Lecturer
B.A., English, University of California, Riverside
M.A., Communication, Stanford University
M.A., American Civilization, University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D., Comparative Culture, University of California, Irvine
Office: UW1-137
Phone: 425.352.3204
Email: davidgs@u.washington.edu
Website: http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/
Mailing: Box 358530, 18115 Campus Way NE, Bothell, WA 98011-8246
Teaching
Students teach themselves when provided the opportunity and motivation; my goal is to provide both. I seek not so much to change minds as to open them, and to teach lifelong critical and analytical skills rather than a set of facts. I rely on small-group exercises to develop students' abilities in teamwork and problem solving; rarely will they work in isolation. I also emphasize excellence in verbal and written communication.
I try to put students first; to use multiple, complementary pedagogical methods, including technology; to promote cooperation rather than competition in the classroom; to emphasize concepts rather than discrete facts; to remain flexible; to collaborate with colleagues in developing the most effective materials and methods; and to adapt to each student's and each class's particular constellation of skills and interests. I aim for an appreciation for complexity; our world is not simple. I am proud to be on a team of teachers who work hard to create educated, broad-thinking men and women.
Recent Courses Taught
http://faculty.washington.edu/davidgs/Currentcourses.html
Research/Scholarship
As an American and ethnic studies scholar, I work mostly with the writings of ethnic American authors in their historical and cultural context. I have published a co-authored book on race and ethnicity in American texts and articles on various Asian American and African American writers, and currently am working on two book projects. One is a reader-response study of the work of Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. The other is a collection of documents that put Morrison's novel, Beloved, in historical and cultural context, which I am producing in collaboration with senior seminar students.
Selected Publications
- Complicating Constructions: Race, Ethnicity, and Hybridity in American Texts (co-edited with Audrey B. Thacker). Seattle: U of Washington P, 2007.
- "Enemies in Their Own Land: The Internment of Japanese Americans during World War II." Asian American Studies: Identity, Images, Issues Past and Present. Ed. Esther Ghymn. New York: Peter Lang, 2000. 207-16.
- "'The Dragon Is a Lantern': Frank Chin's Counter-Hegemonic Donald Duk." 49th Parallel 6 (Autumn 2000). http://www.49thparallel.bham.ac.uk/back/issue6/goldsteinshirley.htm.
- "Preacher in the Clearing: Toni Morrison at the Turn of the Millennium." Apocalypse Now: American Literature at the End of the Millennium. Ed. Kate Gale. Palmdale, CA: Red Hen, (2002).
- "Sacred Hoop Dreams: Basketball as Metaphor in the Works of Sherman Alexie."Ethnic Studies Review (forthcoming).