Spring 2027

Topics in Ethnic and Multicultural Literature

Explores English literature reflecting ethnic and minority experiences, focusing on multiculturalism and critical analysis of cultural texts.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Ingrid DiranRaquel Kennon

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Kristina Huang, Christine Goding-Doty

The workload included a decent amount of work, but students found it worth the effort. Reviewers emphasized the importance of completing readings and homework on time to succeed.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and critique specific topics surrounding the study of ethnic and multicultural American literature.

  • Recognize how this topic reflects particular ideas surrounding multiculturalism.

  • Identify and apply methods and approaches for analysis of literary and cultural texts to demonstrate literature's contemporary and historical relevance.

  • Leverage writing as a mode of learning and means of conveying critical analysis.

  • Recognize and question cultural assumptions and knowledge claims as they relate to race and ethnicity and how they are affected by socio-historical factors.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
ENGL 461

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2023: 3.94 GPA, 96.3% A/AB (n=27 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.95 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=28 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.98 GPA, 100.0% A/AB (n=30 letter grades).

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.48 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=24 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.68 GPA, 92.9% A/AB (n=28 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

CHRISTINE GODING-DOTY is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

INGRID DIRAN is recorded teaching in Spring 2023, Spring 2025, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KRISTINA HUANG is recorded teaching in Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RAQUEL KENNON is recorded teaching in Spring 2024, Spring 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RUSSELL CASTRONOVO is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 300
LEC 002Classroom Instruction0 / 300

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
Download part 1

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Christine Goding-Doty

Students described the course as a great experience with lectures that were somewhat discussion-based on concepts from readings. One reviewer strongly recommended the course for its quality.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.81 GPA, 88.5% A/AB (n=26 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.81 GPA, 96.4% A/AB (n=56 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.68 GPA, 80.7% A/AB (n=57 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Kristina Huang, Christine Goding-Doty

The workload included a decent amount of work, but students found it worth the effort. Reviewers emphasized the importance of completing readings and homework on time to succeed.

Past student reviews · Russ Castronovo

One student found the class not difficult but frustrating because the instructor made it intimidating to speak, leading to a feeling of regurgitating desired answers rather than open exploration.

Topics

  • Ethnic and minority literature
  • Multiculturalism
  • Race, ethnicity, and socio-historical factors

Skills

  • Critical analysis of ethnic and multicultural literature
  • Application of literary and cultural text analysis methods
  • Interrogation of cultural assumptions related to race and ethnicity

Grades

Latest available · Fall 2025— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Fall 2025

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Fall 2025 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1316 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
ENGL 461 · Spring 2027

Topics in Ethnic and Multicultural Literature

Recorded 2026-10-14
ENGL 461 · Spring 2027

Zora Neale Hurston

Recorded 2026-10-14
ENGL 461 · Spring 2027

Figuring Out Social Change

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
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Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "37eaa6aec4a089ce073a48d7c91171a1280126fc17d8b4624d2e0295cb0d894f",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}