schedule

Course Schedule

  • texts with [C] are available via our Commons Group in the LIBRARY; 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!

1/25: Introduction, requirements, assignments

  • introductions: feel free to introduce yourself virtually as well via the nifty padlet!
  • 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

1/29:

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Nietzsche, “On Truth and Lying…” (752-62)
  • annoucements/work due:
    • 1/31 is...
      • last day to add a class
      • last day to drop for 75% tuition refund, and
      • Financial Aid Certification Enrollment Status date

2/1

  • 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

2/5

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

    • Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling" and “The Eiffel Tower” [C]; “The Reality Effect”(1272-77)
  • annoucements/work due:
    • 2/7 is last day to drop for 50% tuition refund

2/8

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

    • Barbara Johnson "Melville's Fist" [C]
  • annoucements/work due:
    • No class Monday 2/12!!

2/15

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

    • Bogost, "The Rhetoric of Video Games" (2653-72)
  • annoucements/work due:
    • Blog post #2 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

2/22

  • Review/catchup: no new reading

2: Ideology/Hegemony/Power

2/26

  • 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). The excerpt from "The Working Day" is optional.
      • 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

2/29

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

3/4

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

3/7

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

3/11

  • readings:
    • Spivak, "Can the Subaltern Speak?" (2001-12)
  • work due:
    • Blog Post #4 due

3/14

  • Review/catchup: no new reading

3/18 Midterm Exam

3: Psyche/the Subject/Affect

3/21

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
  • Meltzer, “Unconscious”[C];
  • Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams (789-99)

3/25

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Freud, "Fetishism" (816-19)
    • Lacan, “The Mirror Stage” (1111-17)
  • work due

3/28:

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" (1954-66)
    • Blog Post #5 due

4/1:

  • readings:
    • Du Bois, from The Souls of Black Folk (841-7)
    • Spillers, "Mama's Baby, Papa's Maybe" (C)

4/4:

  • readings:
    • Jack Halberstam, from Female Masculinity (2525-48)
  • work due:
    • --proposals for final exam opt-out research project due (optional and only for A contracts)--

4/8

  • Review/catchup: no new reading
    • proposals for final exam opt-out research project due (optional and only for A contracts)

4: Special Topic: Human and Animal

4/11:

4/15:

  • readings
    • Haraway, "A Companion Species Manifesto" (2065-71)

4/18:

  • readings
    • Nussbaum, "Frontiers of justice: capabilities and animals" [C]
    • Deleuze and Guattari, "Becoming-animal" [C] (NOTE CHANGE)
  • work due:
    • 4/19 is last day to modify grade contracts. Must meet in person with Prof. Allred to make any changes

5/2:

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Derrida, "The animal that therefore I am (more to follow)" [C] (read as far as you can: at least to p. 400)

5/6

  • readings (all readings due on the day they're listed)
    • Derrida, "The animal that therefore I am (more to follow)" [C] (finish)
  • work due:
    • Blog Post #6 due

5/8: review for final exam

  • come to class with at least three study questions you'd like to review

5/13: Final Exam

  • Short Answers in blue books during class (for everyone, unless you're doing a research project)
  • Essays (for A contracts not doing research projects) due Wednesday 5/15 at 5pm
    • I will share the essay questions and template on Monday via email/blog post
  • Self-assessments (for all students) also due Wednesday 5/15 at 5pm
  • 5/15 is last day to drop a course with a grade of “W”
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