SESSION II

Joe Fruscione - Writing and Rewriting Gatsby
CRN 71424 | UW2020W | Section 20 | MTWR 10:00AM - 11:30AM (1957 E 112)
»click for expanded description

Randi Kristensen- Black Women in the Early 21st Century
CRN 71424 | UW2020W | Section 81 | TR 6:00PM - 8:00PM and ONLINE (PHIL 109)
»click for expanded description

DISTANCE UW WID COURSES

UNIVERSITY WRITING COURSES

SESSION I

SESSION II

DETAILED COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

STUDY ABROAD COURSES

Larsen, Katherine - Fan Pilgrimages and Media Tourism

What?
Tourists have a bad reputation. We are encouraged to look at their experience as necessarily inauthentic, doomed to superficiality at best, and at worst as an ongoing opportunity to insult other cultures. Fans of popular culture also have a bad reputation. Even though the media assures us that we are in the middle of a "Geek Revolution," that same media is also quick to characterize fans as over invested, sometimes creepy, but more often just sad people who still need to "get a life".

What then do we make of tourist/fans?
In this course we will examine the growing phenomenon of fan pilgrimage (growing in the sense that the tourism industry is now catering specifically to this market). We will consider fan pilgrims themselves - why do they go and what do they gain from the experience? Does fan pilgrimage, with its religious connotations, accurately capture that experience? How does fan pilgrimage differ from media tourism? We will also consider how key sites are presented to the public. How are they curated? What sorts of narratives are constructed? What constitutes an "authentic" experience for the fan tourist?

In addition, our presence on-site will raise some fundamental questions about the research process and how we construct meaning around these sites. The presence of a research librarian for a portion of the course will allow for expanded discussion of on-site research methods.

Where?
Although based in London, the course will include group trips to Cardiff (Doctor Who) and Liverpool (The Beatles), with optional days out to Stratford or Oxford. In London will we go on the Warner Brothers Studio tour of the Harry Potter sets as well as a tour of sites of filming in London. We will also go on a Sherlock Holmes walking tour of sites significant in both the short stories and recent films/television productions.

Students will have weekends free to visit other sites of their choosing in London and throughout the UK. These sites can range from the homes of literary figures to rock stars, libraries to cemeteries to football stadiums, theatres to churches to concert venues - in short any places that hold significance to the student based on their own fannish interests. This research will form the basis of students' final papers.

Who?
This course is open to both undergraduates and graduate students. No previous knowledge of fan studies is needed for undergraduates.

ON CAMPUS WID COURSES

Berry, Shannon - Science and Religion

Since the Enlightenment science and religion have often been seen at odds with one another, especially in the West. This course will analyze and question the basic premises of this dichotomy, delving into the relationship between faith and reason and its origins as well as how this relationship has been understood and treated historically. By analyzing the basic premises of religion and science as well as particular scientific ideas ranging from evolution and the big bang theory to artificial intelligence and the multiverse, this course will investigate the responses of various religions to scientific topics as well as engage critics within the perceived debate between science and religion.

In addition to these topics and ideas, this course will serve as a introduction to the method and style in which scholars of religion research and write. The study of religion is an interdisciplinary field engaging the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, history, philosophy, and theology. Therefore, this course will engage methods of interdisciplinary research as well as discuss methods for writing and researching within these various fields that comprise the study of religion.

Please click here for more information on this course

Fruscione, Joseph - Writing and Rewriting The Great Gatsby

Is The Great Gatsby the greatest American novel we think we've read, as one critic recently said? If so, what have we been wrong about and/or missed? How is the novel different when rereading it?

This course will closely examine F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous, subtle, and very adaptable novel The Great Gatsby, along with three different versions: Trimalchio (the complete draft) and films by Jack Clayton (1974) and Baz Luhrmann (2013). Throughout the course, we'll ask and answer the following:

• Is The Great Gatsby an end that must be followed carefully? Or, is it an opportunity for revision and creative risk-taking? What is its contemporary image or 'meaning'?
• What does its initial version, Trimalchio, help illuminate and complicate about it?
• How is it adapted across various media, and what is the ideal relationship between Fitzgerald's source novel and modern adaptations of it?

Writing Projects will include:

• A focused analysis of one scene from Gatsby and Trimalchio or Gatsby and a film version.
• A collaborative assignment to create a readable scene from The Great Gatsby and Trimalchio.
• A portfolio of shorter pieces directed toward different audiences and media.
• A collection of observations and advice for future readers of the novel.

Kristensen, Randi - Black Women in the 21st Century

Recent scholarship suggests that achievement by, and scholarly attention to, Black women has reached a plateau, following tremendous strides in the 1970's and 80's. This seminar invites students to take an interdisciplinary approach to critical inquiry into the scholarship and status of Black women in North America, the Caribbean, and Latin America at the end of the first decade of the 21stCentury. What does it mean, at the present moment, to live at the intersection of race, gender, class, and global economic recession? What analyses, strategies, and actions are Black women deploying in response to their current situations? What are the historical, national, and transnational linkages between Black women, and where can we find them, in action and scholarship?

This course is designed as a WID, and can provide service-learning opportunities: students already in related jobs can bring academic inquiry to bear on their work; students seeking service-learning opportunities will be introduced to relevant organizations in DC.

Wolfe, Zachary - Equality and Law: Introduction to Legal Writing

This course offers an introduction to how lawyers and legal scholars research and write about specific disputes that arise in the context of complex social issues. It is one of the required courses for the new minor in law and society.

In this course, we have the opportunity to explore an ongoing challenge to our society in general and the legal system in particular: what is the promise of equality, and how does government relate to it. We will discuss the revolution brought about by the civil rights movement, how the law is different as a result, and contemporary issues related to law and equality. This includes not only race relations, but the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the disabled, and others who continue to advance major challenges to the system's ability to realize legal and civil equality. Through this critical exploration of the role of law and government, and the kinds of arguments appropriate within varied complex institutions, students will come to understand the interdisciplinary field of law and the requirements of legal research writing.