English CPPM. Papers, Please: Crafting the Un/Documented Memoir

Instructor: Jill Damatac
Tuesday, 12:00-2:45pm | Location: TBD
Enrollment: Limited to 15 students

Sometimes, you have to take matters into your own hands and document your own self into empire’s legibility. This course pairs empathetic close readings of un/documented immigrant memoirs with a generative creative writing workshop. Through works by authors such as Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Jose Antonio Vargas, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Cathy Park Hong, Tareq Baconi, Abdi Iftin, Meredith Talusan, and more, we will study how these writers build voice, structure, and authority under sociopolitical and bodily constraints. How does the un/documented memoir confront institutional power while generating its own power through form, subversion, and the assertion of presence and voice where they are often presumed to have none (or it’s taken away)? How will you locate yourself, as the subject, observer, and writer of memoir? What do you have to say that can expand the borders of readers‘ consciousness of and empathy for immigrant bodies?

Odd-numbered weeks are for close reading, discussions around ethics, and a short “form study” generative writing sessions. I’ll provide the excerpts for each close reading week. Even-numbered weeks are for workshops, where students voluntarily read pieces, then give and receive constructive, empathetic craft feedback. Additionally, we’ll treat the ethics of memoir writing as craft: we’ll think carefully about risk, privacy, representation, consent, audience, and the difference between testimony/reportage and exposure.

This course is also offered through the Harvard Medical School as MMH 728.