Without further ado, the blog posts for the presentations!
End-of-Semester Schedule
Just so that everything is in one place, here’s a run-down of our remaining tasks and time together:
Thursday, April 26, 5 p.m.: Blog Portfolio due at my office (Dolan #4)
Monday, April 30, in class: DRAFT of reflective essay due in class; begin work on group presentations
Tuesday May 1, 5 p.m.: Reflective Essay Due, either at my office or via email
Wednesday, May 2, in class: continue work on group presentations
Thursday, May 3, 8 p.m.: send link for group presentation materials to me!
Friday, May 4, 10:45-1:15, in class: group presentations
Monday, May 7, 5 p.m.: optional rewrite assignment due!
A Carnival of Media!
Last but not least, we have our fourth theory carnival here.
Class Cancelled Today!
Your prayers have been answered! I’ve sent around a rather detailed email about what this means for our course schedule, and that email also includes some information on upcoming assignments. Take a look, and let me know if it’s not in your inbox.
Third Time’s the Charm…
Theory carnival THREE is now up for your viewing pleasure and edification.
Silly-Bus Changes
As we rapidly approach the end of the semester, my mind has turned to our remaining assignments. Even after you’ve finished the theory carnival work and the critical perspectives paper, you’ve got those pesky blog portfolios and reflective essays hanging around.
DON”T PANIC! My plan is to make them dovetail into each other. I’ve revised the end of the syllabus (or “silly-bus” as some like to call it). I pushed the reflective essay back so that we can use them to shape our final presentations. And the blog portfolios? Your work there will anticipate the reflective essay. So, it may look like there’s a LOT to do, but the all the assignments will build on each other. [Want to see what it looks like? Browse the newly-edited course schedule page.]
In addition, I’ve also posted the OPTIONAL revision assignment for the critical perspectives papers. You are welcome to take part in it, but you are not required to do so. Hence the term “optional.”
We’ll talk about all of this in class on Wednesday, right after Horkeimer and Adorno. Stay tuned…
Symposium Assignment
Instead of attending class on Wednesday, your assignment is to attend at least one segment of the English Department Symposium. Your job in observing/participating in that segment is to look for a way in which a theory that we’ve worked on in class can give us a new way of looking at that function of English studies (e.g., a poetry reading, a panel discussion, a workshop, etc.). This is your blog post for Thursday!
This is really asking you to do a practical application–much like the ones we do for the theory carnivals. Focus on a couple of acts in your blog post:
- Describe the theory that you’re using; use one or two direct quotes from the specific theory piece.
- Give us some specific examples from the Symposium segment you attended that relate to the theory.
- Explain how the theory reveals something new about the Symposium segment. [e.g., is the poetry reading really an Ideological State Apparatus? In what specific ways does it fit Althusser's description?]
- Finally, explain the larger significance of this application of theory. In other words, so what? Why does this matter to us as critics of English studies, as readers, as writers, as humans, etc.? [Hint: one way of thinking about this would be to see what the theorist says is at stake in his/her argument. Here's a bad and off the cuff example: If a poetry reading is an ISA, and Althusser says that the ISA is the way that the State alienates us from our labor and maintains the hierarchies of labor in society, then, by extension, a poetry reading works to do this too. So if we were thinking that a poetry reading were a way of revealing our souls to each other, then we're interpellated as English students so that we blind ourselves to the true function of this fundamental act of our discipline.]
Whew. I’ll look forward to seeing your much more in depth and incisive interpretations!
Theory Carnival #2!!!
Step right up, ladies and germs! Theory carnival #2–cultural critique–is now up on its very own page right here…
Taking Stock
As we approach spring break, we’ll come to the midpoint of the semester. It’s a good time to look back over what you’ve done so far, and what you hope to accomplish in the next half of the semester.
In order to record your reflections on where you’ve been and where you’d like to go, write a blog post for Monday, March 12 that addresses your work with theory in four categories:
- your reading
- your writing
- your conversation
- your work with your group
In what ways have you used these various contexts to use theory, rather than to have theory use you (to quote our good friend Peter Barry?). What has worked best for you, and what has worked least? Finally, and most importantly, how can you begin to use these contexts better to enhance your understanding of theory? [Be concrete. "I could read better" is not really going to help you. "I intend to skim the Wikipedia article on Fanon to get main ideas before I read the primary text" will be of more use to you, as well as give others some good ideas.]
Our FIRST THEORY CARNIVAL!!!
Step right up! Our very first theory carnival is up at Kim C.’s place, and it’s a doozy, complete with theorists, images, blog links and YouTube video. Everything you could want as background on the theories that consider Sign, Language, and Form.
Many congratulations to the group: Annie, John, Kim, Marina and Meg. They’ll take your tickets at the door…
