Fall 2000 Graduate Courses
Return to the archived courses or to the current course search page.
- 515/773: Nineteenth Century Nonfiction
- 570C/771A: Sixteenth-Century Nondramatic Literature
- 570Q/775: African American Literature
- 575: Teaching of Technical Writing
- 591A: Teaching College English
- 593: Bibliography & Research Methods
- 690: Creative Writing Seminar
- 777: Colloquium
- 780: Rhetoric and Poststructuralism/Postmodernism
- 791 Special Studies Seminar
515/773: Nineteenth Century Prose (Nonfiction) Victorientalism; or Turning Japanese
Instructor: Joseph McLaughlin
Description:
"The whole of Japan," writes Oscar Wilde in 1889, "is a pure invention . . . if you desire to see a Japanese effect, you will not behave like a tourist and got to Tokio. On the contrary, you will stay at home, and steep yourself in the work of certain Japanese artists, and then, when you have absorbed the spirit of their style, and caught their imaginative manner of vision, you will go some afternoon and sit in the Park or stroll down Piccadilly, and if you cannot see an absolutely Japanese effect there, you will not see it anywhere."
The purpose of this course is twofold. First, we will survey postcolonial theoretical and critical debates about nineteenth-century orientalism as discussed in the works of Edward Said, John Mackenzie, Billie Melman, Homi Bhaba, and James Clifford Secondly, this material will be read in conjunction with literary and cultural texts (fashion, design, architecture, spectacle, exhibitions, travel writing) that demonstrate the "invention" of Japan in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. We will discuss writers and artists such as James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling, Edwin Arnold, Lafcadio Hearn, Robert Louis Stevenson, Winnifred Eaton Babcock/ Onoto Watanna, James Luther Long, Pierre Loti, and Arthur Morrison, as well as cultural events such as Gilbert and Sullivan's production of The Mikado in 1885.
570C/771A: Sixteenth-Century Nondramatic Literature
Instructor: Janis Holm
Description:
In this course, we'll look at selected poetry and prose of sixteenth-century England, focusing on the interrelations of poetry, power, gender, and desire. Additionally, we'll be exploring various technologies now available for teaching and learning.
Course Format:
Multimedia -- Internet, video, audiocassette tape, email, print, class meeting, conference, telephone
Readings:
The Literature of Renaissance England, ed. John Hollander and Frank Kermode (New York: Oxford UP, 1973). English Poetry of the Sixteenth Century, Gary Waller, (London: Longman, 1993). Materials in course pack, internet sites as assigned, videos as assigned, audiocassettes as assigned, email discussion
570Q/775: African American Literature; Seminar in African American Literature: Race and Performance
Instructor: Stacy Morgan
Description:
Since well before the publication of Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem "We Wear the Mask" at the turn of the 20th century, African American creative artists have self-reflexively engaged with issues and politics pertaining to the representation of black identity. Building upon a social history of minstrelsy and black exotica, this seminar will explore the idea of race as performance with special attention to themes of black masking and alterity. The seminar will explore these themes as they manifest themselves in works of fiction, drama, poetry, film, and visual/performance art ranging from the mid-19th century to the contemporary era, making an attempt to elucidate pertinent connections across these chronological and generic boundaries.
Texts:
Eric Lott, Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the American Working Class; Wesley Brown, Darktown Strutters; Nella Larsen, Quicksand & Passing; Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man; Anna Deavere Smith, Fires in the Mirror; Selected Poetry by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Robert Hayden, and Toi Derricotte. Films likely will include at least excerpts from the following:Ethnic Notions (d. Marlon Riggs); The Jazz Singer (d. Alan Crosland); Princess Tam Tam (d. Edmond T. Greville); Chameleon Street (d. Wendell B. Harris, Jr.); Paris is Burning (d. Jennie Livingston); Black Is . . . Black Ain't (d. Marlon Riggs)
Assignments:
Requirements for this course will include a seminar paper (approximately 15-18 pages); a class presentation on the assigned readings and/or films; a presentation of work in progress toward the final paper; and regular participation in seminar discussions.
575: Teaching of Technical Writing
Instructor: Barry Thatcher
Description:
This course explores the theory, practice, and pedagogy of technical and professional writing, preparing graduate students to teach English 305J Technical writing. In the course, we critically examine the methods and materials used in English 305J and then put them into practice. We will focus particularly on the theory and methods of teaching purpose, exigency, audience, document design, ethics, the rhetoric of science and technology, and the relationships among technology, corporate culture, and professional communication. The course assumes basic knowledge of rhetoric and composition theory and pedagogy, but we expand and develop that basic knowledge as we specifically apply it to professional writing. Students will explore, evaluate, and report on different teaching methods for the tech writing classroom. Further, we examine the roles of tech writing instructors and the expectations of tech writing students and explore how they differ from traditional composition classes. We then investigate various leadership, interpersonal, and instructional theories and explore how they can help graduate instructors to improve student-teacher relationships, the overall dynamics of the classroom, and the students' involvement in their own professional growth.
Objectives:
During the course, the students will learn how to do the following:
- Understand the rationale of English 305j Technical Writing.
- Become familiar with the major pedagogical and theoretical issues in professional writing.
- Critically put into practice the teaching of the English 305j assignments.
- Understand and be capable of teaching the roles of professional writing in influencing corporate culture, problem solving, work processes, and ethics.
- Improve the instructor's ability to develop effective classroom dynamics, interpersonal communication with students, and student involvement in their own growth as writers.
- Be capable of developing appropriate professional writing courses for future teaching positions.
Readings:
Staples, K. & Ornatowski, C. (1997). Foundations for Teaching Technical Communication: Theory, Practice, and Program Design. Greenwich, Connecticut: Ablex Publishing. Covey, Stephen R. (1990). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Fireside. Coursepack at Duplication Station
Assignments:
Literature review and oral report of a topic in teaching technical writing (35%). 7 Habits critical reflection-teacher development and oral report (25%). Class participation (25%). Peer classroom visit and evaluation (15%).
591A: Teaching College English
Instructor: Sherrie Gradin
Description:
This course is designed to accomplish two goals: (1) to give new teachers some guidance in learning how to teach composition based on collaborative learning and (2) to introduce new teachers to some of the practical and theoretical issues involved in teaching composition.
593: Bibliography & Research Methods
Instructor: Janis Holm
Description:
The goal of this course is to develop research skills and a professional vocabulary.
Readings:
MLA Style Manual; Literary Theory, by Eagleton; Online!, by Harnack & Kleppinger; Literary Research Guide, by Harner; course pack and miscellaneous handouts
Assignments:
Enumerative bibliography, book review, take-home final, miscellaneous homework
690: Creative Writing Seminar
Instructor: Erin Belieu
Description:
You will be expected to turn in a poem for each week of the workshop (except for the final week, at which time you will be working on a project TBA). We will use the traditional workshop model for most of the course, though we will spend time at the beginning of each meeting discussing the assigned poetry text for that week. I have chosen a number of relatively recently published books for us to examine and, perhaps, use as models for some exercises I may assign. I think it will be self-revealing to look at the work of younger or emerging poets, to rummage through what, in most cases, is either their first or second book (except in the case of Phillips). I am interested in discovering whether these very successful books, written primarily by people under the age of forty, are in any way doing something "new" or if we can trace them back into the established traditions of American poetry.
777: Colloquium
Instructor: Josephine Bloomfield
Description:
This colloquium prepares doctoral students in English for the profession of college teaching and research. It discusses professional matters which are not usually addressed in more traditional, subject-matter centered courses. These concerns may be practical or theoretical. Specific topics will be suggested by contemporary conditions within the profession and they will vary from year to year.
780: Special Studies Seminar; Rhetoric and Poststructuralism/Postmodernism
Instructor: Mara Holt
Description:
We will read together to explore the intersections of rhetoric and poststructuralism/postmodernism. Some possibilities include the work of feminist sociologist Dorothy Smith, feminist philosophers Nancy Fraser and Iris Young, Marxist/pragmatist philosopher Cornel West, and rhetoricians Jasper Neel, John Schilb, John Clifford, Susan Jarratt, Sharon Crowley, Victor Vitanza, James Berlin, and Lester Faigley. Working under the assumption that we bring to the class various interests and backgrounds with the subjects, we will intersperse close readings of a few texts with individual lines of inquiry into issues raised by the texts. Students will explore and report on their own lines of inquiry as the quarter progresses, providing the class with readings as appropriate. The coursework will end with a provisional moment of closure, in which students will present the results of their inquiry in a conventional academic genre, for example a conference proposal or paper, article for submission, grant proposal, etc. Students will be graded on the seriousness with which they undertake the intellectual challenge and their effectiveness in contributing to the class project.
Readings:
Coursepack and what the class brings
Assignments:
Exploratory writing and presentations throughout the quarter; paper in a conventional academic genre at the end.
791: Special Studies Seminar
Instructor: Betty Pytlik
Description:
Colloquium for apprentice teachers designed to explore alternative approaches to classroom planning and presentation and to discuss professional issues in the discipline.