Week 1 – Introductions
W 8/27
Course Introduction and Welcome
F 8/29
Course Introduction Continued
Week 2 – Understanding Theory
M 9/1 – No Class Meeting
W 9/3
Read: Devin M. Garofalo “Critical Theory: A Brief Guide” (Canvas)
F 9/5
Read: Peter Barry “Theory before ‘theory’” (Beginning Theory, pgs. 11-38)
Week 3 – Structuralism
M 9/8
Read: Peter Barry “Structuralism” (Beginning Theory, pgs. 40-60)
W 9/10
Read: Ferdinand de Saussure “Course in General Linguistics” (Canvas)
F 9/12
Structuralism Check In!
Week 4 – Poststructuralism
M 9/15
Read: Peter Barry “Post-structuralism and deconstruction” (Beginning Theory, pgs. 61-95)
W 9/17
Read: Jacques Derrida “Structure, Sign, and Play” (Canvas)
F 9/19
Read: Roland Barthes “The Death of the Author”
Week 5 – Psychoanalysis
(Note: Group presentations begin this week.)
M 9/22
Read: Peter Barry “Psychoanalytic criticism” (Beginning Theory, pgs. 97-120)
W 9/24
Group 1 Presentation!
Read: Sigmund Freud from “The Interpretation of Dreams” (Canvas)
F 9/26
Read: Jacques Lacan “The Mirror Stage” (Canvas)
Week 6 – Materialist Theory
M 9/29
Read: Peter Barry “Materialist Criticism” (Beginning Theory, pgs. 159-173)
W 10/1
Group 2 Presentation!
Read: Karl Mrrx from Capital (Canvas)
F 10/3
Paper 1 + Reflective Analysis Due on Canvas
Read: Louis Althusser “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” (Canvas)
Week 7 – Feminist Studies
M 10/6
Read: Peter Barry “Feminist Criticism” (Beginning Theory, pgs. 123-138)
W 10/8
Group 3 Presentation!
Read: Annette Kolodny “Dancing Through the Minefield” (Canvas)
F 10/10
Theory check-in day!
Week 8 – Midterm Exam
M 10/13 – Fall Break
W 10/15
Midterm Exam Review in Class
F 10/17
Midterm Exam (Covers Weeks 3-7)
Week 9 – Queer Theory
M 10/20
Read: Peter Barry “Queer Theory” (Beginning Theory, pgs. 141-155)
W 10/22
Read: Judith Butler from Gender Trouble
F 10/24
Theory check-in day!
Week 10 – Ethnic Studies
M 10/27
Read: W.E.B. DuBois “Criteria of Negro Art” (Canvas)
Read: Toni Morrison from Playing in the Dark (Canvas)
W 10/29
Group 4 Presentation!
Read: Paula Gunn Allen “The Sacred Hoop” (Canvas)
F 10/31
Read: Gloria Anzaldúa “To live in the Borderlands means you” and “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” (Canvas)
Week 11 – Critical Race Studies + Theory
M 11/3
Read: Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic “C R T: Introduction” (Canvas)
W 11/5
Group 5 Presentation!
Read: Tara J. Yosso “Whose culture has capital?” (Canvas)
F 11/7
Read: Kimberlé Crenshaw “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color” (Canvas)
Week 12 – Postcolonial Studies
M 11/10
Read: Peter Barry “Postcolonial Criticism” (Beginning Theory, pgs. 194-203)
W 11/12
Group 6 Presentation!
Read: Edward Said from Orientalism (Canvas)
F 11/14
Read: Gayatri Spivak “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (Canvas)
Week 13 – Ecocriticism
M 11/17
Read: Peter Barry “Ecocriticism” (Beginning Theory, pgs. 248-275)
W 11/19
Group 7 Presentation!
Read: Ursula Heise “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Ecocriticism” (Canvas)
F 11/21
Read: Laurence Buell “Ecocriticism: Some Emerging Trends”
***Thanksgiving Break***
Week 14 – Wrapping Up + Final Exam
M 12/1
Final Paper Workshop
W 12/3
Final Exam Review in Class
F 12/5 Last Day of Class
Final Exam (Covers Weeks 9-13)
Paper 2 + Reflective Analysis Due on Canvas December 12