AMSTUD 139Q: Walking, Writing, and Freedom, the American Way
General Education Requirements
Course Description
How have American writers used walking to free themselves, to wander, to unseat, focus, process, organize their thoughts, stroll, or flâner, simply to observe life? A walk can be short or long, take many forms: a daily constitutional, brisk brainstorm, escape, meditation, peripatetic, pilgrimage, relief from grief, pedestrian transportation, treadmill, or simply a break, a means to get to the next thing. Just as there are many kinds of walks, there are many words for walking, action verbs for how the body moves. To amble, hike, march, saunter, stroll, wander, and more. Walking not only enables the writing practice of many American authors; it also advances the plot in much of their work.
American naturalist Edward Hoagland, in “City Walking,” writes, “In my own case, aiming to be a writer, I knew that every mile I walked, the better writer I’d be...”
Rebecca Solnit, a contemporary American writer, says in her 2001 work on walking, Wanderlust, “Walking, ideally, is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned, as though they were three characters finally in conversation together, three notes suddenly making a chord.”
"Staying grounded adds magic to any day. It is where distraction meets intention and focus. If we spend our walks thinking about this afternoon, tonight and tomorrow, the beauty and opportunity of right now disappear. Attention is essential. When you have things on your mind, as we all do, walking helps to sort the mind. ‘Solvitur ambulando’ is a Latin phrase that means ‘it is solved by walking,'" writes influencer Libby DeLana in her guide, Do Walk: Navigate earth, mind and body. Step by step.
In addition to voices like these, we will read about walking in American literature and history and complete ten writing assignments generated through weekly walks. Students will share an article or book related to walking. Students will develop a new understanding of how walking has figured into the essays, articles, and books of American writers.
Meet the Instructor: Christina Mesa
"I currently teach for American Studies and serve as an Undergraduate Advising Director. I first taught about walking, writing, and freedom the American way in a class called 'Americans in Paris, from Jefferson to Baldwin,' for the English Department, over 20 years ago.
“My current scholarship focuses on questions of authorship, language, mobility, race, status, and reversals of fortune. I am writing a book about a man who walks to freedom from American slavery, then expands that freedom to become an author writing about his peregrinations throughout England, Ireland, Scotland, and Paris. I am also working on a dual-lingual novel in which walking the boulevards of Paris advances the plot.”
