For me, designing any syllabus raises a challenging question: how does one establish a map that will not only guide us, but be openended enough to allow for unexpected avenues of thinking. Given the nature of AMST 629V, with its emphasis on guest speakers and workshops, it is important to keep in mind that any map is indeed preliminary, and we may take a number of apparent detours along the way...

Course Description:

This seminar is being offered as part of our department's Mini-Center for Teaching Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture and Society. After introducing ourselves and our objectives, we will engage in a series of dialogues with guest speakers known for their innovative approaches to teaching cultural studies in an interdisciplinary fashion. We will also read several basic texts (by Parker Palmer, Henry Giroux and his co-editors, Janet Murray), examine essays recommended by our invited speakers, continue our conversations via e-mail, and report on relevant lectures, workshops, symposia, and other sources of information that we have encountered either on campus online. Among the key issues to be addressed: 1) what interactive strategies should be initiated by instructors hoping to be "public" and perhaps "radical" intellectuals? 2) how does one encourage students to confront and question the assumptions of race, gender, class and/or ethnicity? 3) to what degree may media technology, including the computer, be employed to enhance an individual's awareness of the challenges of a contemporary and future society?

Texts to Be Purchased:

Paul Auster, City of Glass (graphic novel)
Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach
Henry Giroux and Patrick Shannon, Education and Cultural Studies: Toward a Performative Practice
Henry Giroux et al, Counternarratives
Janet Murray, Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace
Course Packet at BSOS Copy Center (Tydings Hall)

Course Calendar

-- Next meeting

January	Introductions
	29	Introducing Our Selves
February	5	Surveying the Terrain Paul Auster, City of Glass; Introductions to Palmer, Giroux, Murray; Murray, Chapter 5; BSOS Course Packet (readings on the role of the teacher, museum exhibitions, film, cyberspace) Optional: Rear Window (!), AMST History Folder (on reserve)
	Spatial Practice I: The Role of the Teacher Focus Texts: Parker Palmer, Henry Giroux(2)
	12	Introducing Life History Speaker: John Caughey
	19	Tactics for Interaction Speaker: Jeremy Korr
	26	The Radical Pedagogue Speakers: Kelly Quinn, Ed Martini
March	Spatial Practice II: Interrogating Cultural Diversity Focus Text: Giroux (2)
	5	The Asian-American Experience & Public Policy Visit: Phil Nash's AMST Class
	12	Community Outreach: Service & Learning in Baltimore Speaker, Ed Orser, American Studies, UMBC (Begin at 3 pm) 5 pm: Update on Seminar Final Projects
	26	Confrontations: Teaching Sexuality & Feminist Space Speakers: Eva George, Barbara Shaw-Perry
April	2	Exhibiting Cultural Diversity: The Museum as Classroom Speakers: Psyche Williams-Forson, Ann Denkler, Jane Dusselier
	9	Multicultural Perspectives: The Prisms of Race, Gender & Ethnicity (tentative) Invited Panelists/Roundtable Discussion: Nancy Struna, Mike Hummel, Josh Woodfork, John Daves Discussion: Weekend Conference for Cyberculture Studies
	Spatial Practice III: Expanding Mediascapes Focus Text: Janet Murray, Giroux (2)
	16	Hypertextual Avenues: Where Do We Go From Here? (tentative) Invited Speakers: Mitchell Lifton, Tim Lemke 5:30: Update on Seminar Final Projects
	23	Reading Visual Culture: Art, Videos & CD-ROMs Speakers: Marguerite Glass, Greg Metcalf
	30	Global Outreach: Third World Cinema/Distance Learning Speaker: Eugene Robinson
May	7	Engaging Cyberculture Speakers: Katie King, David Silver
	14	Expanding the Classroom: Distance Learning Speakers: Debra DeRuyver, Charles Kisner, Greg Segreti
	Concluding...
	TBA	Discussion of Final Projects

Writing and Other Communications:

Rehearsing the Final Project (25%-40% of the final grade):

On March 12 and April 16, you will distribute one-page outlines of your proposed Final Project to the seminar. You also should indicate to me how you would like your work to be evaluated in terms of your written personal reflections and your contributions to the seminar and/or in terms of "extracurricular" events, classes & Web Sites that you have encountered prior to March 12 and April 16. It is important to identify consistent and impressive work in at least one of the following:

• keeping a weekly "intellectual diary"
• Participating frequently during our workshops & to class discussion
• Volunteering to provide video clips & other evidence illustrating strategies for teaching
• Communicating over e-mail (to amst629v@umail.umd.edu) your reactions to our readings, invited speakers, and seminar discussions
• Reporting what you have learned in other graduate seminars (for example, Sheri Parks's AMST 603)
• Working closely with a "mentor" who is teaching an undergraduate AMST class (for example, AMST 201, AMST 205, AMST 428B)
• Reporting on AMST-sponsored workshops/symposia (Life Writing Project, Cyberculture Working Group), campus-based workshops (Center for Teaching Excellence) and prominent guest speakers visiting College Park (bell hooks….)
• Reporting instructive Web Sites that you have located during Internet searches