ASSIGNMENTS: Group Studies Project 15%

You will be part of a discussion group that will be responsible for a group presentation. The group will prepare and present a 30-minute in-class presentation/performance based on your group's interpretation of one of a number of texts chosen for this purpose. Your 30-minute time limit must include any discussion you hope to generate - practice your presentation before you give it.

The presentation may be dramatic, artistic, conventional ... whatever the group chooses, but you'll need to situate your reading of the text within the concerns of this course -- what can your text urge us to think about arts? histories? societies? Your presentation should aim to be both descriptive and analytical, and you are encouraged to be creative. Each member of the group must participate in both the preparation and the presentation. Your goal is not only to prepare your presentation/performance but to create a cooperative group process. (You will have some time in class for preparation but you will need to arrange to meet outside of class with your group. Do take advantage of email, or webct.)

You will be required to supply a written evaluation of your group project - one or two pages - due one week after your presentation. This is an opportunity for you to comment on the assignment and the distribution of labour in your group.

Texts and due dates:

Corigliano, The Ghosts of Versailles: A Grand Opera Buffa in two Acts (October 18)

Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Companion to the History of Western Art (Nov 15)

Andre Breton , Manifestoes of Surrealism (Jan 17)

Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (Jan 31)

Samuel Delany Dahlgren (Feb 21)

Toni Morrison, Jazz (March14)