Assignments

Critical Context & Question Presentation (10%) -- You will be a required to sign up for an oral presentation in pairs or small groups. For your presentation, you will read the texts assigned for a particular week, explore a topic relevant to the texts, generate a critical question or two connecting the two, and get class discussion started for the day. You will be required to create a single-spaced half-sheet or 1-page handout copied for the whole class. Presentations are no more than 10 minutes, may include media, and each presenter must have a substantive speaking part.

In-Class Quizzes (10%) -- There will be seven or more in-class quizzes at various times during the semester. These quizzes serve as a review of the week’s main ideas, terms, texts, and readings. These quizzes will include identifications, fill-in-the-blanks, definitions, and short answers.

Creative Responses (10%) -- You will write your own fiction and nonfiction to explore and demonstrate the ideas and goals of the course. Over the course of the semester, you will write a short short autobiography, a drawing, a short-short story, and a short creative non-fiction piece. These creative responses will be evaluated on completion and your critical, thoughtful engagement with the prompts.

Exams (40%) -- You will have three take-home exam opportunities, which will consist of short answer and/or essay questions. Exams will be due at the end of Week 5 (Exam I), Week 10 (Exam II), and Week 15 (Exam III). You must complete two of the three exams. Exams will be cumulative and based on the class readings, literature, other media, and in-class and Blackboard discussions.

Information Sheets

The following are handouts, informational sheets, and readings that will be assigned or used over the course of the quarter. Each student will recieve a copy of each as a handout in class during the appropriate week. If you miss a sheet, feel free to print out a new copy.

Ed's Top Ten List of "Ways to Survive University"

Ed's Top Ten Rules of Writing

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

MLA Citation and Bibliographic Format

What is Close Reading?

Readings

Course texts are available via the Ohio University online bookstore (or through any reputable bookseller). Shorter readings are available via the course Blackboard. The required texts for this class are:

Angelou, Maya. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Butler, Octavia. Dawn (in Lilith's Brood). Dunn, Katherine. Geek Love. Chorost, Michael. Rebuilt. Steingraber, Sandra. Living Downstream.

Consult the course syllabus for each week's required reading. The following is a full bibliographical list of the class readings:

Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Seventh Edition. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle, 1999. Aultman, B. "Cisgender." Postposttranssexual: Key Concepts for a 21st Century Transgender Studies. Spec. issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 1.1-2 (2014) 61-62. Braunberger, Christine. "Revolting Bodies: The Monster Beauty of Tattooed Women." NWSA Journal. 12.2 (Summer 2000): 1-23. Burgett, Bruce. "Sex." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 217-221. Butler, Octavia. "Dawn." Lilith's Brood. New York: Warner Books, 1989. 1-248. ---. "The Monophobic Response." Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora. Ed. Sheree R. Thomas. New York: Aspect, 2000. 415-416. ---. "Positive Obsession." Bloodchild and Other Stories. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2005. 125-136. Clare, Eli. "Freaks and Queers." Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2015. 81-118. Delany, Samuel. "Aye, and Gomorrah..." Aye, and Gomorrah and Other Stories. New York: Vintage, 1991. 91-101. Dibbell, Julian. "A Rape in Cyberspace." My Tiny Life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World. New York: Henry Holt, 1998. 11-30. Doctorow, Cory. "0wnz0red." A Place So Foreign and 8 More. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003. 208-243. Ferguson, Robert A. "Race." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 191-196. Fraser, Mat. "Cripping It Up." Journal of Visual Art Practice. 12.3 (2013): 245-248. Halberstam, Judith. "Gender." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 116-120. Kochhar-Lindgren, Kanta. "Disability." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 85-88. McHugh, Maureen. "Virtual Love." Nebula Awards 30. Ed. Pamela Sargent. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Co., 1996. 99-110. Popper, Ben. "Cyborg America: Inside the Strange New World of Basement Body Hackers." The Verge. 8 Aug. 2012. https://www.theverge.com/2012/8/8/3177438/cyborg-america-biohackers-grinders-body-hackers. Somerville, Siobhan B. "Queer." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 187-191. Tiptree, James, Jr. The Girl Who Was Plugged In. New York: Tor, 1973. Williams, Cristan. "Transgender." Postposttranssexual: Key Concepts for a 21st Century Transgender Studies. Spec. issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 1.1-2 (2014) 232-234. Media Transcendent Man. Dir. Robert Barry Ptolemy. Docurama, 2009. DVD.

© 2017-18 Edmond Chang. All original material. All rights reserved. Contact the webmaster of this site. These pages are best viewed with Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. Open your browser to the largest viewable area. These pages are hosted by ED(MOND)CHANG(ED)AGOGY, the academic, professional, and creative website of Edmond Y. Chang.