Summer Session I (May 13, 2024 – June 21, 2024)
- Monday and Wednesday
- 10 am–12:43 pm
- Hybrid
- Duneer
- Tuesday
- 1–5:43 pm
- Hybrid
- Jalalzai
- Online, Asynchronous
- Michaud
This course introduces students to writing on the job. We will explore and experiment with typical genres of professional writing (e.g., reports, proposals) and address questions of professionalism and ethics. In sum, this course will provide you with the tools to begin to understand the role of professional communication in contemporary workplaces.
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
- 4–6:10 pm Potter
This class examines narratives of cultural contact both "factual" and "fictional,” between European explorers of the Arctic and its indigenous peoples in the comparative context of European and colonialism, visual representation, and emergent literatures. Material will include historical accounts, fiction, and film, as well as music and other performative arts. Requirements include attendance, active participation in discussion, a weekly response paragraph, and two 4-6 page critical essays, each of which will go through a draft reading process.
- Tuesday and Thursday
- 1–5:43 pm
- Quintana Vallejo
"Growing Up in Graphic Novels" uses the narrative hybridity of the medium as a framework to analyze the representation of growing up in four key works of contemporary graphic fiction: including Spiegelman's Maus, Bechdel's Fun Home, and Thompson's Blankets. Through discussions, one creative adaptation project, and one essay, we will develop a strong grasp of graphic novels as a unique blend of visual and literary storytelling. You will gain a deeper appreciation for the visual storytelling abilities of graphic novels.
- Monday and Wednesday
- 4–7 pm
- Jalalzai
This graduate course examines the Gothic element in American history and letters that was in tension with other narratives like American exceptionalism, progress, and the American Dream. From Indian Wars to the Salem Witchcraft Trials to slavery, the nation’s founding occasioned tremendous human suffering. How did this history affect national consciousness and literature? Following Toni Morrison’s “Playing in the Dark,” the course investigates how various kinds of “darkness” informed American literature and how Gothic themes and works disclosed an alternate (spookier and less hopeful) America. Our list of authors will include Mary Rowlandson, Cotton Mather (witchcraft trials), Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry James, Harriet Jacobs, among others. We will also read a number of critical sources alongside the primary material. Requirements include attendance, active participation, class presentation, and a final seminar paper.
