Contemporary women writers from the French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean: A comparative literature course

This course design dissertation addresses the issue of the scarcity of comparative literature courses in community colleges, as well as the advantages of offering such courses. Expounded upon are the various components of a semester-long comparative literature course on contemporary women writers from the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Puerto Rico. The course mainly focuses on the themes of orality, the act of writing, eroticism, marginalization, subversion, history, immigration and exile, and identity. Part of the dissertation takes the form of a handbook that aims to assist the process of introducing into the college classroom a variety of writings by contemporary women from the French and Spanish-speaking Caribbean. It contains a section on the course material (detailed syllabus, guidelines and topics for students' written and oral assignments, lists of readings, questions for the online forum, etc.), supportive pedagogical information, as well as several lesson plans. This study is helpful to anyone interested in, but relatively unfamiliar with contemporary literature by women authors from the Francophone and Hispanophone Caribbean. It should prove especially valuable to faculty members involved in course development in this particular area of literature. Although this course is primarily intended for community college students, it can easily be applied for university students willing to expand their knowledge of contemporary Caribbean literature, as well as of the historical, political, social, and cultural complexities of this fascinating area of the world.