Summer 2025
ENGL 5610S/4115B: Studies in Contemporary Literature I
Prof. Franny Nudelman
Topic: Immersive Documentary, 1945 to the Present
In this course we will study immersive documentary—a form that has flourished in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. If an objective approach to recording social reality was discredited by the surreal conditions of the Second World War, post-war documentarians explored subjective modes of reporting that placed the perspective of the observer front and center. Further, they argued that subjective reporting was the most accurate and complete way to capture the bizarre properties of modern life. Writers, filmmakers and photographers working in this tradition seek out extreme situations, spend long periods of time with their subjects, explore immersive technologies, and report on how their encounter with a situation, subject, or event transforms the perspective of the documentarian.
ENGL 5900S/4115A: Selected Topic in English Studies I
Prof. Robin Norris
Topic: Plant Literacy
Plants have been important throughout human history for reasons of both survival and culture. Although plants have been central to mythologies and folklore around the globe, today our personal awareness of plants is at an all-time low. This is an experiential learning course that combines fieldwork, experiential learning, and text-based discussion to develop plant literacy and increase awareness of the plant life in our environment while redefining our understanding of literacy. Writing assignments will emphasize reflection on the experiential learning aspects of the course and will include in-class writing and a plant journal. The intersecting goals of the course are to explore the concept of literacy while expanding our ability to perceive and engage with plants, as well as considering new methods of observation and understanding by challenging fixed notions of knowledge and being.