William Nash

I found this class very interesting. Homework was typically a few chapters of reading for each class. Your final grade is 25% of each: participation, one paper around midterms season, final project, final exam (which was essay-style, not a traditional exam). It can be a bit frustrating not really knowing where your grade stands, but from what I can tell, Nash is a fair grader. The class is heavily discussion-based. Overall, I would recommend this course if you like music or American history!

I found this class very interesting. Homework was typically a few chapters of reading for each class. Your final grade is 25% of each: participation, one paper around midterms season, final project, final exam (which was essay-style, not a traditional exam). It can be a bit frustrating not really knowing where your grade stands, but …Read more

African American Literature with Professor William Nash was one of the most meaningful courses I have taken at Middlebury. The class challenged me not only to engage with major authors and historical currents, but also to rethink the assumptions I bring to reading itself. Professor Nash structures the course around the idea that African American writing both responds to and redefines American identity, and that literature becomes a site through which questions of citizenship, belonging, and resistance are constantly negotiated. The syllabus moved chronologically, but the discussions rarely felt confined to a single period; instead, each text illuminated long continuities in racial discourse that extend from slavery to the present. One aspect that stood out is Professor Nash’s ability to draw together literary form, historical context, and lived experience. Rather than treating authors as symbolic figures, he pushed us to see them as thinkers responding to specific political and cultural pressures. I especially appreciated his close-reading approach, which encouraged us to look carefully at the language of each text rather than summarize plots. When reading writers like Douglass, Hurston, Baldwin, or Morrison, we constantly returned to the question of what it means to speak, to narrate, or to claim an identity within structures designed to silence those voices.

African American Literature with Professor William Nash was one of the most meaningful courses I have taken at Middlebury. The class challenged me not only to engage with major authors and historical currents, but also to rethink the assumptions I bring to reading itself. Professor Nash structures the course around the idea that Afri …Read more

william nash is an amazing professor, he is super understanding and always willing to accomodate you. fair amount of readings, given that its a literature class, very interesting, and he's a great lecturer. the class is very chill but participation in them is pretty important to get a good grade.