Literary Intersections: Using Junot Diaz’ The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to Teach the Sociology of Gender

Abstract

This is a collection of resources designed to facilitate the teaching of Junot Diaz’ Pulitizer Prize-winning debut novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in a Sociology of Gender course. This novel was chosen to exemplify and illuminate many of the theories, concepts, substantive areas and data discussed within the course.

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Race, Class and Gender

Resource Type(s):

Assessment, Assignment, Class Activity

Class Level(s):

College 400

Class Size(s):

Any

Usage Notes

The novel employs a great deal of a Dominican and Dominican-American Spanish dialect that many students may find unfamiliar, even if they are Spanish speakers. As such, I advise students to use a Spanish-English dictionary or internet translator. Additionally, the novel includes many references to comic books and role-playing and video games that some...

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Students will explore intersectionality theory through the framework of contemporary literature.
2. Students will explore gender as a set of overlapping and simultaneous and reinforcing systems that operate and are challenged at several levels rather than as discrete and distinct.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Students use an intersectional analysis to discuss, present, and answer exam questions on The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.
2. Students discuss, present, and answer exam questions that on how gender operates on multiple levels and in multiple arenas in ways shaped by one’s race, class, gender, place, and other statuses, experience of institutional arrangements, and relat