A book is both a physical object and an immaterial verbal entity. This course studies the dual nature of the book as artifact and text, the ways this duality is embodied in print, digital and other media, and how it engages the mind and the hands of the reader to create meaning.
A book is both a physical object and an immaterial verbal entity. This course studies the dual nature of the book as artifact and text, the ways this duality is embodied in print, digital and other media, and how it engages the mind and the hands of the reader to create meaning.
The course moves from the close reading of great works of the literary imagination to examine the roles that the author and the reader play in the process of textual interpretation. The effects of digital media on reading and textual meaning are a central concern. Prerequisites: 78 credits and permission of the coordinator of Humanities.
Investigates the employment of the created environment and other expressions of culture for propagandistic purposes, meant to advance privileged ideologies in politics, religion, and social interchange. Discusses examples chosen from different eras and communities, including modern and contemporary applications.
The questions that Renaissance humanists cultivated are central to the humanities today: why study the Liberal Arts? How does the life of the mind relate to an active professional career? What defines humanity? What is the individual’s proper relation to the state? What is the role of sexuality, faith, and money in the pursuit of […]
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to some of the most distinctive literary and cinematic approaches to collective and individual memory and its representation in pre- and postwar Europe.
Probes the role of pleasure, desire and power in contemporary consumer culture, especially around objects of consumption, such as so-called designer goods or iconic products such as the Kitchenaid mixer or the Ipod.
Surveys historical and contemporary approaches to the texts and contexts of fiction, film, television, music, folklore and fashion. Themes include the industrialization of culture; changing definitions of the popular; genre and gender; the politics of style; nature and other utopias.
Examines individual and collective expression within the context of popular and consumer culture, including such areas as music, activism, the Web, fashion, subcultures, shopping, car culture, fan clubs, zines, TV and film.
Examines the radical impulse as it shapes and is shaped by progressive cultural movements. Using examples from fine art, literature, film, music, and other artistic forms and drawing on history, cultural theory and socio-political thought, the course explores the tension between radical aesthetics and radical politics, investigating cultural praxis as it is moved by the […]