01:30 PM to 02:45 PM TR
Horizon Hall 4010
Section Information for Fall 2022
This course will think about how “the human” is not a species but an ideological tool—a strategy of delineating ethical obligations and distributing political power. From the dehumanizing structures of racism to fantasies of species exceptionalism, the human is a powerful and slippery fiction that justifies violence and naturalizes injustice. Qualities of the human distinguish citizens from the enslaved and pets from meat—who counts and who is consumable. Students will be introduced to a variety of ways of thinking about the problem of the human by reading theoretical texts from the fields of Black studies, posthumanism, feminist studies, literary studies, animal studies, disability studies, and poststructuralism. We will read these theoretical texts alongside works of literature, including a novel, a play, and a song. Course requirements will include enthusiastic class participation, weekly close readings of literature through the lens of a theoretical text, a group presentation, and two papers.
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Credits: 3
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