schedule

Course Schedule

  • texts with [C] are available via our Commons Group; for other texts, either follow the link or read the book
  • important: dates, readings, and assignments are subject to change. The schedule on this website is our schedule: please don't rely on the original printout from the first week!

1/27: Introduction, requirements, assignments

  • introductions
  • syllabus review
  • mini-discussion on theme of "What is Theory" The handy introduction from Culler, accessible here is recommended to read prior to class but not required.

1: Language/Structure/Signs

1/31:

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lying…” (752-62)
  • annoucements/work due:
    • last day to add a class
    • last day to drop for 75% tuition refund, and
    • Financial Aid Certification Enrollment Status date

2/3

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Saussure, from Course in General Linguistics (824-40)
    • Optional: Jonathan Culler on Saussure [C]
  • annoucements/work due:
    • Blog post #1 due: submit to course site and follow guidelines in my Blogging 101 post
    • Grade of “WD” is assigned to students who officially drop a course after 2/1/23

2/7

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)

    • Roland Barthes, “The Eiffel Tower” [C]; “The Death of the Author”(1268-72)
  • annoucements/work due:
    • Note: Friday schedule!!
    • Last day to drop for 50% tuition refund

2/10

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)

    • Genette, from Paratexts [C]
  • annoucements/work due:
    • Blog post #2 due
    • 2/17 is:

2/14

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Moretti, from Graphs, Maps, Trees (2255-77)
  • annoucements/work due:
    • Last day to drop for 25% tuition refund &
    • Last day to change or declare a major or minor to be effective for Spring
    • on 2/15/23,“WN” Grades assigned Grade of “W” assigned to students who officially drop a course

2/17

  • Review/catchup: no new reading

2: Ideology/Hegemony/Power

2/24 (no class 2/21: Monday schedule)

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Marx/Engels:
      • from Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 (655-9);
      • from The German Ideology (659-61);
      • from Capital (667-75).
      • Recommended: Raymond Williams, “Ideology” from Keywords [C]

2/28

  • readings:

    • Antonio Gramsci, “Formation of the Intellectuals” (1002-08)
    • Raymond Williams, “Hegemony” from Marxism and Literature [C]
  • annoucements/work due:
    • Blog Post #3 due

3/3

  • readings:
    • Louis Althusser, “Ideology and ISAs” (1285-1311)

3/7

  • readings:
    • Franz Fanon, from “The Fact of Blackness” and "On National Culture" (1353-67)

3/10

  • readings:
    • Michel Foucault, "Society Must be Defended" (1440-50)

3/14

  • readings:
    • Mbembe, "Necropolitics" [C]
  • work due:
    • Blog Post #4 due

3/17

  • Review/catchup: no new reading

3/21 Take-home midterm

  • no class today
  • due via Dropbox by Wednesday 3/22 by 5pm: template and Dropbox link TBA

3: Psyche/the Subject/Affect

3/24

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams (789-99)

3/28

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Meltzer, “Unconscious”[C];
    • Lacan, “The Mirror Stage” (1111-17)
  • work due
    • Blog Post #5 due

3/31:

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Kristeva, from Revolution in Poetic Language (2071-81)

4/4

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1954-66)
  • happy Spring Break (and holidays, if you celebrate any)!!

4/14

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)

    • Sianne Ngai, from Ugly Feelings (2641-50)
  • work due:
    • proposals for final exam opt-out research project due (if interested)

4/18

  • Review/catchup: no new reading

4: Special Topic: Culture, Climate, and Catastrophe

4/21

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Rob Nixon, from Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor (2355-72)

4/25

4/28: Class missed due to sickness

5/2:

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Jane Bennett, from Vibrant Matter
  • work due:
    • Blog Post #6 due

5/5

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Timothy Morton, from The Ecological Thought (2621-2631)

5/9: review for final exam

  • come to class with at least three study questions you'd like to review and some ideas for a possible essay question for the exam

5/16: Final Exam

  • due Tuesday 5/16 at midnight
  • template and link TBA
  • 5/16/23 is last day to drop a course with a grade of “W”
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