Comics and graphic narratives are uniquely suited to exploring cultural location because they transform the storytelling unit of the page into a space of representation. The comics page graphically negotiates dynamics of home and away, self and other, as well as race and culture. In this course... (read more)

This course satisfies an Arts and Letters Group requirement. It is designed to provide students with an understanding of the rhetorical principles that underlie the invention of arguments, i.e. the process that leads to the selection of premises and appeals that become the basis for reasoned... (read more)

This course will examine feminist film criticism from multiple theoretical perspectives and diverse geo-political contexts. We will study how feminists have not only critiqued media and its representations of gender but also how the institution of cinema and media itself is gendered in terms of... (read more)

This course considers how women writers acknowledge, resist, and re-imagine their relationship to law. We will read literary works that directly engage law, as well as scholarship from legal studies to explore questions including: What is the relationship between law and literature? How do women... (read more)

In this course we’ll explore graphic narratives as a mode of life writing (biography. autobiography, memoir, coming of age narratives). We’ll discuss the ways in which the graphic narrative lends itself particularly well to these kinds of stories. Themes will include: the process of life-writing... (read more)

How are we persuaded? What is rhetoric? What is rhetorical criticism? What can rhetorical criticism do? How can it help us? In this course, we will explore the potential of rhetorical criticism. You will gain knowledge of rhetorical theory and rhetorical criticism, and you will gain experience... (read more)

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In this course we will examine theories of argumentation in the oral mode, and then incorporate those theories into the practice of making... (read more)

This course brings together critical animal studies and environmental studies.

• The first unit asks what would it be like to be a bat or an octopus or some other species. Imagining the perspectives of other species leads... (read more)

Theories of Literacy is a course in Community Literacy. Together, we will read and discuss theories of literacy developed in the fields of education, anthropology, linguistics, sociology, rhetoric, and others. Individually, you will identify a site of literacy that has moved online during COVID-... (read more)

BS, Fake News, and Argumentation

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This course is designed to introduce students to some important theories and practices of literary and cultural criticism. My goals for... (read more)

Rhetoric has been characterized as a power to lead the soul, the universal form of communication, the art of persuasion, the way we... (read more)

In this course we will examine theories of argumentation in the oral mode, and then incorporate those theories into the practice of making effective speeches... (read more)

Contemporary Literary Theory:  Four Paradigms

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One of the analytical and political goals of the field of rhetoric is to describe the power relations of the social text—to explain the rhetorical and... (read more)

ENG 300 offers an introduction to literary criticism. This course will acquaint you with many of the important issues and debates in literary studies and introduce you to various theoretical schools with examples of each type. We will engage two introductory texts to literary and cultural theory... (read more)

In this course we will examine theories of reasoned-based argumentation in the oral mode, and then incorporate those theories into the practice of making effective speeches that advocate for particular positions on arguable issues of public concern. We will analyze and critique oral arguments as... (read more)

This course will be a sustained examination of the question: “What is Romanticism? This is a question which has no single or ultimate answer given that there seem to be as many answers as there are “askers.” There is, however, a rich and complex body of literature and critical commentary to... (read more)

Rhetorical criticism is the appreciation and analysis of how we are persuaded—and often includes judgment concerning the nature of the persuasion. The course will address the following questions, among others: What is criticism? What is rhetoric? What is rhetorical criticism? What are its... (read more)

This course qualifies to satisfy Arts and Letters Group. It is designed to provide students with appropriate tools of understanding and evaluating critically debates, speeches, and other forms of oral discourse in the public sphere, and to provide students with a performative basis for engaging... (read more)