Mini-Center for Teaching Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture and Society

This seminar was took place in the 1999 Spring semester.
Depending on the continued grant support, it will be offered again in the Spring of 2001.

AMST 629V: Teaching Strategies in Cultural Studies
Dr. Myron Lounsbury · Spring 1999

2119 Taliaferro Hall · Phone: (301) 405-1359
E-mail: ml36@umail.umd.edu
Class reflector: amst629v@umail.umd.edu
Office hours: M 12-1, T 11-3, W 11-1,
or by appointment

Course Description:

This seminar is being offered as a part of our department's Mini-Center for Teaching Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture and Society. After introducing (with the assistance of Paul Auster's graphic novel, City of Glass) the concept of a syllabus as a form of narration or storytelling, we will consider three texts that raise major issues relevant to instructors engaged in the practice of teaching cultural studies from a variety of perspectives: 1) Robert Ray's The Avant-Garde Finds Andy Hardy--how does one introduce complex cultural theories by encouraging students to "think" with film and other media technologies? 2) Henry Giroux and Patrick Shannon's Education and Cultural Studies--how does one mobilize knowledge, concerning matters of race, gender and class, in order to spotlight the "possibilities and constraints of citizenship"? 3) Janet Murray's Hamlet on the Holodeck--what are the guidelines for exploring the contributions of a computer technology that calls upon students to enact or rehearse opportunities for playing with, challenging, or possibly transforming social conventions in a virtual world? We will not only engage in dialogue about our major texts, but also, invite guest speakers from UMCP and from local universities to share their pedagogical strategies (each speaker will be asked to recommend an assigned reading); comment upon relevant courses, lectures and workshops conducted on the College Park campus; and conduct Internet searches to gain access to information regarding programs and curricula at other prominent universities in the United States and elsewhere. Participants in the seminar will submit a final project that can range from an individually designed syllabus or annotated bibliography to a collaborative venture that involves the creation of a Web Site devoted to innovations in teaching cultural studies.

Texts to Be Purchased:

Paul Auster, City of Glass (graphic novel)
Robert Ray, The Avant-Garde Finds Andy Hardy
Henry Giroux and Patrick Shannon, Education and Cultural Studies: Toward a Performative Practice
Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace

Course Calendar

-- Next meeting

February Introduction

1 Introducing Our Selves

8 Mapping the Terrain
Stories: Paul Auster, City of Glass; Rear Window (video);
Our Primary Texts: Introductions to Robert Ray, Henry Giroux and Patrick Shannon, Janet Murray;
The History of AMST in the Classroom: Kenneth Lynn, Tremaine McDowell, Robert Merideth, Gene Wise, Jay Mechling (xeroxes);
Culture Wars: "Yo, Professor!" (Andrew Ross), Anthony Palmeri on Public Intellectuals, Mark Edmundson on Liberal Education (xeroxes)

Teacher's Role: Selecting Tactics, Defining Goals
Primary text: Robert Ray, The Avant-Garde Finds Andy Hardy

15 Guest Speaker: John Caughey on Life Writing

22 Guest Speaker: Jeremy Korr on Initiating Class Discussions

March 1 Guest Speakers: Mary Sies and Kelly Quinn on Radical Pedagogies

Prisms: Mediating Cultural Diversity
Primary Text: Henry Giroux and Patrick Shannon, Education and Cultural Studies

8 Guest Speakers: Will Liu, Psyche Williams, and Ann Denkler on the Museum as Classroom

15 Guest Speakers: Rhonda Williams and Eva George (Afro-American Studies) on Teaching Sexuality

29 Guest Speakers: Pat McDermott (UMBC) and Sheri Parks on Reading Media: The Representations of Race

April 5 Guest Speaker: Paul Gorski, on the Diversity Web initiative and multicultural teaching and conversations

Cyberspace: Navigating the New Technology
Primary Text: Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck

12 Guest Speakers: Ann Keating (NYU) and Charles Kisner on the Wired Professor;

19 Guest Speaker: Mitchell Lifton

26 Guest Speakers: Robert Kolker (English) and Marguerite Glass-Englehardt on Teaching Film & the Visual Arts Via the Computer

May 3 Projected Sequels: Discussion of Your Syllabi, Bibliographies and Web Sites

Concluding...

10 Guest Speakers: Katie King (Women's Studies) and David Silver on Teaching Cyberculture

February	Introduction
1	Introducing Our Selves
8	Mapping the Terrain Stories: Paul Auster, City of Glass; Rear Window (video); Our Primary Texts: Introductions to Robert Ray, Henry Giroux and Patrick Shannon, Janet Murray; The History of AMST in the Classroom: Kenneth Lynn, Tremaine McDowell, Robert Merideth, Gene Wise, Jay Mechling (xeroxes); Culture Wars: "Yo, Professor!" (Andrew Ross), Anthony Palmeri on Public Intellectuals, Mark Edmundson on Liberal Education (xeroxes)
Teacher's Role: Selecting Tactics, Defining Goals Primary text: Robert Ray, The Avant-Garde Finds Andy Hardy
15	Guest Speaker: John Caughey on Life Writing
22	Guest Speaker: Jeremy Korr on Initiating Class Discussions
March	1	Guest Speakers: Mary Sies and Kelly Quinn on Radical Pedagogies
Prisms: Mediating Cultural Diversity Primary Text: Henry Giroux and Patrick Shannon, Education and Cultural Studies
8	Guest Speakers: Will Liu, Psyche Williams, and Ann Denkler on the Museum as Classroom
15	Guest Speakers: Rhonda Williams and Eva George (Afro-American Studies) on Teaching Sexuality
29	Guest Speakers: Pat McDermott (UMBC) and Sheri Parks on Reading Media: The Representations of Race
April	5	Guest Speaker: Paul Gorski, on the Diversity Web initiative and multicultural teaching and conversations
Cyberspace: Navigating the New Technology Primary Text: Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck
12	Guest Speakers: Ann Keating (NYU) and Charles Kisner on the Wired Professor;
19	Guest Speaker: Mitchell Lifton
26	Guest Speakers: Robert Kolker (English) and Marguerite Glass-Englehardt on Teaching Film & the Visual Arts Via the Computer
May	3	Projected Sequels: Discussion of Your Syllabi, Bibliographies and Web Sites
Concluding...
10	Guest Speakers: Katie King (Women's Studies) and David Silver on Teaching Cyberculture

Writing and Other Communications:

After our initial sessions, each of you should determine how you would most like to communicate what you have learned to me and the other members of the seminar during the course of the semester. Let me suggest some possibilities for your consideration:

keeping a weekly "intellectual diary" responding to our primary text, recommended readings, and visiting speakers.
communicating over e-mail (to amst629V@umail.umd.edu) your reactions to readings and to our class discussions
submitting reports over e-email and/or in class about undergraduate courses you have visited, graduate seminars of interest (for example, Mary Sies's sequel to AMST 601), UMCP-sponsored workshops (Center for Teaching Excellence) and public lectures (for example, bell hooks in March), AMST-sponsored workshops and lecture series (Life Writing Lecture Series)
assisting me in the teaching and design of courses (such as AMST 204) devoted to "Film and Cityscapes"
citing instructive university Web Sites that you have located in your Internet searches
submitting a position paper to me at the conclusion of each of the major units for the semester

In my opening Course Description, I gave a brief account concerning possible Final Projects: a course syllabus accompanied by a carefully designed rationale, an annotated bibliography of articles and books devoted to teaching strategies, the construction of a Web Site that illustrated the teaching resources available in printed literature and on the Internet. As a narrative line emerges for the seminar, we may discover other opportunities for your final projects.