ENG 484 - Introduction To Cultural Theory
Department: English
Description: Introduction to the history and practice of cultural theory.
Credit Hours: 3
Prerequisites: Not for credit if earned credit in ENG 384
Graduate Level Course: This course is approved for graduate credit
Current Offerings
Spring 2025
- 001 - Lecture (In Person): W 5:30 PM - 8:20 PM , Rebecca Saunders 3.00 hour(s)
Dates: 01/13/2025 - 05/03/2025
Location: Adlai E. Stevenson Hall 214 (STV 214)
Instructor: Rebecca Saunders
Class Notes: This course will provide an introduction to the vast and varied field of cultural theory. It will give students a working knowledge of multiple schools of thought and theoretical methods that travel under the name “cultural theory,” as well as of how these differing schools and methods relate to each other both historically and theoretically. The aim of this method is to afford students as broad a view as possible of the rich diversity of “cultural theory,” such that students will have a sense of what bodies of thought might, foci, or methodologies be most relevant to their own work. We will study, for example, the Frankfurt and Birmingham Schools of Cultural Theory, Structuralism and Deconstruction, Marxism, Materialism & Ideology, Relations of Power & Mode of Resistance, Psychoanalysis, Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality, Gender and Queer Studies, Postcolonial Theory, Media Cultures, Environmental and Sustainability Theory, Affect Theory & Sound Studies, Spatial Theory, and Theories of Temporality, Memory, and Historicity This course requires intensive reading and weekly (open-book) quizzes due before each week’s meeting; active participation in class dialogues and bi-weekly practicum exercises. It does not require a final paper or exam. Course texts will be made available in Canvas.
Textbooks have not been finalized for section.