Introductory description

EN2E9-30 States of Damage: Twenty-First Century US Writing and Culture

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing (Norton, 2006; rev. ed. 2014)
Term 1,
week 1: Introduction: C21 US writing and culture
Week 2.
Mark Fisher, selections from Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? (Zero Books, 2009)
Ivor Southwood, selections from Non-Stop Inertia (Zero Books, 2011)
Dale Beran, “4chan: The Skeleton Key to the Rise of Trump”
“Fuck You, Buddy” from The Trap (2007), dir. Adam Curtis
Week 3.
Gerard Duménil and Dominique Lévy, from The Crisis of Neoliberalism (Harvard UP, 2011): 7-32, 45-54.
Michael Denning, selections from The Cultural Front: The Laboring of American Culture in the Twentieth Century, 3-50.
Week 4.
Ling Ma, Severance (2019); readings from Matthew Soules, Icebergs, Zombies, and the Ultra Thin: Architecture and Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century (2021)
Week 5.
Claudia Rankine, Citizen, An American Lyric (Graywolf, 2014), parts I-V, pages 5-79.
Sofia Samatar, “Skin Feeling"
#blacklivesmatter videos
Please listen to Charlie Parker’s “Relaxin’ at Camarillo” and read the short article “Hair Relaxer Facts – What is A Hair Relaxer?” (Teen Vogue)
wikipedia entry on microagression (on forum)
Week 7.
Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age (2021)
Week 8.
Rumaan Alam, Leave the World Behind (2020)
Week 9.
Emil Ferris, My Favorite Thing is Monsters (2017)
Week 10.
Fabian Scheidler, The End of the Megamachine: A Brief History of a Failing Civilization (2021)
Term 2
Week 1.
Lynda Barry, Making Comics (2019)
Week 2.
Mass Prison Industrial Complex videos
Week 3.
Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys (2020)
Week 4.
Rachel Kushner, The Mars Room (2019)
Week 5.
Charles Duhigg, “How Companies Learn Your Secrets”; Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan, AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future
Week 7.
Lisa Feldman Barrett, How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain (2018)
Week 8
Ellen Lupton et al., Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers (2021).
Week 9.
Emily St. John Mandel, The Glass Hotel (2021)
Week 10.
group project discussion

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Acquire knowledge of key theoretical and literary concepts and of cultural and critical contexts within which to situate the set texts;
• Develop analytical and critical skills through close reading/viewing of the set texts;
• Adjust to scholarly standards and protocols of academic presentation;
• Explore methodologies for reading texts within the context of contemporary American cultures;
• Demonstrate a broad knowledge of selected texts and concepts relating to contemporary American cultural production;
• Indicate awareness of various critical, analytical and creative approaches to the production of knowledge about course content;
• Exhibit an effective command of written English together with a wide-ranging and accurate vocabulary;
• Show command of the protocols of textual analysis and critical argument;
• Conduct independent research through self-generated questions.

Indicative reading list

All primary texts are available for easy purchase with selected texts to be provided in electronic copy. Copies of required theoretical reading will be provided as a module reading pack. Bibliography includes aforementioned primary texts and these indicative readings:

Please see syllabus for illustrative bibliography.

Subject specific skills

-Acquire knowledge of key theoretical and literary concepts and of cultural and critical contexts within which to situate the set texts
-Explore methodologies for reading texts within the context of contemporary American culture
-Indicate awareness of various critical, analytical and creative approaches to the production of knowledge about course content

Transferable skills

-Develop analytical and critical skills through close reading/viewing of the set texts
-Adjust to honours-level scholarly standards and protocols of academic presentation
-Exhibit an effective command of written English together with a wide-ranging and accurate vocabulary
-Show command of the protocols of textual analysis and critical argument
-Conduct independent research through self-generated questions