Critical Theory Class Schedule

TWITTER HASHTAG: psutheory

Our spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gTiBnORP7OWipyrbVogSGIXgV14KmXpUkljaCSJx3es/edit?usp=sharing

Tuesday, September 1

  • Intro & Expectations
  • Introduction to OER, Digital Reading, Open Pedagogy
  • Read Konnikova’s “Being a Better Online Reader”  Open Educational Resources (OER) NOTE: This article comes from The New Yorker, and has been made freely available by the magazine at this link.

Thursday, September 3

  • Grab the Hypothes.is bookmarklet and install it on your browser toolbar (Chrome preferred, but I’ve had pretty good luck with Firefox, too).  Use it to annotate Konnikova’s article. 
  • What is theory, anyway?  Why should we study it?  Watch Kevin Mills’s short YouTube video here:

Tuesday, September 8

THEY ARE ADORABLE. Image from http://l-adam-mekler.com/551links.htm

Thursday, September 10

  • Read Wimsatt and Beardsley’s “The Affective Fallacy” on Moodle (don’t download it– just read it as it opens in your browser so you can use Hypthosesis; the app doesn’t work that well with pdf’s on Moodle, so I apologize that it won’t be great as you annotate).  OER NOTE: This article was accessed for you through JSTOR, which is a database that your university library purchases access to.  Your tuition dollars foot the bill for access to this article.  This article is NOT FREE, but you have already paid for it, so we are going to use it. Lamson pays $272,490.00 per year for access to databases alone, and another $250,740.00 for print journals and electronic subscriptions which are not included in the databases.

Tuesday, September 15

Thursday, September 17

If this album were real, I would totally own it.

  • Read on Moodle: Stanley Fish’s “Is There a Text in This Class?”  OER NOTE: This was purchased for our class by the Interlibrary Loan department here at PSU.  This was NOT FREE; your tuition dollars are used to pay these fees.

Tuesday, September 22

Thursday, September 24

  • Read several sections of Louis Althusser’s “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”  OER NOTE: This is a free website available on the internet.
    • The State Ideological Apparatuses
    • On the Reproduction of the Relations of Production
    • On Ideology
    • Ideology Has No History
    • Ideology is a “Representation” of the Imaginary Relationships of Individuals to their Real Conditions of Existence
    • Ideology Interpellates Individuals and Subjects

Tuesday, September 29

Thursday, October 1

Tuesday, October 6

Thursday, October 8

Tuesday, October 13

Foucault

The Penetrating Michel Foucault (CC BY Thierry Ehrmann)

Thursday, October 15

  • Foucault Paper Due. Bring hard copy to class!

Tuesday, October 20

  • Final Foucault paper due in hard copy form at 8am.
  • Poststructuralism PPT in Class

Thursday, October 22

Tuesday, October 27

...and that has made all the difference.

…and that has made all the difference.

Thursday, October 29

Tuesday, November 3

  • Read on Moodle: Axiom 6 in Eve Sedgwick’s “Epistemology of the Closet.”  You really need to read pages 48-54 carefully (pages 55-9 are less important and will not be covered in class).  OER NOTE: This was purchased for our class by the Interlibrary Loan department here at PSU.  This was NOT FREE; your tuition dollars are used to pay these fees.

Thursday, November 5

Too little, too late.

Tuesday, November 10

Thursday, November 12

Tuesday, November 17 – NO CLASS

  • Get one of your Pick-15’s done today!

Thursday, November 19 – NO CLASS

  • Comment on at least 5 of your classmates’ posts (use the spreadsheet to browse them). This will not count as one of your Pick-15’s; this is in lieu of attending class today.

Tuesday, November 24

  • Read the Introduction to Homi Bhabha’s The Location of Culture. Choose the FULL TEXT and annotate from there. You can stop reading in the section called “Looking for the Join” after he writes, “I want to join.” OER Note: This is a free internet archive.

Thursday, November 26 – NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)

Tuesday, December 1

Thursday, December 3

Tuesday, December 8

Thursday, December 10

  • Pick 15 Portfolio & Self-Assessment due in hard copy form at 8am in class.  If you are not in class that day, make sure you send it to me electronically by 8am to get credit.  This should be a 16-page document:
    1. The first page should be a one-paragraph assessment of how you did on your Pick-15’s, along with a final grade (A through F, including available pluses and minuses).  Answer the following questions: 1) Did you do all 15 assignments? Were your assignments thoughtfully conceived, rigorously engaged with the course materials and ideas, and carefully crafted? Did your work contribute in some way to the field of English, the world of critical theory, or your own planned future career? What else would you like to share about your work on the Pick-15’s?
    2. The remaining fifteen pages should be print outs of each pick-15. If a single pick-15 is longer than one page, you need only print the first page.
  • Exam Review and Hypothesis Peer/Self Assessment: laptops are a MUST.

Final Exam is Tuesday, December 15th from 8-10:30am