The Department of English is offering three new courses for which ICC designations are pending, and one existing course for which a new ICC designation is pending.
ENGL 19419: Fantasy and Fairy Tales
Course Instructor: Prof. Fromer
ICC Designations (pending): Themes and Perspectives: Identities AND Mind, Body, and Spirit
Course Description: Why do fairy tales have such enduring power to shape the stories that we tell ourselves and our children? How have these stories shifted and transformed through time and across different media and cultures? What can we learn about gender roles, class structures, social and political values, and the goal and function of storytelling itself? We will focus on a number of “classic” fairy tales, such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Little Red Riding Hood, reading English translations of the tales collected by German and Italian folklorists. While we all know the basic plots of many of the stories we’ll be reading, we will allow the texts to speak to us in new ways. Then, we will follow these tales’ transformations, reading revisions of older tales and exploring the ways oral and literary fairy tales have shifted as they have been adapted to the big and small screen. Our discussions will be informed by critical readings in folklore and cultural studies.
ENGL 19420 Literature and Cultural Studies: An Introduction
Course Instructor: Prof. Bishop
ICC Designations (pending): Themes and Perspectives: Identities AND Power and Justice
Course Description: This course will introduce you to important texts, traditions and intellectual concepts associated with literary and cultural studies in the 20th and 21st century. We will read key texts in criticism and theory including but not limited to critical race theory, Marxist, feminist, queer, structuralist, post-structuralist and post-colonial (anti)traditions. Throughout this course, we will study scholarship surrounding the nature of language and the question of how language shapes and is shaped by social, cultural and political contexts toward moral and ethical conclusions. In particular, we will focus on the relationship between language and culture by asking, in what ways does language influence and constitute social change? How is social change reflected by changes in the way we use language? Over the course of the semester, you will work on applying the knowledge and theoretical tools to gain analytic, critical and creative skills in writing and multimodal documentation.
ENGL 19422 Genres and Genders: An Introduction to Literature
Course Instructor: Prof. Bleicher
ICC Designations (pending): Themes and Perspectives: Identities AND Power and Justice; Diversity
Course Description: This course offers an introduction to a broad spectrum of European, British and American authors, and it is intended to help you make the transition from high school to college-level English literary studies. In addition to reading poems, short stories, novels and plays in depth and with an eye for analyzing formal elements (such as characterization, symbol, diction and rhythm), we will also read these works through the critical lens of gender studies. We will trace the role of literature in generating, enforcing and challenging competing models of masculinity and femininity, and analyze how these, along with non-binary gender fluidity, coincide and conflict with the Western ideology of individualism and self-determination. In the process, we will consider the extent to which studying these works fits or defies our definitions of the purposes of collegiate and literary study. Authors may include: Jamaica Kincaid, Allison Bechdel, T.C. Boyle, Susan Glaspell, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Kate Chopin, Margaret Atwood, Alice Walker, Earnest Heminway, Ursula LeGuin, Sandra Cisneros, William Faulker, Audre Lorde, Lucille Clifton, Rita Mae Brown, Grace Paley and Gloria Naylor. Theorists may include bell hooks, Judith Butler, Alice Walker, Laura Mulvey, Adrienne Rich, Lisa Diamond, and Jeffrey Weeks and others.
ENGL 21500: DIY Science Fiction
Course Instructor: Prof. Kittredge
ICC Designations (pending): Themes and Perspectives: Identities AND Power and Justice
Course Description: This is an interactive, student-generated class which is ideal for enthusiastic fans of any form of fantasy, science fiction, or comics. Its hands-on peer-to-peer approach also makes it a good fit for anyone interested in teaching or doing creative community work. The first 6 weeks are an overview of the History of Science Fiction and Comics taught through interactive personal responses and group discussion. In the second part of the course, the class fractures into small groups which spend four weeks working intensely on a topic that interests them. Possible topics could be: Alien life forms, Anime, Apocalypse, Gender Bending, Queer Futures, Feminist Science Fiction, The Novels of Phillip K. Dick and their film versions, Utopias, Dystopias, Strange British Humor, and Futuristic Sport. The group as a whole devises a way of teaching the rest of the class about their area of interest. The last four weeks will consist of student-led classes. Individuals write a paper, complete a creative project or design a community-based project on their topic of study. Students will help run ITHACON, the community-based comic book convention held at IC in March.
