May 01, 2024

2020-2021 Catalog

2020-2021 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

WRI 101 - Course list for Writing in the Liberal Arts

WRI 101 helps students develop the skills of writing in the liberal arts: critical analysis of texts, exploration of and deliberation about public and intellectual issues; familiarity with research strategies; understanding the conventions for using with integrity the work of others; and crafting inventive, correct, and rhetorically sophisticated prose. The subjects for writing in the course vary by instructors.

Fall 2020 Sections

WRI 101 [A]: Ignorance and Its Consequences
MWF 1:30 - 2:20
Busch

Ignorance, strictly speaking, is the lack of knowledge. That in itself isn’t a bad thing. You and I can be ignorant about the variety of fonts available in a word processor, and the world would keep turning. But other forms of ignorance aren’t so innocent. Take for instance a politician’s ignorance about the needs of his or her constituents: it may result in policies that deprive people of affordable housing, access to healthcare, safety from violence, or other basic needs. This raises important questions. Where does ignorance come from? How does ignorance, individual or collective, manifest in society at large? And what kinds of harm can result from its manifestations?
This course grapples with these questions through four writing projects. In the first project, we shall reflect on the cognitive origins of ignorance by engaging with philosopher Quassim Cassam’s Vices of the Mind. In the second project, we shall examine discourse about one harmful manifestation of ignorance in prejudice (racism and homophobia). In the third project, we shall examine discourse about another harmful manifestation of ignorance in jargon and empty talk. In the fourth project, we shall add our own voices to discourse about other harmful manifestations of ignorance, such as wastefulness, warmongering, and interpersonal resentment.

WRI 101 [B]: Irrationality
MWF 3:30 - 4:20
Griffin

Human beings often behave and think in ways that seem irrational. We do things we know we shouldn’t (e.g., we procrastinate, or smoke, or stay up too late). We engage in various kinds of self-deception. We fail to align our beliefs with our best evidence. Although these behaviors are everywhere, philosophers throughout the centuries have wondered how they are possible. They have also puzzled over how best to explain or describe them. For example, how could someone really know that it is bad for her to do something and then go ahead and intentionally do it? What is going on when this happens? How can a person lie to himself, given that being able to lie requires knowing the truth? And beyond just explaining these behaviors, there are further questions about how we should evaluate them. Are irrational thoughts and behaviors always bad? Can or should we be held responsible for them?
In this course we will think, discuss, and write about these sorts of questions and what philosophers (and others) have had to say about them. Other questions we will consider are: What do we even mean by “rational” and “irrational?” Are there different kinds of rationality? What is the relationship between emotion and rationality (Is emotion necessarily the opponent of reason? Are we able to avoid irrationality? Should we always aim to?
In four major writing projects, each involving several weeks of critical reading, drafting, and revising, students will respond to these complex and important questions.

WRI 101 [C]: Democracy in American-A Status Update
MWF 12:30 - 1:20
Yesnowitz

Is American democracy healthy? If so, what are the determinants of democratic strength and resilience? If not, are there specific remedies that might address the present challenges that we face? To explore these contemporary questions, we will situate the American democratic experience within an historical and comparative perspective. As we embark upon the final months of the 2020 election cycle, students in this seminar will consider how the nation has arrived at this especially precarious moment and closely scrutinize possible proposals for democratic reform. Topics to be examined in written assignments include: democratic norms and traditions, persistent inequalities in American life, the erosion of public trust and faith in institutions, and the prospects for multiracial democracy and civic renewal.

WRI 101 [D]: In Stitches
MW 8:05 - 9:20
Stutts

Psychological functioning has a profound effect on one’s health. In recent decades, research has focused on the contribution of positive emotions on overall wellbeing. This course will explore the intersection of positive psychology and healthcare by answering this broad question: How do positive psychological variables affect health? We will investigate this question through the discussion of empirical articles, memoirs, case studies, and videos. In addition, there are five major writing projects: 1) personal reflection on how positive variables influenced your health or the health of someone in your life; 2)textual analysis of how positive psychology concepts map onto a patient memoir; 3) a written argument about how the mind affects the body; 4) a research paper on a specific positive psychology and health topic of your choice; and 5) a synthesis of the major themes across the course and an extension into what the field should prioritize in the future to optimize functioning.

WRI 101 [E]: Writing China/China Writing
MWF 10:30 - 11:20
Rigger

The rise of China from self-isolation to global economic, political, and cultural influence is one of the most powerful developments of our age. It is a fast-changing story; it seizes our attention and doesn’t let go. Easy answers elude us; complexity overwhelms certainty. Developing a comprehensive understanding of contemporary China is not our goal; rather, we will dive into this fascinating nation to discover as much as we can and to challenge what we discover. Students will ask what “the rise of China” means, both for China and for the world. They will weigh the costs and benefits of China’s rapid economic and social change. And they will make arguments about the causes and consequences of China’ rise. In this course, you will develop the skills and practices of good writing by reading good writing that takes China as its subject. Our texts will include the work of Chinese authors (in translation) as well as writing about China by non-Chinese authors. We will read multiple genres and styles, including fiction, memoir, opinion, social science, and journalism. Through a sequence of writing assignments, students will cultivate skills in reading, argumentation, research, revision, and editing.

This course is most suitable for students who are able attend synchronously. Some required course materials are not available in some geographic areas. If you are planning to take the course from outside the US, please consult the professor to make sure you will be able to access the required course materials.

WRI 101 [F]: Monsters
MWF 9:30 - 10:20
Sample

Ghosts. Zombies. Vampires and werewolves. What is it about monsters? Why do they both terrify and delight us? Whether it’s haunted houses, the walking dead, or that creepy thing hiding under your bed, monsters are always about more than just spine-tingling horror. This writing class explores monstrosity in the 21st century, paying particular attention to intersections with race and gender. Through a sequence of writing projects we will explore a central question: what do monsters mean? Our first project asks you to reflect on the significance of monsters in your own life. Our second project focuses on the home as a space of monstrosity. Our third project addresses the idea of the monstrous other. Our final project uses contemporary literary and media theory to understand how monsters expose the limits of humanity.

WRI 101 [G]: Thinking Girls, Thinking Boys
MWF 10:30 - 11:20
Fackler

What is girlhood, and what is boyhood? How are they different from one another? Likewise, how are girlhood and boyhood different from adulthood? And how do the relationships and differences among girlhood and boyhood, and adulthood change from one time, one place, or one philosophy to another? As we continue to trouble binary distinctions of gender, how do categories of boyhood and girlhood obtain in our twenty-first century context? This course emphasizes such questions as we examine the histories, representations, and theorizations of childhood and adolescence in a variety of global contexts. We trace ideas and figures of girlhood and boyhood across sites including novels, poems, films, performances, scientific case studies, and material objects. We also consider the ways in which “thinking girls” and “thinking boys” have a stake in such categories of experience as class, gender, race, and sexuality, and how “thinking girls” and “thinking boys” may have a crucial impact on social justice and political change. As the title of the course suggests, we will create a context both for thinking upon girlhood and boyhood for pushing the thinking of young men and women. Think you know what it means to think as a girl or boy, or to think about a girl of a boy? Think again.

WRI 101 [H] From Scroll to Screen: A History of Scripture
MWF 10:30 - 11:20
Snyder

Where do “sacred books” come from? How do they grow and change over time? How does their form-handwritten, then printed, and now digital-affect their meaning? These questions lie at the heart of the course, and we’ll explore them by looking at the Hebrew Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Qur’an. Along the way, we’ll create our own handwritten manuscript with papyrus and reed pens; we’ll set type and print documents in the letterpress shop in order to understand the printing revolution, and work with artifacts in the Rare Book Room. In the course of exploring the use of images in scripture, we’ll go to the Visual Arts Center and make woodblock prints. Finally, we’ll consider what happens when scriptures are digitized and move into “the cloud.” How do these new digital forms influence the meaning, interpretation and authority of scripture?

The course features four writing projects, each of which passes through distinct stages that will prepare you for every paper you’ll write in college: finding and assimilating reliable sources, citing them; capturing your ideas, drafting, revising, and revising again. Along the way, we’ll form a collaborative community of writers and editors, learning how to comment helpfully on the work of others and to benefit from the comments of our fellow writers.

WRI 101 [I]: Building Stories
MWF 9:30 - 10:20
Churchill

Architecture is not a passive structure we occupy; rather, it shapes our minds and imaginations, influencing what we do and how we do it. In this course, we’ll explore physical and virtual spaces, ranging from homes, prisons, and hospitals, to blogs, websites, and digital archives. We’ll also approach writing as a form of architecture, breaking out of the predictable 5-paragraph essay blueprint in order to reimagine essays as more enticing dwelling spaces for your readers to inhabit. The course itself will inhabit the digital realm: the course hub will be a website; you will learn to write for web publication; and you will design a WordPress site on your own Davidson Domain to showcase your work throughout your career at Davidson. No previous technological training needed, but creativity, critical thinking, and a collaborative spirit are required.

*Fall 2020-
The course will be taught in “hybrid” mode, taking place synchronously via Zoom with the whole class, in person (face to face, or f2f) in smaller cohorts, in 2-student Zoom tutorials, and asynchronously by posts and comments on the course website. The course is designed to accommodate students who are on campus and choose to attend class in person, students who are on campus and choose to attend class online, and students who are not on campus.

WRI 101 [J]: Pendemics and the Public Mind
TH 9:40 - 10:55
Fox

Often, we think of illness as primarily a private affair. Each of us experience illness somewhat differently as our bodies and minds respond to the physiologic, cognitive, and sociologic changes that may accompany our ways of being ill. But illness has an explicitly public dimension, evidenced in health care policies, networks of care, medical services, professional expertise, and cultural practices associated with wellness, injury, disability, life expectancies, chronic conditions, and epidemics. Nations, cultures, and communities maintain traditions and preferences for speaking and acting publicly in response to illness. In pandemic moments, medical experts, journalists, and politicians draw upon a common language and other standard representations to portray an illness in terms that the public will recognize. But these modes of representation, popular as they may be, impact our collective understanding and our individual experience of illness, often constraining civic, social, and personal meanings in ways that worsen, mystify, or demonize this powerful realm of human experience. Students in this course will compose four arguments, each focused on an issue associated with historical and contemporary pandemics examined through socio-cultural, rhetorical, novelistic, and ethical lenses.

WRI 101 [K]: Buddhism and Violence
MWF 2:30 - 3:20
Pang

Buddhism evokes images of meditation, monks, and peace in the popular imagination. Indeed, “non-harm” (Skt. ahimsa) is one of the fundamental tenets of the religion. And yet, in recent decades, there has been a rise in cases of what the media has termed “Buddhist” forms of nationalism and violence. How can the members of a religion based on compassion for all sentient beings engage in ethnic intolerance, extreme nationalism and violence?
In this course, we will explore a variety of perspectives on this issue, including ethnographies, academic articles, writings by public intellectuals, and journal articles from the New York Times, the Economist, the Atlantic, and other news sources. In conjunction with developing an informed understanding of this issue, we will learn to craft robust and compelling arguments that will serve as the foundation of strong argumentative writing at the college level.

WRI 101 [L]: Family Way
MWF 11:30 - 12:20
Plank

This course focuses on the nature and diversity of American family experience as it shows itself in selected literary memoirs. In doing so, it will ask throughout about the process of recollecting a life and writing about it, how the story we tell of ourselves is also a story of others, especially those we know as kin; and, it will probe these stories for what they tell us about the impact of gender, race, class, generation, and ethnicity in the shaping of family experience. These are big questions. We get at them by the smaller tasks of reading good texts well day after day and writing clearly about them. The smaller tasks add up and may be the greater endeavor after all.
The writing assignments include a number of short essays (in the vicinity of 5-6) that may range from a paragraph to 4-5 pages. These may involve matters of style (the power of a well-chosen word, a paragraph that does what a paragraph ought to), questions of interpretation (explanation, analysis), or thematic concerns (back to that family and why everyone is talking about his or her father). As a final project, each student will write an episode of family narrative (7-8 pages) with commentary (2-3pages) relating the narrative to two other works read in the course. We will focus less on how much we write than how well.
Texts for the course include: Alison Bechdel, Fun Home; Mary Karr, The Liars’ Club; Li-Young Lee, The Winged Seed; Tracy Smith, Ordinary Light; and Tobias Wolff, This Boy’s Life.

WRI 101 [M]: Writing India and Pakistan
TR 12:15 - 1:30
Waheed

How has a lack of critical historical thinking contributed to the ways in which the peoples of India and Pakistan have been misrepresented through the lenses of modern empires (British and American) and narrow nationalist frames (Indian and Pakistani)? What are the political implications and consequences for South Asia today, as a result of the abuse of history? In this course, we will examine the construction of historical myths when it comes to India and Pakistan. This writing course introduces you to the tools and interpretive practices associated with historical writing. Moreover, you will learn about the importance of closely reading primary sources, and how to write about them. You will examine a range of issues of caste, as well as Hindu-Muslim relations. The overall aim is to introduce you to modes of historical writing and analysis. In addition, we will examine the dangers of historical narratives that are not grounded in close archival research, as well as the implications of political writing that misunderstands or misconstrues history to advance arguments without relying on contextualized evidence. You will also be introduced to writing historical analysis by avoiding flawed reasoning. Lastly, while most of the readings will deal with the region of South Asia, not all texts we encounter will be specifically about South Asia, but will introduce you to the importance of historical discourse more generally.

WRI 101 [N]: The U.S. in an Age of Fracture
TR 9:40 -10:55
Wertheimer

Many observers note that public life in the United States has fractured over the past several decades. Critics worry that the sense of community has shrunk to ever-smaller circles, in response to such forces as the polarization of the electorate, the “siloing” of thought, the rise of so-called identity politics, and the concentration of wealth. This course explores the so-called “Age of Fracture” in recent U.S. history, paying close attention to debates among public intellectuals representing a wide array of fields and perspectives. Students will write several short, ungraded papers in response to assigned readings. They will also write four graded papers, of increasing length and complexity, each drafted and revised in advance of submission. All four of these essay assignments ask students to respond to things that public intellectuals have written about developments in U.S. culture and society over the past half-century. The first three assignments ask students to select interesting writings and then disagree with them, agree with them, or a bit of both. In the final assignment, each student will develop an original argument.

WRI 101 [O]: Bad Art
MWF 12:30-1:20
Rippeon

This writing course examines “bad art”: cultural productions that raise questions about censorship and freedom of expression, the ethics of representation, kitsch and camp, and good art made by bad people. We will consider a variety of cultural forms, including literary texts (poems, fiction); music, television and film; and the visual arts. We will work to develop criteria for engaging with these forms; to develop these criteria, we will read critical theory, popular journalism, and literary and art criticism. We will also occasionally make use of the College’s art collection, and our own practices of cultural consumption. Student writing will include shorter, low-stakes assignments, informal presentations, and a series of essays (four) executed through a sequence of individual and group-oriented activities (e.g. conferences, peer-review, drafting and revision).

WRI 101 [P]: Pandemics and the Public Mind
TR 12:15-1:30
Hillard

WRI 101 [Q]: Bad Art
MWF 11:30 - 12:20
Rippeon

WRI 101 [R]: Russia in the American Imagination
TR 3:05- 4:20
Race

The dynamics between Russia and the United States change all the time, but this relationship is often at the forefront of American mainstream media discourse and popular consciousness alike. Beginning with the historical mid-twentieth century period dubbed the “Cold War” and moving into our contemporary moment-which some have labelled a “new Cold War”-this course looks at the way that Russia/the Soviet Union and its peoples and cultures have been and continue to be portrayed in the United States across a variety of media forms. The course readings will draw from a variety of sources, such as journalism, fiction, television, and film. Over the course of the semester, students will examine portrayals of Russian and Soviet culture and identity through multiple short-form written assignments, each focusing on analyzing a different type of media, while also focusing on constructing robust arguments on politically inflected topics.

WRI 101 [S]: Religion in the Public Square
MWF 10:30 -11:20
Blum

The ideal of democracy is a society in which well-informed citizens who disagree with each other engage in free and reasoned debate, guided by the shared aim of cultivating a flourishing society. The role of religion in this ideal has always been a contentious topic, and in recent years it has reemerged as a matter of dispute. This class poses the question: What role shall religion play in public discourse? The class will draw on contrasting perspectives that speak to fundamental questions about the rights, freedoms, and responsibilities that citizens have, and the role that religion plays in those challenging questions. Students will write three major paper, in addition to a number of smaller, lower-stakes writing assignments .

WRI 101 [T]: Religion in the Public Square
MWF 12:30 - 1:20
Blum

WRI 101 [U]: Religion in the Public Square
MWF 2:30 - 3:20
Blum

WRI 101 [V]: On Writing Pandemics (STEM)
MWF 12:30-1:20
N. Snyder

NOTE: Students enrolling in this section of Writing 101 must be co-enrolled in a chemistry, biology, physics, math, or computer science course. In addition, students who select this course will be assigned the course instructor, Dr. Nicole L. Snyder, as their holistic advisor. Students in this course commit to meet with Dr. Snyder for 30-40 minutes once every two weeks during their first two years at Davidson.

Pandemics, from the bubonic plague to COVID-19, have the potential to disrupt nearly every aspect of our way of life. Stephen King once wrote in his memoir On Writing after living through a traumatic accident that “Writing is not life, but I think that sometimes it can be a way back to life.” This writing course is geared towards STEM majors interested in finding their way back to life through writing about pandemics. We will use the lenses of scientific and popular literature, including fiction and non-fiction, to review and write about the biochemistry, economics, politics, and psychological and sociological aspects of four pandemics spanning nearly 1500 years: bubonic plague, tuberculosis, influenza and COVID-19. Over the course of the semester, students will be taught how to review and analyze different types of literature to write for different audiences. In addition to writing either a historical fiction or non-fiction piece for each of the first three modules, student will be required to keep a journal focusing on their experiences with living in the age of COVID-19 in the style of A Journal of the Plague Year (Fiction) by Daniel Dafoe for their fourth writing assignment.

WRI 101 [W]: Justice and Piety
MWF 8:30-9:20
Shaw

The course offers students a chance to investigate a venerable question of political life: What is the relationship between political justice and religious faith? While most of us in twenty-first century liberal democracies assume that politics and religion have nothing in common-and that they should have nothing in common-political philosophers have long acknowledged their intimate and mutually implicative relationship.
We’ll explore this relationship by reading and discussing writings that span several genres (philosophy, epic poetry, historical narrative, rhetoric, and dramatic dialogue) by four ancient Greek authors: Homer, Thucydides, Sophocles, and Plato. We’ll attempt this task as well by writing often and in a variety of formats. In all assignments students will be encouraged to articulate and defend their own interpretations and points of view.

WRI 101 [X]: The American West
MWF 2:30-3:20
Garcia Peacock

What is the American West? Where is the American West? And why does discussion of the ways in which its diverse people, places, and spaces have changes over time ignite passionate debate among historians and the public alike? In this writing seminar, we will pursue answers to questions about this region raised since the nineteenth century. A series of writing projects will help students gain broader and more nuanced understandings of the West by pursuing three key themes: race, environment, and representation. Each of these writing projects will take the form of a multi-week sequence of activities aimed at encouraging critical and close engagement with a wide range of texts, including: journalistic writing, creative non-fiction, scholarly articles, historical monographs, and visual material such as painting, photography, public art, and the landscape itself. By the end of the course, students will emerge with a portfolio of five essays that should, as a set, offer a unique perspective on how and why the American West remains a relevant topic and site of debate in the early twenty-first century.

WRI 101 [Y]: Writing about Physics and Technology
TR 9:40-10:55
Yukich

This is a writing-intensive course designed for first-year students. We will examine the fundamentals of several areas of twentieth-century physics and related technology, including quantum physics and nuclear energy, and development of the transistor, the atom bomb, and the laser. We will also consider the social ramifications of these technologies. The central theme of the course is to learn to write concisely and unambiguously-for the educated public-about science and technology. All of the major assignments and much of our discussion in this course will focus on this theme: however, the skills developed through time are immediately applicable in all technical areas, including business, law, medicine, and engineering.

WRI 101 [Z]: The Linguist’s Dilemma
TR 8:15-9:30
Fernandez

Do only humans have language? How does language influence perception? How do we best deal with dialects and language differences in schools and society? Students in this course will take up these and other unresolved questions about language as they engage with scholarly and creative perspectives on the subject, including the science fiction film The Arrival and J.M. Coetzee’s metafictional novella The Lives of Animals. Scholarly readings will include selections from William Labov’s The Social Stratification of English and Benjamin Whorf’s Language, Thought, and Reality. In the process, students will strengthen their ability to engage critically with sources and expand their repertoire of techniques for writing academic arguments.

WRI 101 [AA]:Building Stories
MWF 11:30 - 12:20
Churchill

Spring 2021 Sections

WRI 101 [A]: Fake News, Real Science
TR 2:45-4:00pm
Campbell, M.

We are inundated with information from multiple sources, but how can scientific data help us make sense of the world? Students will become local experts on one “controversial” topic and write about this topic using data to formulate logical arguments. Students will be guided in methods for drafting and revising their work which will be critiqued by classmates. Course work includes brief, low-stakes written assignments, as well as consistent engagement with course reading through regular participation in class discussion. Six minor and one major written projects are required, each of which involves detailed analysis of texts, while also challenging students to articulate and defend their own positions based on data.

WRI 101 [B]: Hair Habits and Styles: Hair Anthropology
MWF 10:50-11:40am
Cho

Anthropology is a holistic study of the biological and behavioral aspects of humans from past and present populations. Its inherent interdisciplinarity enables us to have a rich and nuanced understanding of a specific topic such as hair. What is interdisciplinary? How can the liberal arts and transcending disciplinary walls better inform us? The class will use the anthropological lens on hair to reveal that its unique distribution on our bodies is due to evolution, hair color and hair type reflect environmental adaptations of our ancestors, hair embodies social group identities such as gender and race, and hair is imbued with all sorts of rituals, traditions, and meanings. Students will complete several writing assignments and will examine and analyze hair from one academic discipline as well as multiple disciplines. Students will discern information in academic or primary sources from popular media source, provide an analysis of its content, structure the presentation of the analysis, and execute the writing through a process.

WRI 101 [C]: Astrobiology: Life in the Universe
TR 8:15-9:30am
Thompson

Are we alone? Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? These questions hold much public interest and the answers to them would have profound scientific, religious, and philosophical implications. To fully appreciate any answer that may be found, we must first explore a different question: What is life? The answer to this seemingly straightforward question is not simple at all, and has been one of the great debates among scientists. Is there one definitive answer as to what constitutes life? Does the answer to this question depend upon where in the Universe the life in question resides? In this course, we will explore life on a variety of scales, including life on and near Earth, life on Mars, life in the Solar System, and life in the Universe. As we move farther into space, away from our Earthly home, science has provided less evidence and we therefore must rely more heavily on our own beliefs, knowledge, and creativity to formulate meaningful stances about the possibility of life on the grandest of scales. The course will be organized in four sections, each exploring the meaning and current understanding of life on the scale mentioned above, from Earth to the Universe at large. Students will be asked to complete four writing projects, each exploring the meaning and current understanding of life on one of these size scales. Each project will consist of one or two low-stakes writing assignments and one larger piece that will be drafted and revised.

WRI 101 [D]: Writing China
MWF 1:10-2:00pm
Rigger

WRI 101 [E]: Denial and the Holocaust
MWF 2:20-3:10pm
McQuinn

The real and the fake: the interpretation of facts, phrases, and concepts; the appropriate way to use historical pasts in the present-these are some of the most hotly debated issues in contemporary discourse today. This course focuses on Holocaust denial, one of the most prominent and enduring forms of denying history; as a case study to look at larger issues of the way we engage with history in contemporary public discourse. At the center of the course, we will be examining the landmark court case where historian Deborah Lipstadt was forced to prove the existence of the Holocaust in court after being sued for libel by Holocaust denier David Irving. In addition to the case, we will be examining her book (which sparked the lawsuit), public discourse around the case, and the 2016 movie about the trial. We will also consider questions of the Holocaust’s place in history, including debates about whether the Holocaust can be compared to other human rights violations. Through this course, students will hone writing skills for different kinds of media and prepare to engage in contemporary public debates over complex, sensitive, and contentious issues.

WRI 101 [F]: Imagining Africa
MWF 10:50-11:40am
Wiemers

How has the idea of Africa been produced, contested, and used as a political tool? In this introduction to writing in the liberal arts, we will engage with a series of historical actors-politicians, scholars, and activists-who have used the idea of Africa to build and destroy empires, to create and contest community, and to imagine a world that was different from the one they inhabited. In the late nineteenth century, the concept of Africa emerged as an instrument of imperial power. At the same time, it became the basis for a wide variety of projects for solidarity and liberation by people of African decent in and beyond the continent. Both of these imaginings of Africa have continued, in various forms, to the present. The course centers on a central set of questions: What are the implications of how we imagine and describe the world? How have the categories that governments, activists, and scholars used to describe “Africa” helped them shape and reshape the world? What kinds of politics, interactions, and knowledge were made possible by particular visions? What possibilities were foreclosed? As we work to develop facility with argumentative writing, we will also use these questions to become more critical about the terms of our own analysis.
In the class, you will produce four major writing assignments, each of which will be drafted, peer-reviewed, and revised. You will also complete a number of low-stakes, unrevised, analytical pieces, including reading reflections and brief film and media reviews. Students will spend significant time reading, commenting, and offering suggestions on each other’s writing.
Over the course of the first three essays, you will learn to engage critically with a wide variety of texts, including critiques of the category of African from V.Y. Mudimbe’s 1988 The Invention of Africa to Binyavanga Wainaina’s popular 2006 satire “How to Write About Africa,” as well as the works of scholars and activists who have used the idea of Africa as a platform for critique, community, and social change (including Amy Jacques Garvey, Julius Nyerere, W.E.B. DuBois, and others). We will put these texts in conversation with one another, and use them to analyze primary sources ranging from turn-of-the-twentieth-century West African newspapers to contemporary movies and music videos. In the final project, you will analyze a contemporary imagining of Africa from a popular media source of your choosing.

WRI 101 [G]: Here I Stand
MWF 12:00-12:50pm
Krentz

At the Diet of Worms in 1521, Martin Luther was asked to recant his teachings, which his accusers found heretical. Tradition, though no written evidence, says that he ended his speech in refusal with the words “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise, so help me God.” The Diet, an assembly of the Holy Roman Empire presided over by Emperor Charles V, called for Luther’s arrest and punishment, and he went into hiding. When Luther took this stand, heretics could be burned at the stake. That’s exactly what happened to two of his supporters in 1523.

This course will consider several people who, like Luther, stood up for what they believed at great personal risk. The first two will come from the ancient world. Socrates, the Athenian philosopher, defended his teachings as deserving of reward rather than punishment; in 399 BCE, at the age of 70, he was condemned to death by a jury and executed by being forced to drink poisonous hemlock. Jesus of Nazareth, a Jewish peasant, challenged the religious and political powers of his day; he was condemned to death by the Roman governor of Judaea and crucified.

Students will pick the third case study. Possibilities include Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931), who was born a slave and became a journalist in Memphis. In 1892, she published an editorial about lynching that led to a riot and the destruction of the printing equipment at the press she co-owned. Wells happened to be in New York at the time. Because of threats to her life, she never returned to Memphis, She went on to publish first a pamphlet and then a longer study of lynching in the South, for which she was awarded a Pulitzer prize in 2020. Another possibility would be Margaret Chase Smith, who as a Republican senator delivered her “Declaration of Conscience” speech at the height of McCarthyism in 1950, a speech that may not have put her life in danger but certainly risked her political career. Students may suggest other possibilities.

The final prompt in the course will ask students to reflect on whether there is any issue for which they would be willing to risk their lives, even if they had to stand alone.

WRI 101 [H]: Vicious Ignorance
MWF 2:20-3:10pm
Busch

WRI 101 [I]: Freedom of Speech
MWF 10:50 -11:40am
McKeever

Freedom of speech is a widely recognized right and value. In the United States, the Constitution confers on it a fundamental legal status. It also enjoys widespread (if not universal) recognition as a core political value. Lying beneath this near consensus that free speech is a good thing, lies a host of disagreements. Some of these concern the basis for free speech rights. Why is a right to free speech important and what goals does it serve? Other disagreements concern the proper limits of free speech. When should we take steps to limit the speech of others and ourselves? Still other disagreements concern the enforcement of limits. Even if we agree that someone should not be speaking as they are, what steps may we take to stop them? If we cannot call the police, can we nevertheless exercise the “heckler’s veto” and shout them down? Finally, we encounter disagreements about the costs of free speech. One may think that free speech is a critical right while also thinking that this imposes costs on others, for example the cost of hearing speech is insulting, traumatizing, or even threatening. That a piece of speech makes a person feel unsafe is a common complaint. But some take some complaints very seriously, while others dismiss them as a symptom of oversensitivity. In this course, our organizing questions will be what are the value, proper limits, and costs of free speech? Obviously, these issues are matters of significant political dispute. This course will assume that these questions lack simple answers and that a wide range of moral and political responses to them merit our attention. We will read legal, political, and philosophical arguments concerning free speech. We will also attend to how public discussion of contemporary events represents free speech as a value. Students will be asked to regularly complete short, low-stakes, and ungraded writing assignments to facilitate skill building. Students will also complete four main writing projects on specific topics bearing on free speech. The process of drafting and revising will be emphasized.

WRI 101 [J]: Does Democracy Matter?
TR 1:10-2:25pm
Layman

This semester’s writing assignments and discussions will all center on a single question: Why does democracy matter? During the last several years, democracies throughout the world have faced mounting internal and external pressures and, consequently, crises of legitimacy. Such events have led some commentators to worry aloud that democracy as we know it may be fighting for its life. But should we be fighting to save it? And if so, why?
Each member of the course will complete a number of low-stakes, unrevised assignments as well as four major writing projects, each drafted and revised. Each major project will require students to engage critically with one or more texts-ranging from suffragette pamphlets to contemporary scholarly works in political theory—in order to frame and support an argumentative thesis. As the semester progresses, major writing projects will increasingly require students to synthesize content from texts spanning distinct genres and deploy that content to define and support their own positions.

WRI 101 [K]: Discourses of the Dispossessed: Slave Narratives Then and Now
TR 9:50-11:05am
Hillard

As a rule, U.S. slave owners forbade enslaved persons from gaining literate skills, fearful that the ability to read and to write would confer to slaves the capability to gain knowledge that would foster discontent or catalyze rebellion. Though some slaves were clandestinely taught to read by whites (often for the purpose of giving them access to scripture) others were self-taught, either alone or in small groups. Anticipated as potentially seditious, the ability to write was perhaps even more constrained. Yet, a number of ex-slaves composed autobiographic discourses, both to document enslaved life and to persuade Northern audiences of its evils. The genre of the slave narrative is one of the nation’s most important rhetorical achievements. A compelling combination of experiential and political writing, these documents deftly navigate the private and public spheres, reclaiming testimony with the power of witnessing.
This writing course focuses on two historical narratives (Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass) and one contemporary fictional “neo-slave narrative” (Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad) to explore rhetorically-attuned questions about the strengths and limits of self-representation, the production of empathy, and the navigation of persuasive effects across diverse audiences. The course’s three major writing projects will support students’ in making public arguments drawn from cultural materials.

WRI 101 [L]: Discourses of the Dispossessed: Slave Narratives Then and Now
TR 11:35-12:50pm
Hillard

WRI 101 [M]: Bad Art
MWF 9:40-10:30am
Rippeon

WRI 101 [N]: Religion and Violence
MWF 1:10pm-2:00pm
Blum

The confluence of religion and violence in the modern world has become a familiar theme in mass media. Responding to this trend, the fundamental question that animates this course is: how intimate is the relationship between violence and religion, and how may it best be explained? Students will approach this question through engagement with various texts that answer the question in different ways, and three major written projects that consider different explanations of the relationship between religion and violence. The goal of the course is to provide a variety of theoretical resources on which students can draw in formulating their own positions on this fraught question.

WRI 101 [O]: Leadership in the Era of #BLM

TR 11:35-12:50pm

Mahoney

In the contemporary political context of the Movement for Black Lives, students will explore the conceptualization of leadership. Since the inception of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2013, there has been much debate about the movement’s leadership formation and practice rom both avid supporters and detractors of black political struggles. A loosely-based network of grassroots organizations formed by black feminist and queer activists, some have found the leadership of Black Lives Matter illegible, and thus suggest its ineffectiveness, while others have perceived the movement’s leadership “illegibility” as a strength. In this course, we will examine popular discourse pertaining to the leadership of BLM as well as historical and contemporary scholarship on the forms and functions of black leadership in order to think about, discuss, and write about the following questions: (1) How does one come to identify and define leadership? Put differently, what makes leadership legible to you? (2) What are the implications of il/legible leadership for black political struggles and black identities? (3) How might the concept of leadership be differentiated and/or formed along the intersecting axes of race, gender, sexuality, and class?

WRI 101 [P]: “Ain’t What it Used to Be”: Theatre as a Guide for 2021 American Living

TR 1:10-2:25pm

Kaliski

In the midst of our polarized America, how can our national theatre advocate for a more nuanced understanding of our society? Theatre has excelled as a civic tool throughout human history, but in current times, we often forget about its potency, considering it instead as a niche storytelling form that struggles to compete with film and TV. On the contrary, theatre has a singular magnetism. With its unique ability to realize long conversations between intricately developed characters in live, communal gathering spaces, we could argue that theatre is the sharpest artistic answer to a country that struggles mightily to understand itself.

This course will engage in close readings of four major plays from the past decade that articulate the disquieting uncertainty about future America and the fascinating, contradictory people who occupy it. For each of the plays, you will select one character, plot point, idea, or conceptual choice to unpack in a writing assignment, striving throughout the drafting process for deeper intellectual and emotional understanding of how the theatrical form nudges its audience toward more compassionate citizenry. The play selections will look expansively at identity, both with regards to the playwrights and their character creations, so that we may consider how contemporary theatre is capturing an abundance of lived experiences.