ETS 142 – Narratives of Culture:
Introduction to Issues in Critical Reading
Spring 2016 Course Credits: 3
Instructor: Ms. D’Amato Classroom/Time: 1:46 -2:30 in room 207
Office Hours: M-F 10:34-11:18
Email: bdamato@schools.nyc.gov
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”-T.S. Eliot
“I am part of all I have seen.” -Alfred Lord Tennyson
Course Overview
As with other 100-level ETS courses, ETS 142 introduces students to the discipline of English and Textual Studies, stressing not what is read but how we read it. The goal is not only to show how meanings are created through acts of critical reading, but also to demonstrate the consequences of pursuing one way of reading over another. ETS 142 takes up a number of several major issues of concern to contemporary literary and cultural studies. These issues include authorship, language, reading, subjectivity, ideology, space/time, history, agency, and difference. As we explore each area, you will be introduced to the issues at stake and then examine those issues as they arise in a wide range of cultural texts. You will also be invited to explore these issues in cultural texts you locate outside the class that you will bring in to share in discussion or in your formal papers.
Think of this course as a writing-intensive reading and interpretation workshop. The issues and texts can be challenging when encountered for the first time, and the language in some of the readings may be difficult. But through this course, offered in a workshop approach, you will gain skill at critical reading and effective academic writing. The workshop approach means you will prepare “drafts” (careful reading and annotation, thinking papers). These will be brought to the class, shared, critiqued, and expanded in the community of fellow reader-interpreters (discussion, collaborative work, peer review and presentations). By moving back and forth from the individual to the communal level, difficult abstract concepts will become clearer to everyone in the class.
Course Goals
- Students will gain an expanded understanding of textuality; that is, through this course, students will examine the world as text. Thus “text” may include film, television programs, public spaces, buildings, clothing, the Internet, music, etc., in addition to novels, poetry, plays, and essays.
- Students will learn to apply the language and methods of the discursive practice of textual criticism.
- Students will develop a working knowledge of strategies and genres of cultural analysis and argument.
- Students will gain a sense of how context shapes the production and reception of texts; that is, they will recognize that “truth” is a social construction, and that culture shapes meaning, dictates textual forms, and determines the conventions of reading and interpretation.
Required Course Materials
– Pens or pencils, a notebook for class notes, highlighters, stickies, and whatever else you use when you write and read.
– A 3-ring binder to act as a course portfolio
– Flash drive
Texts
The Theory Toolbox by Jeffrey Nealon and Susan Searls Giroux
Ways of Reading, 9th edition by David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky
- “Hunger as Ideology” by Susan Bordo
- “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger
- “Panopticism” by Michel Focault
- “Beauty (Re)Discovers the Male Body” by Susan Bordo
Critical Terms for Literary Studies 2nd Editon by Frank Lentricchia and Thomas McLaughlin
- “ Unconscious” by Francoise Melter
- “Culture” by Stephen Greenblatt
- “Ideology” by James Kavanagh
Other Core Texts
- “Criticism and Meaning” by Catherine Belsey
- “Representation” by W.J.T. Mitchell
- “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” by Luise Althusser
- “Interpellation” by John Fiske
- “The Jeaning of America” by John Fiske
- “J N” by A. E. Thompkins
- “A Dumped Car” by Gay Hawkins ( from Critical Encounters with Texts, 6th Edtion)
Literary Texts
- “Say Yes” by Tobias Wolff
- “ On the Sybway” & “I Go Back to May 1937” by Sharon Olds
- “Before the Law” by Franz Kafka
- “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin
- “Two Kinds” by Amy Tang
- “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin
- “To Be or Not to Be “ from Hamlet by Shakespeare
- “Birthday Party” by Catherine Brush
- Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez
Films
- The Usual Suspects
- Big Fish
- Crash
- Pleasantville
- Rebel Without A Cause
- Hamlet ( any version)
- “Dead Poets’ Society”
- “The Mill on the Floss” (based on George Eliot’ novel)
- Pride and Prejudice ( based on Jane Austen’s novel)
- Chronicle of a Death Foretold directed by Francesco Rosi adapted by Tonino Guerra
- The Great Gatsby based on the novel by S. Fitzgerald
Formal Papers
During the course of the semester, you will write two formal papers. Each paper will demonstrate your ability to meet the interpretive challenges of applying critical concepts to a reading of a literary or cultural text. The best papers will create new knowledge about particular texts and present that new knowledge in an engaging and reader-friendly manner. Close attention to the particularities of the text and deep analysis using complex critical concepts are required. Papers must follow current MLA guidelines for documentation and format unless the student has received instructor permission to do otherwise.
Thinking Papers
You will also write 7 thinking papers (out of which, pick the best 6 for the response paper grade) during the semester. These are informal responses to some of the course readings. You might consider them as trial runs for the longer formal papers. Basically, they give you an opportunity to test your hand at using critical theory to read texts. Unless otherwise stated, each response paper will either directly engage the ideas of the article, or in the case of literature or film, the response papers will employ the theoretical concepts of the unit to a reading of the particular literary text. You must use the language of the theory and demonstrate a developing understanding of the concepts. Response papers must be one page in length, single-spaced, and typed in a 12 point Times New Roman font. They are graded on a 10-point scale and make up 30% of the final course grade.
Final Agency Unit Project/Portfolio
The final assessment for the third unit is a complex, theory-enriched reading of a cultural text. The project will incorporate several media outlets and have and develop a theory-based claim. Along with this, the project will also involve a concluding implication of the readings and will include a presentation.
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Grading
6 Response(Thinking) Papers 30% (5% each)
Subjectivity Unit Essay 20%
Ideology Unit Essay 20%
Agency Unit Project & Culminating Portfolio 20%
Participation and Informal Writing 10%
Participation and Preparation
Attendance and preparation are very important. Students should not miss more than 6 absences. Completing the readings is essential for success in this course. You must complete all assigned readings before they appear on the course calendar. The expectation is that all students will arrive in class having completed carefully and thoughtfully annotated readings of each assigned text. Students who have not completed the reading will be excluded from participation in classroom discussion. Typically, you will have a written assignment related to the reading due each class meeting.
Participation includes active engagement in each course activity, both in and out of the classroom. This is a very demanding course, but it is also a very rewarding course for students who challenge themselves and work with intellectual curiosity, interest, and energy. Students who do not accept the challenges of this course will be frustrated often and likely disappointed in their work and the grades they receive on their work. This is particularly relevant to class discussion. You must participate actively and thoughtfully in the daily discussion of texts. This means that you not only offer your own views, but that you also listen closely to your classmates and add to the conversation in a valuable way. Participation and preparation constitute 10% of the final course grade.
Because of the detailed daily course calendar you have no excuse for being unprepared for class, even if you have been absent. In the event of an absence, it is your responsibility to contact a classmate as soon as possible to discover what was missed. Missing Monday’s class does not excuse you from completing the homework due on Tuesday. It is best to contact the instructor prior to an absence so assignments can either be given early or rescheduled at a later date.
All assignments must be submitted on or before the specified due date (unless previous arrangements have been made through consultation with and permission by the instructor). Late work will lose one grade (one full letter for formal papers and one point on 10-point scale for think-pieces) per weekday. If you are unable to give the late work to the instructor directly, you must arrange for another student to turn it to the instructor directly or leave it in the appropriate box in the front office clearly labeled and bound in an envelope or folder. Absence does not exclude students from this policy except in the direst circumstances.
Punctuality is important. It shows respect for others and confidence in oneself; moreover, it is essential for establishing one’s credibility. Lateness is simply unacceptable and will reflect in your final grade.
Miscellaneous Concerns
Students who need special consideration because of any sort of disability should make an appointment to see the instructor in the first week of classes.
Syracuse University maintains a high standard of expectation for academic integrity. Intellectual honesty requires the writer to acknowledge indebtedness for ideas and words. Writers use quotation, direct reference, or documentation to acknowledge this indebtedness. Not to do so represents a violation of the honor code that intellectual honesty requires, and carries severe penalties from failure on the paper to University disciplinary action. Students in this class must be scrupulous in giving credit to the ideas that make up their writing, acknowledging indebtedness to their sources. The Modern Language Association’s (MLA) format for documentation will be used in this course.
Students are responsible for reading Syracuse University’s Student Manual for ETS 142 and should know that they will have their work reviewed by Syracuse University. It reserves the right to exercise its policy that allows “work in all media produced by students as part of their course participation at Syracuse University [to] be used for educational purposes.” In short, students in enrolling in the course agree to make all work available for copying and distribution for the class and for the University.
Course Calendar (* Core Reading)
| Dates/Topics | Concepts | Class Activities | Homework Assignments |
| Week 1
T 2/02
Unit 1: Disorientation (3 weeks)-The World as a Text
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-Signifier -Signified -Cultural context -Semiotics -socially constructed signified
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Read and discuss excerpts from * #1 “Criticism and Meaning” by Belsy (page 43-44)- 1.Review syllabus 1.Introduction: The Problem of Meaning: 2. How does meaning occur? The nature of the sign. 3. How is language a social fact? 4. How is ideology signified in “inscribed in signifying system”? 5. How does a text come to have meaning? View and discuss “Duck Amuck” |
Bring in an ad and your “reading” of the ad. Your response should be about 1-2 pages . Be sure to include-
· Descriptions of the signifiers in the ad · The signified meaning each signifier conveys · The ad’s purpose · Your analysis of whether or not it’s effective Read & annotate “Last Duchess” by Robert Browning |
| 2/3 Wed.
Signification/ Representation and History |
Representation institutionalized -indexical representation -paradigm -shift in conventions |
We’ll read and discuss * # 2 “Representation” by W.J.T Mitchell
-How is meaning constructed? -Why is meaning plural? -Examine an interpretation of the “Last Duchess” poem
In small groups, share your ad and response. Be sure to provide constructive critiques |
1.Revise your writing based on the peer review and turn it your #1 Thinking paper. In order to write an interesting thinking paper, be sure to find an ad that speaks to you in an enriched cultural contexts. You may even go as far as discussing what the ad may mean to the mainstream culture but to you, its meaning may be slanted or even offensive.
2. Read * # 3“The Jeaning of America” by Fiske |
| Th 2/4
Representation and History
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-ambiguity
-cultural resistance -pop culture is n expression from the subordinate and disempowered -pop culture contradicts itself -Intertxtuality |
#1 Thinking paper is due. 1. In class, look at a slide show of jeans design from 1960s to present day. Discuss :What do jeans mean to you? Why do you wear them? 2. Based on the cluster of meanings, explore topics of- · Individuality within communal allegiance · Deny class difference · Freedom, Nature & sexuality · Masculinity & femininity · Intertextuality: meanings can only exist in the cultural space between texts that precedes the texts (pg6 in “The Jeaning of America” · We, through commodities, by living it, we validate and invigorate it ( ideology)-pg14 · “A commodity is ideology in material. |
Respond to the quotations from “the Jeanings…”. Let the quotes speak to each other-
“ A mass culture produces a quiescent, passive mass of people, an agglomeration of atomized individuals separated from their position in the social structure, detached from and unaware of their class consciousness, of their various social and cultural allegiances, and the totally disempowered and helpless” (pg 20)
“Popular culture always is part of the power relations; it always bears traces of the constant struggle between dominion and subordination….” (pg 19)
“The process of adopting the signs of resistance incorporates them into the dominant system and thus attempts to rob them of their oppositional meanings” pg 18 2. Bring several images of the same commodity that signifies the shift in meaning in its historical and cultural context. |
| F 2/5
How does meaning shift and change?
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-plurality of meaning -shift in meaning -ideology -dominant culture -subordinate culture |
1. Share your writing based on the three quotations.
2. In small group, share and analyze the images you have brought to the class. 3. Each group presents its finding through discussion. 3. Discuss the writing prompt. |
Start composing your #2 Thinking Paper based on our class discussions and the following prompt-
Identify and describe a “text”, which can be music, dance, fine art, poetry, fashion etc. that was originated from cultural dissent. Do research to explore how the dominant culture absorbed the “subversive text” and made it mainstream, therefore, robbing it of any resistance or oppositions. Be sure to use one quotation from the “Jeaning” essay as your theoretical lens. Bring in your draft tomorrow to class. |
| M. 2/8
How does meaning shift and change? |
1. Share 1st draft of #2 Thinking Paper in small groups. Peer review.
2. Round-robin to share more interesting parts of “The Jeaning of America”. 3. In class, share and discuss ideas from the draft of #2 Thinking Paper |
1. Revise the #2 Thinking Paper based on peer review feedback
2. Read and Annotate * # 4 Nealon & Giroux, Chs. 1 “Why Theory?” & 2“Author/ity” |
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| Week2
T 2/9 Understanding system.
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#2 Thinking paper due 2.Share and examine parts of “ Why Theory & Authority” using annotations. 3. “Jabberwocky.” Looking at words, shoes, ads, visual images. Class group work. |
Read and annotate * # 5 Nealon & Giroux, ch. 3 “Reading.”
Work on Group presentations |
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| W 2/10
Understanding system.
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-natural
-cultural |
1. Small groups present “Jabberwocky.”
2. Share and examine parts of “Reading”. 3. Visit the slide show at http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/introduction.html about semiotics. How do we take for granted signs and symbols, and not things themselves as “natural” aspects of life but in reality, that are anything but. How does this social phenomenon may have important social implications? |
1.Write a one page response to today’s presentation.
2. Bring in an ad that presents a narrative. If you cover up half of the ad, the image has one meaning; when you reveal it in relation to another symbol, it has a different meaning. |
| Th 2/11
Understanding system.
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-paradigm of past-ness
-constructed narrative |
1. Class Image presentation.
2. Continue the presentation of semiotics and its suggested meanings http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/introduction.html |
1.Read and annote * # 6 Nealon and Girooux, ch 7 “History” 2.Start your #3 Thinking Paper based on the prompt: Find an image from any source of the media that connotes a narrative. Describe the image and explain how your interpretation ( meaning of the visual) is constructed. Be sure to use all available signifiers in the image to explain the signified. Piece your fragmented interpretation together to construct a well-thought meaning of the narrative. Be sure to do research to go deeper with the contextualized meaning, and incorporate the appropriate theoretical concepts. |
| F 2/12
Understanding system.
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-codes
-myth |
1. Share notes on “history”
2. Continue the presentation of semiotics and its suggested meanings http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/introduction.html 3. Share your draft on #3 Thinking Paper |
1.Consider: how is the narrative of your image mixed with other signs such as “ myth to suggest richer meaning? Revise your #3 thinking paper.
2. Respond to Q1 pgs118-119, Nealon and Girooux, ch 7 “History” |
| M 2/22
History as representation
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1.Telling histories Group presentations of Q1
2. Issues of gender, race, class and how they were represented in history ( paintings, photographs, literature, song lyrics) |
1.Read and annotate * # 9 Nealon and Giroux, ch 10 “Differences.” 2. Bring in one “text” that issues of gender, race or class are represented. 3. Complete #2 Thinking Paper 4. Read * #9 “Unconscious” by Meltzer |
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| Week 3
T 2/23 |
-Metaphors and metonymies | 1. #2 Thinking Paper due
2. Small groups share representational texts. 3. According to Lacan, “´Metaphor and metonymy’ are shared structure of the unconscious.” ( Discuss Ads) |
Read and annotate Browning, “My Last Duchess”
& *Tobias Wolff, “Say Yes” in the light of the lens that ´Metaphor and metonymy are shared structure of the unconscious.” |
| W 2/24
Metaphors/ |
1.Small groups share “My Last Duchess”
& *Tobias Wolff, “Say Yes” 3. Discuss “Metaphor &Metonymy” pd 160 “Unconscious” by Meltzer in Critical Terms Literary Study 2nd Edition |
1.Read and annotate “Blake, “The Lamb.” * # 10 McLaughlin, “Figurative Language” 2. *Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz” 3. Karl Shapiro, “The Fly” |
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| Th 2/25 | Group class present Blake, “The Lamb. & Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz” | 1Respond “How unstable is meaning? How ‘relative’?” based on the three poems we have discussed in class.
2.Read and annotate “Chimney Sweepers” by William Blake |
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| F 2/26
How unstable is meaning? |
How ‘relative’? |
Discussion of examples, issues implied in “The Lamb” & Theodore Roethke, “My Papa’s Waltz” “ Chimney Sweepers”& “My Last Duchess” What holds meanings ‘in place’? What are the issues? | Complete #3 Thinking Paper |
| Unit 2
Subjectivity & “Self” ( 6 weeks) Week 4 M 2/29 |
– The split subject
self= unconscious subject=conscious |
#3Thinking Paper Due
“split subject” on pgs 157-159 “Unconscious” by Meltzer in Critical Terms Literary Study 2nd Edition
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Read and annotate * # 11Nealon and Giroux, ch. 4 “Subjectivity”
*Hegel, the master/slave relationship (pg 157 “Unconscious” by Meltzer in Critical Terms Literary Study 2nd Edition |
| T 3/1
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-Subjectivity and the ‘individual’ Subject=Self Deviant Identity
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Lecture/discussion of issues in subjectivity
Excerpts from “Unconscious” by Meltzer in Critical Terms Literary Study 2nd Edition Selves are subject to cultural & social formation |
1.Read and annotate “desire” on pd 160 Unconscious” by Meltzer in Critical Terms Literary Study 2nd Edition 2. Read and annotate “I Go Back to May 1937” and “On the Subway” by Sharon Olds; “Ain’t I Woman?” & “Say Yes” by Tobias Wolff |
| W 3/2
Tension within Subjectivity
Essential Self vs Deviant Self |
Self as subversive
Self is causing this to happen. Subject is responding to things that happen. |
1.Groups share and present the reading of the poems in the light of tension and entanglement within subjectivity.
2.Why is there always an internal conflict? Self vs the others (authority such as government, parents, school, ideology etc.) 3.Hamlet’s “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy; Macbeth’s “ …only Vaulting Ambition…” soliloquy |
Start drafting your #4 Thinking Paper by responding to the prompt#1-
Through the innate tension within subjectivity, analyze a prevalent social or cultural narrative, which is to “rebel against authority” as a way of gaining one’s independence, a sense of self. Suggested short stories: “Two Kinds” by Amy Tang; “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin |
| Th 3/3
Subject-responding to things that are already there |
Self can never be free from social contents.
Self –before the law, intrinsic needs
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“Metaphor and Metonymy “ in advertisement
Small Groups share drafts. Peer review. |
Prompt#2
According to Lacan, “Metaphor and Metonymy are share structure of the unconscious. The “self” within the subject lurks from such “chains of signifier”. Use the poem “I Go Back to May 1937” by Sharon Olds and another poem of your selection to examine how the “self” struggles to free itself from the entanglement within subjectivity. |
| F 3/4
Subject is the fabricated product of social contexts.
Culture as a system of constraints. Pg 227 |
-constraint
-mobility -material culture -culture of civilization Pg 225 in “Culture” by Greenblatt
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1.Small groups share responses.
2. We ask ourselves a set of cultural questions about the text before us- -What kind of behavior, what models of practice, does this work seems to enforce? -Are there any differences bet my values and those implied in the work I’m reading? -Upon what social understanding does the work depend? -Whose freedom of thought or movement might be constrained implicitly or explicitly by this work?(pg226 in “Culture” by Greenblatt |
1. Read and annotate * # 12 “Culture” by Greenblatt
2. Revise one of the responses as your #4 Thinking Paper 3.Read and annotate * # 13“Deconstructing the Texts” by Belsey |
| Week 5/7 | -culture code
-literary works as the symbolic dimension of social practice
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1.Unpack “Culture” by Greenblatt to explore how particular subjectivities and certain relationships of power are produced and reproduced through literature
2. Discuss “Pride and Prejudice” 3. -Unpack “ Deconstructing the Texts” by Belsey |
Watch the film “Pride and Prejudice” based on Jane Austen’s novel
Respond to the questions- -.Upon what social understanding does the film depend? -Are there any differences bet my values and those implied in the work I’m reading? – What kind of behavior, what models of practice, does this work seems to enforce? -How does Elizabeth Bennet unravel the entanglement within her subjectivity to be happy? |
| T 3//8
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#4 Thinking Paper is due.
Discuss “Pride and Prejudice”
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Watch “The Mill on the Floss” based on George Eliot’s novel. Consider- -What does Maggie really want ( deviant self)? -What are the code of conduct expected of a decent woman in the Victorian England? -Based on the notion of slip subjectivity, is Maggie’s death accidental or suicidal? Why? |
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| W 3/9
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Unpack ““The Mills on the Floss” and compare the subjectivity of the main characters in two movies-Elizabeth and Maggie | Thinking Paper #5
Write a response to compare the two characters in the light of subjectivity. Be sure to provide a theoretical lens by quoting from The Subjectivity chapter or “Unconscious’ by Meltzer |
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| Th 3/10
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Groups and class share responses. Peer review. | Revise the response.
Continue reading “ Deconstructing the Texts” by Belsey. Pick out one quotation that speaks to “in-depth” reading. |
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| F 3/11 | Continue unpacking “ Deconstructing the Texts” by Belsey
Watch the video “The Lunch Date” in YouTube and discuss. Note: Using Foucault’s theory for the Subjectivity paper is optional but if you use it effectively, you will gain an extra grade (point) for your paper. |
Read and annotate Claud McKay’s “Harlem Dancer”
Find one quotation from the core reading- “Unconscious’, “Culture”, “Theory Toolbox” that speaks to the poem concerning the dancer’s subjectivity.
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| Week 6
M 3/14
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Thinking Paper #5 due
Belsey continued; making sense of a difficult piece. |
Find a quote from Belsey that can serve as a discussion topic.
Find an image that relates to Belsey’s essay. Be prepared to discuss your findings. |
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| T 3/15
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Image analysis – How are these texts situated in cultural, political, and historical contexts? | 1.Read and annotate Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law”
2. Read “Panopticism” by Michel Foucault and be ready to discuss in small groups.
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| W 3/16 | Panopticism | Discuss Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law”
Unpack Panopticism” by Michel Foucault
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Find a quotation from Panopticism” by Michel Foucault and it needs tospeak to the concept of Subjectivity. |
| Th 3/17
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Unpack Panopticism” by Michel Foucault | Find a quotation form “Panopticism” to demonstrate how the “self” is a willingly participant in the social and cultural machine.
Find another quotation that suggests the culture as a confining “jail” in a metaphorical sense. In what ways is our social institution resembles a jail that imprisons individuals/individuality? |
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| F 3/18 | Unpack Panopticism” by Michel Foucault
Share quotations from Panopticism”. |
Respond to “Sonny’s blue” by James Baldwin. How does the “blues” symbolize Sonny’s self? If the story would continue, what would happen to Sonny’s life in the social setting where the story took place? | |
| Week 7
M 3/21
Subjectivity Essay
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Share Sonny’s Blue’s responses.
Introduction to Subjectivity Essay
You can use one of the Thinking papers as foundation to develop your Subjectivity essay. There are several theoretical focuses you can choose from- 1. The self against culture( subject) as the model for “rebel-against-authority narrative”. 2. The irreconcilability between self and subject can result in death as escape. Or any other from the chapter of “Subjectivity” in The Theory Toolbox |
Subjectivity Essay Prompt
Choose one of the following texts, “The Story of an Hour”, “ The Revolt of Mother”, “The YELLOW Wallpaper” or A Rose for Emily” and write a 6-8-page paper in which you examine and analyze how the author uses language to represent issues of culture, authority, subjectivity and gender. Use what you have learned about subjectivity and culture in “Unconscious” by Meltzer, “Culture” by Greenblatt and “Subjectivity” chapter in The Theory Toolbox as the theoretical focuses for your analysis. |
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| T 3/22
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-claim -Patterns and Binaries
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Select quotations from “Subjectivity” in The Theory Toolbox for class discussion.
Understand the facets within Subjectivity and how each facet helps complement each other. Claim making |
Prepare for a proposal for the essay with a claim. |
| W 3/23
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Rhetorical sourcing | Claim workshop
Small groups workshop on claims. Class and groups share proposal. Discuss “Birthday Party” by Catherine Brush and generate a claim. |
Revise your claim.
Find one quotation from one of the cortices and examine how the narrative speaks or contradicts the theory. |
| Th 3/24
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Complicating the claim | Small groups share the quotation and supporting details and illustrative examples.
DO research and provide a frame of the story’s historical, social and cultural background, which will shed light on a character’s thoughts, speech and behavior. |
Revise.
Find two more quotations and let the three quotations converse. In what relations can they be situated so they can coexist or otherwise contradict or undermine each other? |
| F 3/27 | Small groups share and critique.
Small group Workshop for the essay. Discuss Gender, Race and Class. |
Complete the 1st draft of the essay. Read “Difference” chapter in Theory Toolbox.
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| Week 8
M 3/28
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First draft due. Peer review.
10-on-1 strategy of using evidence in an effective essay.
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Revise the essay.
What beliefs are being challenged or questioned in the narrative? How does the author convey the discord between the self and subject? |
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| T 3/29
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Discuss Subjectivity and Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
What’s the best theoretical lens can we describe the cause of Mrs. Mallard’s death?
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How does the social norm treat gender, race and class in your narrative? Describe in details the contextualized subject of your narrative. How is the self situated in the entanglement? | |
| W 3/30
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Discuss “ The Revolt of Mother” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman | Continue revising the essay.
Look for signifier ( language) to demonstrate the “confined & struggling and rebellious”( id, ego) self and the culturally fabricated subject.( alter ego) |
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| Th 3/31
F 4/1 |
Discuss the “Yellow Wall Paper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman | Continue with the revision
Create a mapping to show the structure and claim development of your essay. Bring the mapping for conference. |
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| Week 9
M 4/11
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Use the mapping of your essay for conference
Review strategies to write an effective intro and conclusion. |
Continue with the revision. | |
| T 4/12
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Diction.
Conference. |
Continue with the revision | |
| W 4/13 | Framing and evidence situation. | Continue with the revision | |
| Th 4/14-4/15
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10-on-1 strategy of using evidence in an effective essay.
Work on diction and syntax |
Continue writing the essay.
The final Subjectivity essay due on Monday 4/20. |
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| Ideology Unit
(6 weeks)
Week 10 M 4/18 |
-ideology | The final Subjectivity essay due .
Intro to Ideology unit. What is ideology? Are we all the fabrication of ideology? What’s your understanding of ideology? How is the word used in daily life? |
1.Read and annotate Nealon and Giroux, ch. 6 “Ideology.”
2. Transcribe a dialogue among your family members about an issue and bring it to class. |
| T 4/19
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Deep reading of the text.
Share transcription. What ideology is conveyed in the dialogue?
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Read and annotate “Ideology.” James H. Kavanagh. | |
| W 4/20 | Unpack “Ideology” by James H. Kavanagh.
Draw an ideology tree.= pragmatic, romantic, political, gender, hunger, body, class, religious, ethnic, manner, education, marriage, success |
Create a dialogic journal responding to some quotations( 3 alt least) in the essay. Let the quote speak to each other. | |
| Th 4/21
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Unpack “Ideology” by James H. Kavanagh
Examine and concepts and examples in the essay. Share dialogic journals in small groups and class. |
Read and annotate “Ideology and the Ideology State Apparatus” by Luis Arthusser. | |
| F 4/22
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Examine the concepts and examples in Ideology and the Ideology State Apparatus” by Luis Arthusser. | Continue reading “Ideology and the Ideology State Apparatus” by Luis Arthusser. Create a dialogic journal responding to some quotations( 3 at least) in the essay. Let the quote speak to each other. | |
| Week 11
M 5/ 2
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Deep reading of text
Presentation of ideology http://www.uvm.edu/~tstreete/semiotics_and_ads/introduction.html Identifying discourse in cultural texts
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Find an image ( an add or poster or photo) that demonstrates a specific ideology. Prepare for presentation. | |
| T 5/ 3
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Discourse | discourse in cultural texts-presentation
– Colonial ideology – Protestant ideology – Christian ideology – Republican – Democrat’s – Sexuality – Gender study-class |
Write a page or two (#6Thinking Paper) to respond o the prompt-
How is Hollywood a social apparatus of political ideology? Describe and discuss a movie and examine what and how Hollywood propounds its ideology. Be sure to use a quotation or two from Arthusser or Kavanagh’s essays to select 3 quotations and apply them to your writing. |
| W 5/4
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Authors, narrators, and authority | Class and group share responses.
Review some concepts in “Panoticism”. What are the materialized ideologies manifested in the essay? How do films explicitly explore the different ways in which ideology works on social subjectivity? |
Read and annotate John Friske’s “Interpellation”
Think of a sign or hailing that a social group can identify. |
| Th 5/5
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symbolic Social system | #6Thinking Paper Due
hare a sign or hailing or “interpellation” that belongs to a specific social or cultural group. Ideology has no history.
Watch a clip of a film TBA and discuss the pervasive nature of ideology or how ideology works both consciously and unconsciously.
Find one quotation from each of the core reading-Fucault’s “Panopticim”, Kavanagh’s” “ Ideology” , Friske’s “Interpellation” and Althursser’s “ Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”. How can the quotation be situated or framed in the film, affirming, contradicting, or nuancing? |
Pick one film from the Suggested list for the Ideology project-
1. The SIlkwork 2. My Brother’s Keeper 3. Dead Poets’ Society 4. The Great Gatsby 5. The Letter 6. Pleasantville 7. The Pianist 8. Charlotte Gray 9. Enemy of the State Thinking Paper #7 Watch a movie and do the same activities we did in class. Find one quotation from each of the core reading. If you need to paraphrase the quotations, do so before with the analysis. Let the quote converse with each other and discuss how each quotation is situated or framed in the film (1-2 PAGES.) Draft. |
| F 5/6
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Making Meaning of “Ideology” and _____( you film).
Share draft and peer review. Read and annotate an editorial. Write a pager responding to- What kind of ideology governs the writer’s voice and opinions? Pay special attention to the diction. Group and class share editorial analysis.
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Write an editorial on a current issue.
Revise your thinking paper. We choose our ideologies to follow but we were also the products of ideologies before we were born. |
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| Week 12
M 5/9
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Groups share editorials. Uncover the writer’s identity though uncovering his/her ideology system.. Describe your partner’s identity based on your reading of his/her editorial. | Read and annotate “Ways of Seeing” by John Berger pgs 141-159 in Way of Reading 9th Edition
Bring an image that’s imbued with ideology. The Big Three: Race, Class, Gender. |
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| T 5/10
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Unpack Ways of Seeing” by John Berger.
Share images and governing or implied ideology. |
Watch another movie from the list and create an imaginary dialogue among Foucault, Kavanagh , Althursser and Friske. What would they say about the movie? You can find direct quotations as their comments. | |
| W 5/11
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Thinking Paper #7 Due
Share imaginary dialogue. Watch a clip of Miss Little Sunshine and discuss. |
Watch another film and start making a decision which film you’ll use for your Ideology Essay. Write a proposal for your ideology paper. Make sure, you specify a focal point about ideology. | |
| Th 5/12
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Share and critique proposal.
Read “On the Subway” and “Street Calculus.” Locate binaries, signs. |
Locate patterns and binaries of the film you will write about. Start writing your ideology essay. You need to articulate what ideology you’ll write about and how it will play out in the film through characters and plot. | |
| F 5/13 | Marginalized, yes…but how? By definition, strangers are people we do not know.
Discuss “Recognizing Strangers.” |
Read and annotate “Recognizing Strangers.” By SARA Ahmed .Come to class with a Q.T.I.-Questions, Topics and Information | |
| Week 13
M 5/16
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Continue “Strangers” discussion. What does this essay say about our community or the ones in your film? | Find three quotations from ““Recognizing Strangers” and situate them in your essay as your response to the film. | |
| T 5/17
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Read “Seeing Making Culture” by Bell Hooks (pg 219-224 in C.E)
How is poverty not visible? It exists but where is it? |
Continue reading and annotating Seeing Making Culture”. Is there specific quotation in the essay that describes the immediate society you live in? | |
| W 5/18
Th 5/19 |
Show film “Charlotte Gray “. | Find three possible focal points about ideology you will apply to your ideology essay. You’ll analyze a cultural narrative (film )of your choice to demonstrate how the film illustrates your focal point. | |
| F 5/20 | Show film “Charlotte Gray “
Quotation #1 (binder section 22)
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(Continued about the Ideology essay)
The emphasis in your paper should be to examine some aspect of ideology and how that particular aspect is embedded or resisted in one or two cultural narratives( films or story) you have viewed or read. Do not discuss the plot , characterization or theme aspect of the narrative but show how the narrative embeds or resist some aspect of the complex ways culture deploys ideology to reinforce of “self”, or “reality” or “Society”. The paper should be about 2000 words in length and must adhere to the standards of academic integrity. |
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| Week 14
M 5/23
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No class. Memorial Day | ||
| T5/24
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Small group conference | Continue working on your paper. | |
| W 5/25
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Small group conference | Continue working on your paper. | |
| Th 5/26
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Small group conference | Continue working on your paper.
First draft due on tomorrow. Bring in your mapping for the claim to conference. |
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| F 5/27 | First draft due
Individual conference. |
Work on revision. | |
| Week 15 | |||
| M 5/30
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Individual conference. | Work on revision. | |
| T 5/31
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Individual conference. | Work on revision. | |
| W 6/1 | Individual conference.
Start thinking ideas for Agency Project. |
Work on revision. | |
| Th 6/2 | Class and group share. Write a reflection. | Work on revision.
Final Ideology Essay Due 6/1. |
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| Week 16
F 6/3 M 6/6 |
Agency
( 3 weeks)
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Final Ideology Essay Due
Introduction to Agency Project ( see assignment handout) Brainstorm ideas for the project. |
Start working on a proposal for your agency project.
Read “Agency” Chapter in Theory Toolbox |
| T 6/7
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Discuss “agency concept” and project ideas.
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Continue writing your proposal. Refer to the suggested ideas list.
Read and annotate Michel De Certeau’s The Practice of Everyday Life excerpts |
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| W 6/8
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Workshop ideas for Agency unit.
Discuss Michel De Certeau’s The Practice of Everyday Life excerpts |
1st draft proposal is due tomorrow.
Read and annotate Read and annotate Gay Hawkins’ “A Dumped Car” |
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| Th 6/9 | Share and critique proposals.
Discuss Gay Hawkins’ “A Dumped Car” |
Revise your proposal. It must contain a claim. | |
| Week 17
F 6/10
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Hand in your proposal.
Review focal points in Mary Louise Pratt’s “Arts of the Contact Zone” Start work-shopping about the multimedia you’ll use for your project. Introducing the final portfolio |
Continue working on the agency project
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| M 6/13 | Group conferencing and working on the project. | Continue working on the agency project
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| T 6/14
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Group conferencing and working on the project | Continue working on the agency project
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| W 6/15
F 6/17 |
Group conferencing and working on the project and portfolio | Continue working on the agency project
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| Week 18
M 6/20 |
Agency Unit due
Presentation |