Course Description
In this course, we will discuss the key concerns, analytical techniques, and interpretive strategies of what has come to be known as “cultural studies.” How have the past 50 years of academic work in this field changed how we understand and teach literature, history, film, politics, media studies, etc.? We will employ interdisciplinary approaches to examine how cultural “texts” are produced, distributed, consumed, understood, and taught. The final selection of topics and essays will be tailored to the specific interests of participants, but may include readings on race and ethnicity, nationalism, gender and sexuality, media criticism, post-colonialism, and postmodernism. Teachers of the humanities and the social sciences will likely find this course of particular relevance to their own work in the classroom.
Instructor: Dominica Chang, assistant professor of French and Francophone Studies
Dominica Chang obtained M.A. degrees from Middlebury College and the University of Michigan, where she also completed her doctorate in romance languages and literature. In addition to Freshman Studies, she teaches a variety of French language, literature, and cultural studies courses. Professor Chang's own research focuses on the aesthetic and political effects of literary, historical, and visual representations of 19th-century French revolutions.
