English And Comparative Literature · Columbia University
She was amazing. The readings were so interesting and she was such a great lecturer. My favorite class.
Amazing class! All selected texts are incredibly interesting and enlightening. Her lecture style is excellent, very engaging, yet relaxed. There's one 5-page paper, one in class midterm (IDs, passage analysis, and essay) and one take home final (three 2-4 page essays on different topics and including most of the texts/authors as options for analysis...basically lots of freedom to craft eloquent essays). If you do the readings, you will do very well in the class. I recommend attending lectures because Farah Griffin provides great insight on the various texts. Midterm: 92, Essay: 92, Final: 96
Loved the class, fantastic lecturer, at the forefront of her field. Columbia is lucky to have her and you will be very lucky to take a class with her.
I adored this class. Professor Griffin is an amazing teacher, and the subject matter was very interesting. She is a great lecturer, and as long as you pay attention to her and attend class regularly there is no reason why you should not get an A. The TA, Valeria Tsygankova, was also extremely helpful, and was willing to extend an essay deadline that was due a day when I had three other papers due. I definitely recommend this class to fulfill a literature requirement; it's not too difficult and very interesting, and could be a good GPA boost if you play your cards right.
I was disappointed. While Professor Griffin is very nice and incredibly knowledgeable, it was hard for me to invest much in this class. Part of the reason was that I didn't find my classmates' comments to be particularly insightful, and I wanted Prof. Griffin to clamp down on that more. Also, her grading was extremely easy-- it did not give me much incentive to work harder. That said, the reading is interesting and you will learn a lot about black intellectual history. I wish we read more complete novels rather than excerpts, but the nonfiction (political) stuff we read was very good.
Excellent class. Professor Griffin assigns the right amount of work for each class, it's substantial enough that you feel like you're leaning, but not so much that you feel overwhelmed and don't do it. Her lectures are really interesting and she takes questions at the end of each class. She is able to place each text within a historical and literary context so you leave feeling like you've really understood many dimensions of the text. She's super nice and funny, very welcoming at office hours and replies promptly to emails. Highly recommended for anyone looking to get a solid background in AA literature.
I just want to begin with: I hope that I can take another class with this woman before I graduate. She must be the best kept secret on CULPA. I think Dr. Griffin is actually forced to keep her feet wet amongst undergraduates because she lectures as if we know a lot more than a lot of us actually know. She seems to really enjoy talking to the students who can connect what we are reading to their knowledge of the cannon of African American and feminist literature although she encourages new interpretations of the work. If you can make a good argument for something she didnÂ’t lecture on, she is receptive. So for everybody who wants an opportunity to express their thoughts that fall outside of the regurgitative box that the professor built—hereÂ’s your chance. She's very passionate about her subject and wants her students to understand everything that birthed the writings. This is her life. She writes books about it, lectures about it and runs the Institute for Research in African American Studies which amounts to her probably being one of the busiest professors with whom you will have to try to meet and her schedule fills up quickly. Email her and youÂ’ll have more success. SheÂ’ll reply to your email and have an answer ready to discuss with you and/or the class at the next meeting. Dr. GriffinÂ’s appointments have to go through her secretary. Only use her secretary for appoint…
Professor Griffin is a wonderful instructor. Not only is she incredibly articulate and engaging, but she is also readily available to meet with her students outside of class. Although this was a lecture class, Professor Griffin made an effort to include students in discussion. The readings were all very interesting and Professor Griffin's ability to break down texts made them even more enjoyable. Professor Griffin truly seems to care about enabling her students to succeed in the class. Not to mention the TA, Jarvis, was equally as helpful and approachable!
Dr. Griffin is absolutely passionate about her topic. Unfortuneately she analyzes the novels withing the context of their social/historical/political framework but so do half the profs in the English department. She does comment on the poetry of Baldwin and Morrisson but you just can't miss that. Major themes that you are going to be tested on will be both literary and political with a slant towards course long political themes. She's really sweet and approachable but not highly accessible since she must have one of the busiest schedules on the campus. She is responsive to emails and gives you a lot of notice for all of your assignments like 1-3 months in advance instead of just two weeks like some of the professors. But... she does not grade generously. Do your work, come to class stay on top of things and really knock out at least one thing and you'll be okay because she gives the heaviest weight to the assignment that you do the best on and will calculate the worst assignment at a muuuuuch lower percentage rate. She has one of the most interesting classes that I have taken in my two semesters at Columbia so its a shame she's taking off for 2006-2007 to write a book but that's what she does.
Not bad at all; in class midterm, take home final, and essay. She did surprise us with a pop quiz but it ended up not counting towards our final grade. There are readings (obviously) but you can do those the night or two before and still do well.