Program Courses
Please note that course schedules may be amended due to low enrollment, faculty availability, and/or other factors.
Online Sync Sessions are an integral part of the online learning experience. Additional information about learning concepts and assignments may be discussed and sync sessions offer valuable opportunities for students to interact with their faculty and peers during the term. We encourage all students to attend live, but if they are unable to, sync sessions will be recorded and posted within Canvas to allow for an asynchronous model of success as well.
LIT 410-0 : Introduction to Graduate Studies in Literary and Cultural Analysis
Description
This course introduces students to graduate-level work in literary and cultural analysis. We will explore how we “read” or interpret forms of cultural production, including literature. This will allow us to address a variety of pertinent questions, such as: What constitutes culture and how do we measure it? What determines hierarchies of culture within any given society? How do we position cultural processes and products in social and historical context? We will examine the methodologies scholars use to analyze cultural practices and artifacts, including literary texts. Select literary examples will allow students to observe the development of Western genres, while becoming familiar with various critical perspectives and approaches based on class, race, and gender. Drawn from philosophy, literary and cultural studies, selective readings will introduce students to important thinkers; these may include Sigmund Freud, Simone de Beauvoir, Mikhail Bakhtin, Walter Benjamin, Clifford Geertz, Raymond Williams, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, Fredric Jameson, Roland Barthes, Judith Butler, bell hooks, Cornel West, and Edward Said. (This is a required course for students pursuing the MALit degree. Students in the creative writing programs may also take this course to fulfill a literature or elective requirement.)