We've had two class meetings so far; outlines of class discussions are below. Last night, we did not have a chance to generate a timeline for the development of the field, but as we finished class we were discussing the kinds of events that had shaped the way in which the field had developed. Some events we mentioned included: anti-German sentiment during the WWI era ending the dominance of philology in literary study; the development of nuclear weapons leading to a renewed sense of the humanities' importance; the GI Bill leading to a huge increase in the college population and a corresponding rise of New Criticism, which, with its focus on the text itself, is well-suited to classrooms full of students who don't all share a background of cultural privilege and the knowledge base that comes with it.
What I notice here is the way in which our field is tied up in and responds to issues and events in the world outside of academe--what kinds of forces in action today will tend to shape the field as we move forward? An increasingly digital landscape? Different global realities? New ideas about gender, bodies, and sexualities? How do we see our field contributing to conversations and helping to shape the future? How does literature matter to and in the world?
September 11, 2014
Class Two:
Shapes and Contours
of English Studies
Where did English
Studies come from, as a field? Where is it going? Where do we see ourselves
fitting into this shifting terrain, and how can we navigate it most
effectively—both intellectually as developing scholars and practically as
graduate students in this department? These are the central questions for
tonight’s discussion.
I. McComiskey (Introduction) and Taylor (Ch 4) offer
different but overlapping histories of English Studies. What moments/events in the field seem
especially important for literary studies?
With your neighbor, build a quick timeline of these moments/shifts. We will compile these on the board.
II. How has literary studies organized itself (in different
ways over time)? Have you taken courses that you now recognize as coming out of
particular moments in the history of the field?
III. Who counts as faculty, and how are faculty hired? Who
does what jobs in English departments? How does the UMB English department
reflect the field as described by McComiskey, Moore/Miller, and Taylor?
IV. Can we see evidence of these changes in the terms
faculty use to describe themselves? Which terms seem especially to reflect
different shifts in the field?
V. Take a look at the list of courses offered to
undergraduates by our department. How do
the titles reflect different trends/moments/ideas described in our readings?
With your neighbor, find courses that announce themselves as belonging to a
particular historical view, belief system about English studies, and/or
organizational philosophy of the field.
