Term 1

Week 1: Introduction to the course (Dr. Myka Tucker-Abramson)

Unit I: Narrative

*** Text to read over the summer for this unit, Chris Kraus I Love Dick ***

Week 2: Structuralism and Structural Linguistics (Prof. Daniel Katz)

Ferdinand de Saussure, 'The Object of Linguistics'Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window and 'Nature of the Linguistic Sign'Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window and 'Linguistic Value'Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window Course in General Linguistics. Translated by Wade Baskin, Columbia University Press, 2011 [1916], pp. 7-17; pp 65-70; pp 111-122.

Roman Jakobson 'Two Aspects of Language and Two Types of Aphasic DisturbancesLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.' Language in Literature, Edited by Krystyna Pomorska and Stephen Rudy, Harvard University Press, 1987 [1941], pp 96-114.

Week 3: Historical Materialism (Prof. Graeme Macdonald)

Karl Marx. excerpt from 'The German IdeologyLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.' Modern Criticism and Theory, Edited by David Lodge and Nigel Wood, Routledge 2014 [1845], pp. 31-41.

Raymond Williams. 'LiteratureLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.' Marxism and Literature, Oxford University Press, 1978.

Week 4: Psychoanalysis (and Structuralism redux) (Dr. Myka Tucker-Abramson)

Sigmund Freud 'The Method of Interpreting Dreams: An Analysis of a Specimen DreamLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window' The Interpretation of Dreams. Translated from the German and edited by James Strachey, Basic Books, 2010 [1899], pp. 121-145.

Louis Althusser 'Ideology and Ideological State ApparatusesLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window' (excerpted) Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Translated from the French by Ben Brewster, Monthly Review Books, 2001 [1970], pp. 159-186.

Week 5: Feminism (Dr. Rashmi Varma, and a visit from our subject librarian, Sarah Akhtaruzzaman)

Helene Cixous. 'Laugh of the MedusaLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window' Signs, Vol. 1, No. 4, Summer, 1976, pp. 875-893.

Juliet Jacques. 'Écriture trans-féminine?Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window' Mal, Vol. 1, November 2018.

Audre Lorde, "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as PowerLink opens in a new window" 1978. ProQuest, http://0-search.proquest.com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/books/uses-erotic-as-power/docview/2138587327/se-2.

Unit II: Poetics

Week 7: Poetry (Dr. Justin Tackett)

Elisa Gabbert's "What is PoetryLink opens in a new window?" New Yorker, April 15 2022.

Selection of poetry:

• Jos Charles, feeldLink opens in a new window, Minneapolis, Milkweed Editions, 2018, pp. 1-9 (text with further apparatusLink opens in a new window)
• Maggie Millner, CoupletsLink opens in a new window, London, Faber, 2023, pp. 2-10 (text with further apparatusLink opens in a new window)
• Zadie Smith's The Wife of WillesdenLink opens in a new window, London, Penguin Books, 2021. pp 1-11.
• Phillis Wheatley's "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty 1768" and "On Being Brought from Africa to America,Link opens in a new window" Poems On Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773. (original text, intro and further apparatusLink opens in a new window)
• Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury TalesLink opens in a new window (first 18 lines only), The Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benson, New York, Houghton-Mifflin Company.
• Estelle and Kanye "American Boy" lyricsLink opens in a new window and music videoLink opens in a new window, 2008

Week 8: Poetics of Breath (Dr. Mae Losasso)

Nathaniel Mackey, "Breath and Precarity, The Inaugural Robert Creeley Lecture in Poetry and PoeticsLink opens in a new window," Poetics and Precarity, ed. Myung Mi Kim and Cristanne Miller, Albany, SUNY Press, 2018. pp 1-30.

Charles Olson, "Projective VerseLink opens in a new window" (1950)

Week 9: Contemporary Poetics I (Prof. Daniel Katz)

CAConrad The Book of FrankLink opens in a new window (Penguin, 2023)
Steve McCaffrey "Writing as a General EconomyLink opens in a new window," North of Intention: Critical Writings 1973-1986 (Roof Books, 2000), p201-207 (up until "The Paragram") and p216 (starting with "As an example" to 221)

Week 10: Contemporary Poetics II (Sam Weselowski)

Mercedes Eng "AutocartographyLink opens in a new window"in Mercenary English (Talon Books, 2016), pp.76-114.
Jordan Abel Cartography (12) (image 1Link opens in a new window) (image 2Link opens in a new window), 2017. Text on vinyl. 816 × 538 cm. The Polygon, Vancouver.
Joshua Clover and Chris Nealon "That Other Minimal DemandLink opens in a new window," Communism and Poetry: Writing Against Capital, ed. Ruth Jennison and Julian Murphet (Palgrave, 2019), 21-36.

Term 2

Unit III: Performance

*** Text to be read alongside material for weeks 1-3: Saadallah Wannous, Soiree for the 5th of JuneLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window***

The following excerpt from Suzanne Kassab's chapter "Critique After the 1967 Defeat" (Contemporary Arab Thought: Cultural Critique in Comparative Perspective, Columbia University Press, 2010. pp 48-65) provides an excellent introduction to both the author’s work as well as the larger context, namely, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and its reverberations for Syrian society and the Arab World more broadly.

[update January 2024 If you're interested in learning more about the 1967 war and its relevance to the current Gaza war, you might find this recent Politics, Theory, Other podcast featuring Leila Farsakh useful. The podcast is available here: https://soundcloud.com/poltheoryother/1973war.]

Week 1: Semiotics of Theatre (Dr. Stephen Purcell)

Ric Knowles. "IntroductionLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window" and "Chapter 2: TheatreLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window" How Theatre Means. Palgrave Press, 2014, pp.1-10; 43-80.

Week 2: Modernist Approaches to Theatre (Dr. Michael Meeuwis)

Antonin Artaud. 'The Theatre of Cruelty: First ManifestoLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window' The Theatre and Its Double. Translated by Mary Caroline Richards, Grove Press, 1958 [1938], pp. 89-100.

Week 3: Theatre and Social Change (Dr. Stephen Purcell)

Augusto Boal. 'Preface to the 1974 Edition' and 'Poetics of the Oppressed.Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window' Theatre of the Oppressed, Pluto Press, 2008 [1970], pp. 95-135.

Suggested further reading:

Saadallah Wannous "Manifestos for a New Arab TheatreLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window" Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, 39, 2019, pp. 190-227.

Week 4: Gender and Performativity (Dr. Myka Tucker-Abramson)

Judith Butler. 'Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window' Theatre Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4. (Dec., 1988). 519-531.

Sylvia Federici. "Wages Against HouseworkLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window." Falling Wall Press, 1975, pp. 1-8.

To watch: Martha Rosler "Semiotics of the KitchenLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window" (1975) and Aisha Mizra "Fuck Me or Destroy Me, feat Haraam KaurLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window" (2017) .

Suggested further reading:
Julia Serrano, "Introduction" and "Putting the Femme Back in Feminism"Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity, Seal Press, 2016 and "Julia Serrano on Judith ButlerLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window" (2015)

Jules Joanne Gleeson "Transition and Abolition: Notes on Marxism and Trans PoliticsLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window," Viewpoint Magazine, 2017.

Week 5: Performance and Racialisation (Dr. Christine Emmett)

To read: Frantz Fanon. 'The Fact of BlacknessLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window' Black Skin White Masks. Translated by Charles Lam Markmann, Pluto Press [1952], pp. 82-108.

To watch: Boots Riley I'm a VirgoLink opens in a new window, Amazon Prime, 2023.

Unit IV: Image

Week 7: Photography (Bushra Mahzabeen)

To read:

Susan Sontag. “In Plato's CaveLink opens in a new window” from On Photography (1977), 1-24

Walter Benjamin. "A Short History of Photography"Link opens in a new window Screen, Volume 13, Issue 1, Spring 1972 [1931], 5–26,

To look at:

Selected images from Sophie Riestelhuber "WB: West BankLink opens in a new window" (2005) and "Documenting Traces of WarLink opens in a new window" Tate Shots

Selected Images from Ammal Said: https://www.amaalsaid.com/peopleLink opens in a new window

Suggested further reading:

Roland Barthes, "Rhetoric of the ImageLink opens in a new window" Image - Music - Text. Trans, Stephen Heath, Hill and Wang, 1977. 32-51.

Week 8 Spectacle: (Dr. Christine Emmett)

To read: Guy Debord. 'Separation PerfectedLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window' Society of the Spectacle. Translated by Black & Red, Radical America, 1970 [1967]), Paragraphs 1-35.

To watch: Xin Xin 'Foxconn.tv'Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window (excerpt, 2015) and ipod adLink opens in a new window and ipod ads culturejammed: oneLink opens in a new window, twoLink opens in a new window, threeLink opens in a new window, fourLink opens in a new window.

Week 9: Graphic (Dr Tomos Hughs and Dr. Harry Warwick)

Richard McGuire. HereLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, Pantheon Books, 2014 [1989].

Andreas Malm. 'Introduction: Theory for the Warming ConditionLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.' The Progress of This Storm: on society and nature in a warming world. Verso, 2018, pp. 7-20.

Roy Scranton. 'Introduction: Coming HomeLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window.' Learning to Die in the Anthropocene: reflections on the end of a civilisation, City Lights Press, 2015, pp. 8-14.

David Farrier and Aeon, 'How the Concept of Deep Time is Changing'Link opens in a new window The Atlantic, October 31, 2016.

Week 10 Film: (Vladimir Rosas Salazar)

To watch: Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles. (dirs.). Bacurau. (2019). DVD.

To read: Stephanie Dennison and Song Hwee Lim “Situating World Cinema as a Theoretical ProblemLink opens in a new window” in Remapping World Cinema: Identity, Culture and Politics in Film. 2006. 1-15.