English 297 C: Interdisciplinary Writing in the Humanities
Time and location: T/Th, 3:30-4:50, Raitt Hall 116
Instructor: Dr. Emily George
Email: ecg136@uw.edu (Note: please email me from your UW email address to help ensure that your email does not get filtered as spam. UW has an aggressive spam filter!)
Office Hours: M/W 1:30-2:20 or by appointment. Office Hours will be on Zoom unless otherwise arranged.
Office Hours Zoom Link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/91225539832
Course Description
This writing course focuses on the imaginative and ideological power of stories. We will think about how cultures, political movements, academics, artists, and writers invest in certain stories, how those narratives get used, and how people continually return to and reimagine them in different times and contexts. Some of our guiding questions include:
- What stories (or myths) do we tell ourselves about the past?
- How do we use stories to make sense of the world and our place in it?
- How do the stories we tell inflict, perpetuate, or amend societal, cultural, or interpersonal harm?
We will explore these and other questions as they emerge and intersect across different disciplines in the humanities, including history, anthropology, ethnic studies, art, classics, and literature, in academic and in public-facing work. We will also consider the relationships between genre, mode, and audience, and practice different forms of composition for different writing situations.
Readings
Epeli Hau’ofa, “Our Sea of Islands”
Laura E. Pérez, “Rethinking Immigration through Art”
Bouchra Khalili, The Mapping Journey Project
Ingrid Schaffner, “Wall Text”
Magda Teter, Introduction to Blood Libel
Rebecca Futo Kennedy, “Blood and Soil from Antiquity to Charlottesville: A Short Primer”
Petrarch, “Canzoniere 190”
Thomas Wyatt, “Whoso List to Hunt”
Hannah Sanghee Park, “Deer Woman in December”
Note: All readings are available for free via Canvas.
Course Goals
In this course, you will:
- Practice composition as a process. The labor you do for this course will involve approaching composition, in its many forms, as a process of questioning, researching, discussing and developing your ideas, planning, drafting, getting feedback, revising, and reflecting. The purpose of this goal is twofold. First, while there is no way to become an expert in all forms of writing in the ten weeks of this course, this process-based approach will better prepare you to do new kinds of writing in different fields and contexts. Second, practicing this process means practicing ways of thinking that will be useful to you in any course and beyond academia: asking questions, using analysis, recognizing nuance, changing and developing your arguments as you learn more about a topic, and reflecting on your own assumptions.
- Practice good research and argument habits. You will develop lines of inquiry—genuine, complex questions you want to explore—to guide your research. You will also practice finding effective, flexible approaches to finding sources, and practice assessing the reliability and relevance of those sources. Finally, you will practice putting your sources into conversation (intertextuality) and synthesizing them in order to come to conclusions and form arguments that develop from what you have discovered through research and use appropriate citations to credit those sources. The purposes of this goal include learning effective ways to begin researching a topic, learning how to persevere or adapt when you encounter difficulties or barriers in research, learning how to make judgments about whether and how to trust a source, and learning how to form arguments that emerge from discovery.
- Practice thinking about the context of what you read and write. You will study a variety of texts and consider things like the text’s purpose, its audience, and the constraints and affordances of its genre and mode. You will also practice considering the context of your own work: what is your purpose? Who is your audience? What genre and mode are you working in? What are the expectations of working in that genre/mode? How can you write most effectively for your purpose, to reach your audience? How might you take advantage of the genre and mode you’re working in? The purpose of this goal is to help you practice being adaptable—to be able to assess a situation and decide how you can communicate most effectively in that situation. This will be useful in future classes where you are given new types of assignments and beyond coursework, when you’re faced with different kinds of composition tasks.
Course Materials
- Readings will be posted to the Canvas website
- Regular (daily) access to the Canvas website and to your UW email.
Grading
In this course, we are using a grade contract system so that grading is transparent and values your labor and learning. If you ever have questions about the grade contract, please let me know!
Late Policy
If you submit your assignments on time, it is easier for me to get them back to you in a timely manner, and it is also easier for you to move on to the next assignment having gained skills and experience from the previous assignment. Assignments are sequenced purposefully so that they build on each other, and completing them in the correct order is the best way to make sure that you’re learning as much as possible from them. Therefore, I hope you will make your best effort to submit all assignments on time. However, I also understand that this isn’t always possible for a variety of reasons. Therefore:
- You may use a 48-hour extension for any assignments (see exceptions in the next bullet) that you are not able to complete on time, up to 3 times. To use this extension and ensure your assignment will not be marked incomplete, you can email me any time before the assignment is due to let me know you are using an extension. As long as you’ve done this, your assignment will not be marked late. You do not need to offer any excuse or documentation.
- Exceptions: Because our course includes opportunities for peer review intended to help students revise, your classmates will be relying on you to complete assignments labeled peer reviews on time. Therefore, the 48-hour extension does not apply to peer reviews. If you have extenuating circumstances, please contact me so we can find a solution.
- If you are unable to complete an assignment within the 48-hour extension window, please email me to set up a Zoom meeting to meet with me so we can work together on a plan to help you catch up on your coursework. This meeting is required for extensions beyond 48 hours.
Class Expectations and Guidelines for Discussion
You will be working within small groups, peer review pairings, and the whole class throughout the quarter. Disagreement can be productive, and scholars in all fields depend on disagreement to strengthen their arguments, discover errors, and challenge their own thinking. You may find that some of the topics and discussions in this class will cause you discomfort. This is normal, expected, and, in fact, crucial to your learning. Engaging with complexity—through history, art, literature, politics, cultural studies, your own research and writing—is a difficult labor, and difficult labor is often uncomfortable.
However, in order for conflict to be productive, it must be respectful. Personal attacks, disrespectful language, and disrespectful behavior have no place in the class, and will not be tolerated. If debates or discussions get intense or heated, remember that it is difficult to know the backgrounds, experiences, emotions, and beliefs of others in the room, and be sensitive to that. Be generous with others and try to assume good intentions. Keep your responses specific to the topic under discussion. You are expected to use language and action that shows respect for gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, and ability in order to create a safe and welcoming class.
Guidelines for Class and Small Group Discussion
- Listen carefully to others, and do not attempt to respond before they’ve finished what they have to say.
- When someone else is talking, try not to focus on how you disagree or the way you want to reply. Instead, focus completely on what they’re trying to communicate until they finish.
- Stay on topic and connect what you have to say with the readings and/or with what others have said.
- Write down your thoughts so you can return to them.
- Ask follow-up questions of others, and try to repeat your understanding of what they’ve said as part of that follow up.
- Speak up with a willingness to discover you're wrong.
- Try not to dominate conversations. Make sure everyone in your group is included, and invite others to speak.
Academic Integrity
Plagiarism, or academic dishonesty, is presenting someone else's ideas or writing as your own. In your writing for this class, you are encouraged to refer to other people's thoughts and writing—as long as you cite them. As a matter of policy, any student found to have plagiarized any piece of writing in this class will be immediately reported to the College of Arts and Sciences for review.
Note from Dr. George—If you are confused or unsure about whether or not something you want to do would be considered plagiarism, please talk to me about it! I won’t penalize you for not knowing. Sometimes plagiarism is something obvious, like copying someone else’s essay, but sometimes it can get trickier, like paraphrasing, citing information/ideas and not just quotes, etc. Likewise, if you are feeling so much pressure or confusion that you’re thinking about plagiarizing, talk to me. Plagiarizing can have huge consequences for your grade and your academic future, and we can come up with a solution that’s better than taking that risk.
Religious Accommodations
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at https://registrar.washington.edu/staffandfaculty/religious-accommodations-policy/ (Links to an external site.). Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form: https://registrar.washington.edu/students/religious-accommodations-request. (Links to an external site.)
Accommodations clause
If you need accommodation of any sort, please let me know so that I can work with the UW Disability Resources for Students Office (DRS) to provide what you require. This syllabus is available in large print, as are other class materials. More information about accommodation may be found at http://www.washington.edu/students/drs/.
COVID-19 Face Covering Policy
Students are required to follow the University’s COVID-19 Face Covering Policy at all times when on-site at the University, including any posted requirements in specific buildings or spaces. If a student refuses to comply with the policy, the student can be sent home (to an on or off-campus residence). Student Conduct offices are available for consultations on potential violations of student conduct if needed. University personnel who have concerns that a student or group of students are not complying with this policy should speak with their supervisor, a representative of the academic unit, or report it to the Environmental Health & Safety Department.
English Departmental Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Justice
The UW English Department aims to help students become more incisive thinkers, effective communicators, and imaginative writers by acknowledging that language and its use are powerful and hold the potential to empower individuals and communities; to provide the means to engage in meaningful conversation and collaboration across differences and with those with whom we disagree; and to offer methods for exploring, understanding, problem solving, and responding to the many pressing collective issues we face in our world--skills that align with and support the University of Washington’s mission to educate “a diverse student body to become responsible global citizens and future leaders through a challenging learning environment informed by cutting-edge scholarship.”
As a department, we begin with the conviction that language and texts play crucial roles in the constitution of cultures and communities, past, present, and future. Our disciplinary commitments to the study of English (its history, multiplicity, and development; its literary and artistic uses; and its global role in shaping and changing cultures) require of us a willingness to engage openly and critically with questions of power and difference. As such, in our teaching, service, and scholarship we frequently initiate and encourage conversations about topics such as race and racism, immigration, gender, sexuality, class, indigeneity, and colonialisms. These topics are fundamental to the inquiry we pursue. We are proud of this fact, and we are committed to creating an environment in which our faculty and students can do so confidently and securely, knowing that they have the backing of the department. We acknowledge that to study and engage the English language is to grapple with its imperialist and colonialist history, its relationship to power and whiteness, its involvement in the spread of globalization and in perpetuating inequity, as well as its creative uses to imagine and bring into existence a better world.
Towards that aim, we value the inherent dignity and uniqueness of individuals and communities. We acknowledge that our university is located on the shared lands and waters of the Coast Salish peoples. We aspire to be a place where human rights are respected and where any of us can seek support. This includes people of all ethnicities, faiths, gender identities, national and indigenous origins, political views, and citizenship status; nontheists; LGBQTIA+; those with disabilities; veterans; and anyone who has been targeted, abused, or disenfranchised.
Complaints
If you have any concerns about the course or your instructor, please see the instructor about these concerns as soon as possible. If you are not comfortable talking with the instructor or not satisfied with the response that you receive, you may contact Jesse Oak Taylor, Director of Undergraduate Programming, at jot8@uw.edu or at 206-616-0563. If, after speaking with the Director, you are still not satisfied with the response you receive, you may contact English Department Chair, Anis Bawarshi; bawarshi@uw.edu, (206) 543-2690.
Zoom, Canvas, Class Privacy and Recording Policies
This course will make use of Zoom and Canvas. It is essential you have access to these resources. If you are struggling to navigate or use these resources, please reach out to me as soon as possible. Recordings may not be reproduced, shared with those not in the class, or uploaded to other online environments.
Canvas Tips
- Check our course Canvas page every day. Check your UW email every day.
- Set your notifications so that you get alerted whenever I leave you an assignment comment. You can find instructions for this here: https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Student-Guide/How-do-I-manage-my-Canvas-notification-settings-as-a-student/ta-p/434
- You can change your name in Canvas by clicking on your profile picture at the top of the far-left menu in Canvas. Click “Edit Profile.” You will then be able to change your name and add your pronouns if you would like.
- You can change your profile picture/avatar in Canvas in the same place. When you’re editing your profile, hover over your picture and click the pencil icon. You can then upload a new picture.
- To send a message to a member of the class (including me), first click on your Canvas inbox in the far left menu. Then click the “compose a new message” button on the top right of the screen. Choose our course and then choose either “Teachers” (if you want to send a message to me) or “Students” (if you want to send a message to one or more students in our class). You will then be given the option to select specific recipients.
- Use Modules to navigate our course. The first module contains course information and resources. All of the other modules are organized by weeks. Always start with the “Overview” page for each week, which lists all reading, viewing, and writing assignments and includes an overview of the material we will cover that week.
English 297 Fall 2022 Calendar
Our class is broken up into Weekly Modules, which consist of participation assignments, homework assignments, and essays. Modules are not all open at once, but will be opened at least two weeks in advance. This calendar is an overview of the focus of each module, not a complete list of participation and homework assignments. Always check Canvas modules for up-to-date assignments and deadlines.
Module 1, Sept. 28-Oct. 2
Introduction to the class
Petrarch, Wyatt, Park
Module 2, Oct. 3-9
Epeli Hau’ofa, “Our Sea of Islands”
Module 3, Oct. 10-16
Laura E. Pérez, “Rethinking Immigration Through Art”
Module 4, Oct. 17-23
Ingrid Schaffner, “Wall Text”
Bouchra Khalili, The Mapping Project
Module 5, Oct. 24-30
Midterm Essay
Midterm Check-Ins
Module 6, Oct. 31-Nov. 6
Conferences (T/Th/F)
Rebecca Futo Kennedy, “Blood and Soil from Antiquity to Charlottesville: A Short Primer”
Module 7, Nov. 7-13
Magda Teter, Introduction to Blood Libel
Line of Inquiry
Module 8, Nov. 14-20
Research
You’re Wrong About, “The Satanic Panic”
Source Assessments Due
Module 9, Nov. 21-27
Tuesday, Nov. 22: Project Proposals/Project Group Meetings
Thursday, Nov. 24: No Class, Thanksgiving
Module 10, Nov. 28-Dec. 4
Thursday, Dec. 1: Final Project Rough Drafts (in class: peer feedback day)
Module 11, Dec. 5-9
Tuesday: Reflection on humanities and Course Evals
Thursday, December 8: Final Project due by the start of class time