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Course Description

Summary

The Scriptorium, a “place for writing,” is a class for writers interested in improving their critical essay-writing skills. We will read to write and write to read. Much of our time will be occupied with writing and revising—essai means “trial” or “attempt”—as we work to create new habits and productive strategies for analytical writing. As we write in various essay structures with the aim of developing a persuasive, well-supported thesis statement, we will also revise collaboratively, improve our research and citation skills, and study grammar and style. We will strive for clarity, concision, and expressiveness as we read and respond to a range of historical and contemporary texts.

What is culture? This is the question that drives this Scriptorium—the question that will guide our reading, discussion, and writing. How has culture been defined—and who, for that matter, has historically occupied the privileged position of defining it? What tools does critical theory provide us for making sense of culture at a time when the very notion of culture feels fractured (and yet never more necessary)? Recent and foundational theories of culture may include works by Raymond Williams, Laura Mulvey, Richard Dyer, Judith Butler, Walter Benjamin, Lauren Berlant, Michel Foucault, Fredric Jameson, Saidiya Hartman, and others. As we think about how theories of culture intersect with matters of class, gender, sexuality, and race, we will test out these theories by using them as a lens to interrogate literary, film, and documentary texts.