ETS 142 – Narratives of Culture:
Introduction to Issues in Critical Reading
Spring 2013
Course Credits: 3
Instructor: Jacqueline Behnke
Classroom/Time: 9:10-9:55 in room 207
Office: 207 and English office
Office Hours: M-F 2:06-2:30 and by appointment
Email: jbehnke@pjschools.org
"Tiger got to hunt, bird got to fly; man got to sit and wonder, 'Why, why, why?' Tiger got to
sleep, bird got to land; man got to tell himself he understand." – Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
Course Overview
Welcome to ETS 142 – Narratives of Culture: Introductions to Issues in Critical Reading.
This course will introduce you to the discipline of English and Textual Studies, stressing not
what is read but how we read it. Our goal is not only to show how meanings are created, but also
to demonstrate the consequences of pursuing one way of reading over another. Through deep
and thoughtful readings of literary and non-literary cultural texts as well as essays by noted
critics and theorists, we will explore the ways texts and readers produce meanings. As we
explore issues like representation, authorship, subjectivity, and ideology, the issues at stake will
be addressed through a wide range of cultural texts.
Course Design
During the semester you will participate in a number of informal writing assignments that
will lead to more fully developed papers. It is through this process of revision and rethinking
that your ideas will take shape. The issues and texts can be challenging when encountered for
the first time, and the language in some of the readings is quite difficult. By moving back and
forth from the individual to the communal level, difficult concepts will become clearer to
everyone in class.
Course Goals
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Students will gain an expanded understanding of textuality; that is, through this course,
students will examine the world as text. Thus text may include film, television, public
spaces, buildings, clothing, the Internet, music, etc. in addition to novels, poetry, plays,
and essays.
Students will learn to apply the language and methods of the discursive practice of textual
criticism.
Students will develop a working knowledge of strategies and genres of cultural analysis
and argument.
Students will gain a sense of how context shapes the production and reception of text;
that is, they will recognize that “truth” is a social construction, and that culture shapes
meaning, dictates textual forms, and determines the conventions of reading and
interpretation.
Students will gain an appreciation of how context shapes the production and reception of
text.
Course Requirements
Attendance and participation are essential for success in this course. If you must miss a
class, you are responsible for any work that is assigned. Realize, however, that class discussions
cannot be made up and that missing them will be detrimental to your performance. It is your
responsibility to notify me if there are any complications and to make up any work you may have
missed.
You must participate actively and thoughtfully in the daily discussion of texts.
Participation and preparation constitute 10% of the final course grade.
In this course you will be graded on the final essays you write for each unit, the informal
writing assignments, and your participation in class activities. The percentage breakdown looks
like this:
Formal Paper #1 – 20% (Due )
Formal Paper #2 – 20% (Due )
Culminating Project – 20%
Response Papers – 30%
Participation and Preparation – 10%
All assignments must be submitted on or before the specified due date. Late work will
lose one grade (one full letter for formal papers and one point on five-point think-papers) per
day. If you are unable to give the late work to the instructor directly, you must arrange for
another student to turn it in or leave it in her mailbox in the main office. Absence does not
exclude students from this policy except in the direst circumstances.
Formal Papers/Project
During the course of the semester, you will develop an individual project and write two
formal papers of approximately 6-8 pages each. The project is not a paper, but a visual
presentation of some sort. Each of the written papers will demonstrate your ability to meet the
interpretive challenges of applying critical concepts to a reading of a cultural text. You will be
able to use the texts from the course for these papers, but you should always be on the lookout
for other interesting texts you might use. You may use literature, film, television, advertising,
fashion, architecture, or any other suitable cultural text; clear your choice with the instructor.
You might even use the same text for all your papers, employing a different critical approach
each time. The best papers will create new knowledge about particular texts and present that
new knowledge in an engaging manner. Close attention to the particularities of the text and deep
analysis using complex critical concepts are required. Together, these two papers constitute 40%
of the final course grade.
Response Papers
You will also write some short response papers during the semester. You might consider
them trial runs for the longer formal papers. Basically, they give you an opportunity to test your
hand at using critical theory to read texts. Unless otherwise stated, each response paper will
either directly engage the ideas of the article, or in the case of literature or film, the response
paper will employ the theoretical concepts of the unit to read some specific aspect of the
particular text or provide background information useful to a close reading. You must use the
language of theory and demonstrate a developing understanding of the concepts. These will be
graded on a five-point scale.
Syracuse University Grading Scale
A
96-100
C+
76-79
A-
92-95
C
72-75
B+
88-91
C-
68-71
B
84-87
D
60-67
B-
80-83
F
59 and lower
Required Texts
Theory Toolbox – Jeffrey Nealon and Susan Searls Giroux
Jane Eyre- Charlotte Bronte
Pudd’nhead Wilson- Mark Twain
Death of a Salesman- Arthur Miller
Student Manual- Syracuse University
These are the titles that we will read in full. Additional essays, articles, chapters from
textbooks, etc. will be provided throughout the semester.
Course Content
The reading and writing assignments selected for this class are designed to challenge you
intellectually and to encourage you to view things in different ways. Should any of these
assignments be morally objectionable to you, please let me know and we can work together to
design an alternate assignment.
Conferences
You are encouraged to schedule individual or group conferences at any point in the
semester. These may be used to discuss reading or writing needs, academic concerns, or any
other issues you may have.
Computer Use
For word-processed papers, use MLA format (Times New Roman size 12 font, double
spaced, 1 inch margins, title, heading, header…). Save your work frequently in multiple places
and plan projects with extra time allowed for any glitches that may occur.
Use email to contact me about coursework, to set up an appointment to meet outside of
class, to alert me of an upcoming absence, and to ask any questions you may have.
Miscellaneous Concerns
Syracuse University maintains a high standard of expectation for academic
integrity. Intellectual honesty requires the writer to acknowledge indebtedness for ideas and
words. Writers use quotation, direct reference, or documentation to acknowledge this
indebtedness. Not to do so represents a violation of the honor code and carries severe penalties.
Syracuse University reserves the right to exercise its policy which allows “work in all
media produced by students as part of their course participation at Syracuse University to be
used for educational purposes.” In short, students enrolling in the course agree to make all work
available for copying and distribution for the class and for the University.
Course Calendar
This calendar is subject to change.
Unit I: Disorientation Unit – (Weeks 1-4)
Language and Representation/Introduction to Critical Practices
How do we read? How is meaning made (rather than “found”)? How is all meaning and
understanding “contextual”? Who has authority over a text? Who controls/decides its
meaning? How does the text hold meaning in place?
Week 1- Jan. 28- Feb. 1
Introduction to course
Moody- “Brief Introduction to Saussure and Semiotics”
Terminology Packet #1 (says “symbolic package” on first page)
The Theory Toolbox “Why Theory?,” “Author/ity,” and “Reading” chapters
-semiotic read of your room (or a room in your house)
Week 2 – Feb. 4-8
Warner Brothers- “Duck Amuck”
Belsey- “Criticism and Meaning” (post-Saussurean linguistics)
Advertisements/college brochures
-application of semiotic terminology to “Duck Amuck”
-metaphors in ads
-analysis of college brochures
Week 3- Feb. 11-14
Mitchell- “Representation” (from Critical Terms for Literary Study)
Streeter- “Semiotics in Ads Tutorial” and “Male Gaze Tutorial”
Barthes- “The Death of the Author”
Foucault- “What Is an Author?”
-Barthes and Foucault presentations
Week 4- Feb. 19-22
Texts and Contexts chapter 5 (“Deconstruction: Opening up the Text”)
Menand- “Cat People”
Harrigan- “Deconstructing Willie: The Taco As an Imperialist Symbol”
The Onion- “Grad Student Deconstructs Take-Out Menu” and “U.S. Economy Grinds to Halt As
Nation Realizes Money Just a Symbolic, Mutually Shared Illusion”
-deconstruction of an advertisement using terminology and theory from the unit
Unit II: Subjectivity Unit (Weeks 5-12)
Self vs. Subject
How are individuals subjects of culture? How do we define ourselves and others using
socially constructed concepts such as race, gender, and class? How are notions of difference
constructed?
Week 5 – Feb. 25- March 1
The Theory Toolbox “Subjectivity” and “Differences” chapters
Texts and Contexts chapter 8 (“The Gender Criticisms”)
Week 6 March 4-8
Meltzer- “Unconscious” (from Critical Terms for Literary Study)
Week 7 March 11-15
Chopin- “The Story of an Hour”
Cheever- “The Country Husband”
Gilman- “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Week 8 March 18-22
Treichler- “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and Discourse in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Devor- “Gender Roles, Behaviors, and Attitudes”
Week 9 March 25-29
Tannen- “There Is No Unmarked Woman”
Perrin- “Barbie Doll and G.I. Joe: Exploring Issues of Gender”
Piercy- “Barbie Doll”
-analysis of “The Story of an Hour,” “The Country Husband,” or “The Yellow Wallpaper” using
terminology and theory from the unit
Week 10- April 1-5
Scanlon- “Boys R Us: Board Games and the Socialization of Young Adolescent Girls”
Bronte- Jane Eyre (distributed earlier)
Gilbert- “Plain Jane’s Progress”
Week 11 – April 8-12
Begin Pudd’nhead Wilson
The Theory Toolbox- pp. 175-180
Rodriguez- “The Achievement of Desire”
McIntosh- “On the Invisibility of Privilege”
-a letter to the director of marketing of Planet Fitness explaining the impossibility of his or her
company’s slogan, “The Judgment Free Zone”
Week 12- April 15-19
Fulwood- “The Rage of the Black Middle Class”
Olds- “On the Subway”
Bernstein- “Goin’ Gangsta, Choosin’ Cholita”
Jefferson- From “Notes on the State of Virginia”
Tupper- “The Anglo Saxon Race”
-cultural analysis of a pair or set of ads OR a clip from a TV show or movie
Week 13- April 22-26
Mitchie- “White Chimpanzees and Oriental Despots: Racial Stereotyping and Edward
Rochester”
Haggis- Crash
Finish Pudd’nhead Wilson
Formal Paper #1- a written and visual analysis of a media personality or someone you know as a
subject of culture
Unit III: Ideology Unit
The Role of Repressive State Apparatuses and Ideological State Apparatuses
What motivates an individual’s behavior? How does organized society influence a person,
and to what degree? How does ideology serve to “manufacture consent?”
Week 14- April 29- May 3
“Glossary of Freudian Terms”
The Theory Toolbox “Culture,” “Ideology,” and “History” chapters
Week 15- May 6-10
Althusser- “Ideology and the Ideological State Apparatus”
Texts and Contexts chapter 7 (“Minding the Work”)
Week 16- May 13-17
Hawthorne- “Young Goodman Brown”
Sadoff- “The Father, Castration, and Female Fantasy in Jane Eyre”
-a letter to your twin in OCCC explaining what ideology is and why it’s important/interesting to
study
Week 17- May 20-24
Marx and Engels- Introduction to The Communist Manifesto
Fraiman- “Jane Eyre’s Fall from Grace”
Fleming- The Wizard of Oz
Formal Paper #2- the ideology of consumerism
Unit IV: Agency Unit (weeks 18-20)
The Subject as Agent or Actor
How does power operate? What agency do we have in relation to social structures? What
cultural and institutional constraints are placed upon one’s agency? What are some modes
of resistance to dominant norms or hegemonic forces? Are we merely consumers of
commodities or are we also cultural producers?
Week 18- May 28-31
Fiske- “The Jeaning of America”
The Theory Toolbox- “Agency”
Begin Death of a Salesman
Weeks 19-20- June 3-14
Finish Death of a Salesman
presentations of culminating projects
-culminating project: a complex, theory-enriched reading of a text of your choice- must have and
develop a theory-based claim, involve a concluding implication of the reading, and include a
student-produced artifact and an annotation of the project or other form of written reflection