Bulletin - John Jay College Of Criminal Justice - CUNY

Courses Offered
LIT 331 Steven Spielberg
3 hours, 3 credits
An intensive study of the work and vision of Steven Spielberg
through an examination of theme, style, structure and view of
cinema. Special emphasis will be placed on the recurrent artistic
concerns as well as the philosophic, psychoanalytic and political
concerns that identify the work of an important cinematic author.
Prerequisite: one of the following: LIT 230, LIT 231, LIT 232 or
LIT 233
LIT 332 Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee
3 hours, 3 credits
An intensive study of the work and vision of Martin Scorsese and
Spike Lee through an examination of theme, style, structure, and
view of cinema. Special emphasis will be placed on the recurrent
artistic concerns as well as the philosophic, psychoanalytic and
political concerns that identify the work of an important cinematic
author.
Prerequisites: ENG 102 or 201, one of the following: LIT 230, LIT
231, LIT 232 or LIT 233
LIT 340 The African-American Experience in
America: Comparative Racial Perspectives
(Same course as AAL 340)
3 hours, 3 credits
An examination of African-American life through the works of both
African-American and white writers. The course will look at the
inter-relationships and differences between African-American and
white perspectives. Authors such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Melville,
Wright, Baldwin, Twain, Faulkner, Ellison, Welty, Morrison and
Styron will be read.
Prerequisite: one of the following: LIT 230, LIT 231, LIT 232 or
LIT 233
LIT 342 Perspectives on Literature and Human
Rights
3 hours, 3 credits
This course will focus on the representation and interrogation of
human rights and related issues in literary texts. We will be looking
at how human rights have been construed and debated at particular
historical moments by writers from specific cultures and groups. In
doing so we will place an emphasis on due process, a concept which,
although arguably common to every society, takes on very different
meanings depending on that society’s structures, beliefs, customs,
norms and values. Every society, for example, will have its own
conception of 1) the priority of collective rights and imperatives, and
2) the priority of individual rights and imperatives.
Each semester, depending on their areas of specialization, individual
instructors will anchor the course in one or more specific cultures,
historical moments, sub-topics and primary texts. Through close
reading and analysis of a variety of literary forms, we may examine,
for example: natural rights; the right to habeas corpus; the right to
self-determination and self-expression (including the right to write);
the right to preserve and practice one’s cultural heritage; and the right
to depart from socially constructed norms of behavior. The history of
the human rights struggle and relevant concepts and debates in the
related disciplines of government, law, philosophy and sociology will
provide an analytic framework.
Prerequisites: ENG 102 or 201, and LIT 230 or LIT 231 or LIT 232
or LIT 233
LIT 344 Caribbean Literature and Culture
3 hours, 3 credits
This course explores the literature of the Caribbean in its cultural
context. Employing literature and literary/cultural theory, the course
will vary its focus, covering the English- and/or French-speaking
Caribbean; it may emphasize the literary history of the region or take
on an interdisciplinary format, encompassing music, film and/or
Caribbean cultural studies. The course will include literary texts, oral
traditions, and other aspects of popular culture that reflect on: the
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