Topics in Theory for American Culture

This course offers an introduction to critical and cultural theory with specific reference to problems in American Studies. Students will be encouraged to think critically about issues concerning narrative form, knowledge and power, culture, "common sense," gender, race, and hegemony within the context of American culture and history. Selections from Barthes, Benjamin, Lyotard, Foucault, Gramsci, Bederman, Wiegman, Hardaway, Jackson Lears, Denning, and others will be read for the course.