ENG 620: The Profession of English

ENG 620: The Profession of English
Syllabus Schedule Assignments Resources Blog Hamilton Library	Instructor: John Zuern Department of English, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Kuy 429 Fall 2007 M 6:30 - 9:00 Kuykendall 302 Office Hours: TR 2:00 - 3:30 and by appointment Objectives The course focuses on some of the core concepts and questions that make up the intellectual domain within which professors of English claim to have some expertise, be they creative writers, literary or cultural critics, composition theorists, rhetoricians, or generalists. The class still introduces students to the disciplinary formation of English Studies by accentuating the position of English within the traditional (and now embattled) liberal arts curriculum and by tracing the many connections between English and other fields of scholarship. On the whole I have conceived the course as a kind of intensive pro-seminar in foundational ideas that will prepare incoming MAs for the ENG 625s in their second semester. Above all, the course aims to build students’ understanding of the essential concepts with which all professionals in our field must grapple. I am concerned not only with building students’ confidence in employing the received ideas of the discipline in their own thinking and writing but also with guiding them toward revisions and critiques of these concepts in the context of their own emerging research agendas and career goals. While the main objective of the course is to prepare students for success in future graduate-level classes in our program and in their future professional lives by grounding them in the research, writing, and documentation practices of the field, I also want to involve them in the exciting task of adapting and creating dynamic, illuminating, and site-specific concepts about language, culture, and human experience. Within the limitations of my own knowledge, I have tried to include materials related to Hawai‘I and the Asia/Pacific region. I have divided the materials for reading and discussion into four units representing what I view as the most basic questions in all of our Concentrations. The semester schedule allows for roughly 4 class meetings for each unit; the four visits from representations of our Concentrations will be integrated into units as appropriate and convenient. Unit 1: Language How do we understand the fundamental material with which all students and professors of English ultimately work? This unit will introduce key concepts in linguistics, semiotics, and logic and will also cover the important (though often dubious) role Hawaiian and “South Seas” languages played in the elaboration of modern linguistic theory. Unit 2: Subjectivity How do we understand the human being in relation to language? What does it mean “to speak” and “to write?” How indebted is one’s own sense of personal identity to the conventional words and structures of one’s language? This unit introduces basic ideas about experience, desire, intention, and expression. Unit 3: Aesthetics and Rhetoric In one way or another, all dimensions of English Studies are occupied with the question of how it is that certain linguistic performances have a powerful effect on us as subjects—how we are moved, persuaded, and sometimes harmed by speech and writing. This unit will place special emphasis on the trope, the “deviant” and devious use of language that in many ways characterizes both literary and rhetorical cultural production. Unit 4: Culture Language can fully operate only within a living community of language-users. How can we account for the relationships between particular formations of language—especially those with which scholars in English are typically occupied—with formations of social existence including class stratification, discrimination, disenfranchisement, and violence? Cultures undertaking decolonization and reflecting on the status of English in literature, schooling, and public life will be of particular concern in this unit. Required Texts Lisa Linn Kanae, Sista Tongue E. Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain Albert Wendt Reina Whaitiri, and Robert Sullivan (eds.), Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English Tony Crowley, The Routledge Language and Cultural Theory Reader (books will be available from Revolution Books in Puck's Alley on King Street) a course packet (available from Campus Copy in the Student Center) Assignments Rather than writing a long term paper, you will complete five short (2-3 page) writing exercises that will give you a chance to practice some of the typical writing tasks that we demand of graduate students. The foci of the short papers will be as follows: developing definitions and parameters of key concepts that guide your thinking and writing (10%) conducting a close reading of a passage of a primary text (may be a cultural artifact or event), with particular attention to figuration and historical/cultural context, citing and documenting sources appropriately (10%) comparing arguments within two scholarly sources, both dealing with a related question, integrating direct quotations effectively and citing and documenting sources appropriately (10%) framing an argument in scholarly discourse, citing and documenting sources appropriately (10%) framing an argument in poetic/fictional/public discourse (10%) presenting a portion of the assigned reading to the class for discussion (10 minutes; 20%) presenting an argument to an audience in a academic symposium setting (10 minutes; 20%) In addition to these writing assignments, you will be expected to post responses to the assigned reading every week on our class blog. We will base part of our class discussion on these responses. (10%) Attendance I expect that you will attend this class regularly and on time. More than three (3) unexcused absences will result in a failing grade for the class. If circumstances arise that make it difficult for you to attend classes or to complete your assigned work, please inform me immediately. Don’t wait until the end of the semester, when it will be harder to make accommodations. Conduct Your relationships with your classmates and with me are governed by the Student Conduct Code, which also applies in all the online environments we will be using this semester. If you feel that the conduct of another student in the class is interfering with your ability to work productively, please speak with me about the problem immediately. Scholastic Dishonesty The University of Hawai‘i regulations strictly forbid plagiarism and collusion. Submitting someone else’s work as your own, arranging for someone else to do your writing for you, or purchasing papers will earn you a failing grade for the assignment and may result in a failing grade in the class.
John Zuern :: zuern@hawaii.edu

Instructor: John Zuern
Department of English, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Kuy 429
Fall 2007
M 6:30 - 9:00
Kuykendall 302

Office Hours: TR 2:00 - 3:30 and by appointment

Objectives
The course focuses on some of the core concepts and questions that make up the intellectual domain within which professors of English claim to have some expertise, be they creative writers, literary or cultural critics, composition theorists, rhetoricians, or generalists. The class still introduces students to the disciplinary formation of English Studies by accentuating the position of English within the traditional (and now embattled) liberal arts curriculum and by tracing the many connections between English and other fields of scholarship. On the whole I have conceived the course as a kind of intensive pro-seminar in foundational ideas that will prepare incoming MAs for the ENG 625s in their second semester.

Above all, the course aims to build students’ understanding of the essential concepts with which all professionals in our field must grapple. I am concerned not only with building students’ confidence in employing the received ideas of the discipline in their own thinking and writing but also with guiding them toward revisions and critiques of these concepts in the context of their own emerging research agendas and career goals. While the main objective of the course is to prepare students for success in future graduate-level classes in our program and in their future professional lives by grounding them in the research, writing, and documentation practices of the field, I also want to involve them in the exciting task of adapting and creating dynamic, illuminating, and site-specific concepts about language, culture, and human experience. Within the limitations of my own knowledge, I have tried to include materials related to Hawai‘I and the Asia/Pacific region.

I have divided the materials for reading and discussion into four units representing what I view as the most basic questions in all of our Concentrations. The semester schedule allows for roughly 4 class meetings for each unit; the four visits from representations of our Concentrations will be integrated into units as appropriate and convenient.

Unit 1: Language
How do we understand the fundamental material with which all students and professors of English ultimately work? This unit will introduce key concepts in linguistics, semiotics, and logic and will also cover the important (though often dubious) role Hawaiian and “South Seas” languages played in the elaboration of modern linguistic theory.

Unit 2: Subjectivity
How do we understand the human being in relation to language? What does it mean “to speak” and “to write?” How indebted is one’s own sense of personal identity to the conventional words and structures of one’s language? This unit introduces basic ideas about experience, desire, intention, and expression.

Unit 3: Aesthetics and Rhetoric
In one way or another, all dimensions of English Studies are occupied with the question of how it is that certain linguistic performances have a powerful effect on us as subjects—how we are moved, persuaded, and sometimes harmed by speech and writing. This unit will place special emphasis on the trope, the “deviant” and devious use of language that in many ways characterizes both literary and rhetorical cultural production.

Unit 4: Culture
Language can fully operate only within a living community of language-users. How can we account for the relationships between particular formations of language—especially those with which scholars in English are typically occupied—with formations of social existence including class stratification, discrimination, disenfranchisement, and violence? Cultures undertaking decolonization and reflecting on the status of English in literature, schooling, and public life will be of particular concern in this unit.

Required Texts
Lisa Linn Kanae, Sista Tongue
E. Annie Proulx, Brokeback Mountain
Albert Wendt Reina Whaitiri, and Robert Sullivan (eds.), Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English
Tony Crowley, The Routledge Language and Cultural Theory Reader
(books will be available from Revolution Books in Puck's Alley on King Street)

a course packet (available from Campus Copy in the Student Center)

Assignments
Rather than writing a long term paper, you will complete five short (2-3 page) writing exercises that will give you a chance to practice some of the typical writing tasks that we demand of graduate students. The foci of the short papers will be as follows:

developing definitions and parameters of key concepts that guide your thinking and writing (10%)
conducting a close reading of a passage of a primary text (may be a cultural artifact or event), with particular attention to figuration and historical/cultural context, citing and documenting sources appropriately (10%)
comparing arguments within two scholarly sources, both dealing with a related question, integrating direct quotations effectively and citing and documenting sources appropriately (10%)
framing an argument in scholarly discourse, citing and documenting sources appropriately (10%)
framing an argument in poetic/fictional/public discourse (10%)
presenting a portion of the assigned reading to the class for discussion (10 minutes; 20%)
presenting an argument to an audience in a academic symposium setting (10 minutes; 20%)

In addition to these writing assignments, you will be expected to post responses to the assigned reading every week on our class blog. We will base part of our class discussion on these responses. (10%)

Attendance

I expect that you will attend this class regularly and on time. More than three (3) unexcused absences will result in a failing grade for the class. If circumstances arise that make it difficult for you to attend classes or to complete your assigned work, please inform me immediately. Don’t wait until the end of the semester, when it will be harder to make accommodations.

Conduct

Your relationships with your classmates and with me are governed by the Student Conduct Code, which also applies in all the online environments we will be using this semester.

If you feel that the conduct of another student in the class is interfering with your ability to work productively, please speak with me about the problem immediately.

Scholastic Dishonesty

The University of Hawai‘i regulations strictly forbid plagiarism and collusion. Submitting someone else’s work as your own, arranging for someone else to do your writing for you, or purchasing papers will earn you a failing grade for the assignment and may result in a failing grade in the class.

John Zuern :: zuern@hawaii.edu