Karen Thornhill’s Profile

This course ex­plores his­tor­i­cal, cul­tural, and the­o­ret­i­cal per­spec­tives on the re­la­tion­ship be­tween lan­guage, race, and eth­nic­ity in the United States and its ter­ri­to­ries. It ex­am­ines how lan­guage is un­der­stood to re­flect, re­pro­duce, and/or chal­lenge and defy racial and eth­nic bound­aries, and how ideas about race and eth­nic­ity in­flu­ence the ways in which peo­ple use and con­strue lan­guage. It cov­ers top­ics such as racial­iza­tion and racism, eth­ni­ciza­tion, no­tions of au­then­tic­ity, reper­toire, codeswitch­ing and style shift­ing, lin­guis­tic mock­ing and lin­guis­tic racism, lan­guage ide­ol­ogy, and iden­tity for­ma­tion. This course will ex­am­ine lan­guage va­ri­eties such as Black Amer­i­can Eng­lish and its cross-racial uses by other groups, Chi­cano Eng­lish and Spang­lish, Asian Amer­i­can Eng­lish, Hawai­ian Eng­lish, and Amer­i­can In­dian Eng­lish.

This course explores historical, cultural, and theoretical perspectives on the relationship between language, race, and ethnicity in the United States and its territories. It examines how language is understood to reflect, reproduce, and/or challenge and defy racial and ethnic boundaries, and how ideas about race and ethnicity influence the ways in which people use and construe language. It covers topics such as racialization and racism, ethnicization, notions of authenticity, repertoire, codeswitching and style shifting, linguistic mocking and linguistic racism, language ideology, and identity formation. This course will examine language varieties such as Black American English and its cross-racial uses by other groups, Chicano English and Spanglish, Asian American English, Hawaiian English, and American Indian English.

Eng­lish 201-1008: In­tro­duc­tion to Lit­er­a­ture

English 201-1008: Introduction to Literature

Eng­lish 201 a writ­ing course that builds upon the skills in­tro­duced in Eng­lish 101. In this course, lit­er­a­ture is the field for the de­vel­op­ment of crit­i­cal read­ing, crit­i­cal think­ing, in­de­pen­dent re­search, and the fur­ther re­fine­ment of writ­ing skills. Like Eng­lish 101, Eng­lish 201 is a re­quired course for all stu­dents at BMCC. Stu­dents are in­tro­duced to lit­er­ary crit­i­cism and ac­quire basic knowl­edge nec­es­sary for the analy­sis of a va­ri­ety of texts. By the con­clu­sion of Eng­lish 201, stu­dents will be pre­pared for the an­a­lyt­i­cal and re­search-based writ­ing re­quired in up­per-level courses across the cur­ricu­lum; they will also be pre­pared for ad­vanced courses in lit­er­a­ture.

English 201 a writing course that builds upon the skills introduced in English 101. In this course, literature is the field for the development of critical reading, critical thinking, independent research, and the further refinement of writing skills. Like English 101, English 201 is a required course for all students at BMCC. Students are introduced to literary criticism and acquire basic knowledge necessary for the analysis of a variety of texts. By the conclusion of English 201, students will be prepared for the analytical and research-based writing required in upper-level courses across the curriculum; they will also be prepared for advanced courses in literature.