ENGL 4565 - [Traffic: Drugs, Bodies, Books]

(crosslisted) AMST 4565, LATA 4565, LSP 4565
(ALC-AS, LA-AS)

Fall or Spring. Not offered: 2022-2023. Next offered: 2023-2024. 4 credits. Student option grading.

M. Brady.

The movement of things like narcotics and of people like laborers has been a profoundly compelling subject for artists of every form. This course will study television series such as Weeds and The Wire as well as a number of recent films, hip-hop hits, narco-corridos, novels, legal cases, and visual art in which the subject of traffic and trafficking play an important role. We will work across centuries to consider how various forms of trafficking and stories of captivity and treasure hunting help tell the modern tale of nation, race, sex, and gender. Artists and authors may include Toni Morrison, Junot Diaz, Faith Ringgold, Alan Ginsburg, Ernesto Quiñonez, Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Frederik Douglass, and Francisco Goldman.