Cheryl Higashida works on African American, ethnic, and radical literatures, and on American and gender studies. Her essays have appeared in American Literature, American Quarterly, and Afro Asia: Revolutionary Political and Cultural Connections between African Americans and Asian Americans. Her book, Black Internationalist Feminism: Women Writers of the Black Left, 1945-1995, examines the feminist tradition that emerged from the post-World War II Harlem-based Left. She is currently researching sound technology, social movements, and race in the 20th and 21st centuries.
keywords
African American literature, Asian American literature, American Studies, gender and sexuality studies
ENGL 1270 - Introduction to American Literature by Women
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2022 / Spring 2024
This course investigates how literature by women has shaped the United States over time, from Indigenous authors, to abolitionists, to suffragists, to feminists of various waves. With attention to intersections between class, race, and sexual orientation, students will consider what it has meant and still means to be a woman writer in the United States and will explore how women have engaged, subverted, and resisted ideas about gender. Same as WGST 1270.
ENGL 1800 - American Ethnic Literatures
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2021
Students will learn how writings by African American, Native American and Indigenous, Chicana/o/x, Latina/o/x, Asian American, and/or Arab American authors are central to the US literary tradition. The class explores the significance of ethnic US literatures and cultures through short stories, novels, plays, films, and more.
ENGL 2058 - Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Literature
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019 / Fall 2020
This course explores how literature, art, and culture in the 20th and 21st centuries responded to the social, political, and economic upheavals that have occurred since 1900. Students will read a selection of modern and contemporary writers from Anglo-American and/or global traditions to help us understand our present moment and to see what made us who we are.
ENGL 2102 - Literary Analysis
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018
Students will build skills in careful, detailed reading and critical writing. Focusing on poetry, prose, and plays, the course cultivates an understanding of literary forms and genres and introduces techniques and vocabulary essential for the study of literature.
ENGL 2115 - American Frontiers
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019 / Fall 2021 / Fall 2022
This course explores the power of the frontier myth in US literature and culture. The material we cover may range from stories of the American West and American empire to frontiers like cyberspace or outer space (the final frontier). Texts may include short stories, novels, movies, photographs, and computer games.
ENGL 2737 - Introduction to African American Literature
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018
This course traces the roots of contemporary African American writings through the Harlem Renaissance to early Black poetry and slave narratives. Students will explore how African American authors have used genre, language, and publication to question intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, nation, empire, colorism, and freedom in US and African American history. Same as ETHN 2732.
ENGL 3026 - Syntax, Citation, Analysis: Writing About Literature
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2023
Students hone their writing skills by closely analyzing the language in literary texts. The course will focus on the nuances of sentence structure and grammar, in order to help students become better writers and readers. Students will learn how to perform research in literary criticism and will write and revise a research paper, as well as a number of other short papers for different audiences. Students will learn and use citation methods within the discipline and will discuss the reasoning behind citational practice. Recommended prerequisite: completion of lower-division writing requirement.
ENGL 3235 - American Novel
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Fall 2023
This class explores how over two centuries of Americans have shaped the novel and how the novel has shaped America. What themes or crises define the �American novel�? How do immigrant authors, writers of color, Indigenous novelists, and queer or working class authors unsettle the American stories we think we know? Together we�ll ask how the transformation of America is made visible in the novel�s shifting boundaries and forms.
ENGL 3377 - Literatures of Race, Multiculturalism, Ethnicity
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2022 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
Race-related controversies are constantly in the news, and college is when many of us form opinions on these topics. Exploring the literatures of race, multiculturalism, and ethnicity alongside and beyond traditional classics can help us become more informed members of society. This course will help students understand how reading literary and cultural texts and media consumption can shape our assumptions of shared belonging or unbridgeable differences. Topics vary each semester. Check department description for details. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours for different topics.
ENGL 4039 - Capstone in Literary Studies
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2019 / Fall 2024
Topic varies by section, but all sections include small seminar discussions and focus on an individualized research project related to the topic. This course will draw on skills from previous courses in critical reading, thinking, and writing and will culminate in high-level discussions and in the final project. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours.
ENGL 4830 - Honors Thesis
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2020 / Spring 2024
Students accepted to English Departmental Honors are enrolled in this course.
ENGL 5169 - Multicultural/Postcolonial Studies
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2022 / Fall 2024
Introduces graduate level study of ethnic American and/or postcolonial writing in English, including relevant theoretical discourse. Emphasizes a wide range of genres, forms, historical background, and secondary criticism. Cultivates research skills necessary for advanced graduate study. Topics will vary. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours.
ETHN 2732 - Introduction to African American Literature
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018
This course traces the roots of contemporary African American writings through the Harlem Renaissance to early Black poetry and slave narratives. Students will explore how African American authors have used genre, language, and publication to question intersections of race, gender, sexuality, class, nation, empire, colorism, and freedom in US and African American history. Same as ENGL 2737.
WGST 1270 - Introduction to American Literature by Women
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2022 / Spring 2024
This course investigates how literature by women has shaped the United States over time, from Indigenous authors, to abolitionists, to suffragists, to feminists of various waves. With attention to intersections between class, race, and sexual orientation, students will consider what it has meant and still means to be a woman writer in the United States and will explore how women have engaged, subverted, and resisted ideas about gender. Same as ENGL 1270.
