Objective: Craft an argument concerning a certain legacy we have touched upon in our course with original, provocative prose, structure, and insights. Accommodate counterarguments. Make your writing engaging.
Description: Select a legacy we have discussed which you would like to think upon more deeply. Use a loose definition of legacy in your brainstorming: options include legacies specific to place and nation, legacies specific to blackness and other social identities, legacies of style and literary form, and intellectual legacies. What tensions exist in this legacy? What questions might you apply to engage with this legacy more deeply? What do you not fully understand about the legacy’s beginnings, impacts, applications, or drawbacks?
Here are five examples of strong entry points into course texts:
(1) How does Kimmerer’s retelling of the myth of Sky woman reinforce and complicate her metaphor of the
Windigo’s footprints?
(2) How does Baldwin approach questions of religion in “Stranger in the Village” and how does this augment
his understanding of racial oppression?
(3) What is a core paradox in one of Edward Jones’ short stories? How might opposing thinkers interpret this paradox and which interpretation do you want to amplify?
(4) How might one trace the boundaries of a legacy, such as Black barbeque or plantation cuisine? Who gets to act as gatekeeper for this legacy and what gets lost in doing so?
(5) Where were one or more critical scenes from Lemonade filmed? How do the histories, peoples, and culture of these locations shift your understanding of Lemonade in an important way?
Welcome to Legit Writing
