Announcements
- Commas inside quote marks
- Subtext in narrative: the said, the unsaid, the unsayable
- Authorial voice in third person (and see TEDed video “First person vs. Second person vs. Third person – Rebekah Bergman“)
Agenda
Timed Exercise (25 minutes)
Discussion (40 minutes)
Planning for the 2250-word Midterm, due October 25 at 11:59pm.
If you would like written feedback, please submit your midterm paper by October 19 at 11:59pm.
- Requirements
- Requirement: Focus on one of the topic areas and its required fiction/essays
- The data-driven texts aren’t required for the midterm.
- If you choose Beloved, please read more of the book.
- If you pick Dawn or The Left Hand of Darkness, you’ll need to read ahead!
- Requirement: Two or more of the additional assigned reading/watching/listening
- Requirement: Use of a critical theory(s) to guide your research (see #4, “Recommended Method,” below)
- Requirement: Discuss one or more identities protected by NYC Human Rights Law
- Requirement: Discuss one or more disruptive technologies in the context of the major Industrial Revolutions.
- Don’t pick something that doesn’t involve hard science (e.g. the ghost of Beloved; silence between Sonny and his brother). This includes tech in the sci-fi novels we’ll read. Don’t make this harder than it has to be!
- If you pick something very like “music” or “the city,” focus on a specific technological topic like “a piano” or “a subway car.” Don’t focus on a genre like “jazz.”
- If you discuss multiple fiction authors (e.g. Morrison and Baldwin), pick a tech category that is present in both eras (e.g. wrought iron, cotton loom, etc.)
- Requirement: Discuss your positionality (NYU login required; see also APA Inclusive Language Guidelines)
- Requirement: Focus on one of the topic areas and its required fiction/essays
- Timed Exercises: you can use previous exercise writing to start your draft.
- Positionality: building on your background, engineering major & interests
- Icebreaker exercise
- Related scholarly techniques: Reflexivity (thematic analysis), Subjectivity Statement, Autoethnography
- Recommended Method: Critical Literary Theory
- Why use the critical literary theoretical approach?
- Flexible, unstructured, can include other methodologies, doesn’t require additional data collection or structured analysis
- I like the broadness of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Literature (NYU login required); it draws on fields outside of English lit and American lit. Please use this resource to explore and choose at least one
- Specific theories
- Theoretical areas
- Note that intersectionality is discussed in other Oxford Research Encyclopedias as well.
- For tips on literature (as opposed to literary) review, see Research Competencies on the Project Resources page
- Other methods: Sage Methods Map (NYU login required)
- Qualitative Analysis (NYU login required)
- Why use the critical literary theoretical approach?
Exercise: Planning/Synthesis Clouds. Prof’s example cloud is here. Start mapping out the midterm you want to write.
Next week: We will discuss templates and the Midterm Grade Sheet.
Assignments
DIAGRAM: Create a Synthesis/Planning diagram and upload it to this folder. You will need these for Monday’s timed exercise, at which point I’ll check that you’ve uploaded your diagram. I’ll only check for completion, not quality or comprehensiveness. You can use Prof’s version as a template.
READ/LISTEN/WATCH, take notes, and be ready for in-class timed exercises & discussions on:
- Class Book: “take me to the water,” the first essay from James Baldwin’s No Name in the Street.
- In the audio, this is Parts 1 and 2.
- Feng, Kim: A New Theory of Race in America (Chronicle of Higher Education, NYU login required)
- APA Inclusive Language Guidelines
- Who Killed Vincent Chin? (documentary film; NYU login required)
NEWS: Add a News Item to the 10/7 tab.
Optional but Recommended
- Crenshaw: Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Policies. If you discuss intersectionality in your projects this semester, be sure to read this article, which first introduced the social concept of “intersectionality.” It’s a dense article, but worth reading!
- Zia: “Detroit Blues: ‘Because of You Motherfuckers.’” Zia is prominently featured in Who Killed Vincent Chin? If you focus on automotive technology, this is a must-read!