heart of Japan?s 17th century Samurai culture. Disney: What do a pocket-sized dragon, a talking willow tree, and a confused rooster have in common? Their characters debuted in film. Disneyâ??s Mushu, Grandmother Willow, and HeiHei were not in the original stories from which Disney drew inspiration. This course is an introduction to the art of adaptation and explores many of the literary contexts upon which the Disneyâ??s storytelling empire was built. Students will learn how to research, analyze, and discuss written and visual texts, and to create their own adaptations of literature through papers, storyboards, and multimedia projects.

NWC101 - First-Year Seminar

(4 credits) First-Year Seminar is a writing and speech intensive course designed to help first-year students better understand the meaning and significance of a Christian liberal arts education. In this course, students can expect to develop effective practices of reading, writing and speaking as they analyze various texts through a Christian liberal arts framework. After completing the First-Year Seminar, student will be able to: ? Articulate Northwestern College?s identity as a Christian liberal arts institution. ? Use a Christian liberal arts framework to engage ideas in a variety of texts. ? Employ effective practices of writing and speaking for an audience.