Description
English 382 examine archives and archival exhibitions as forms of multimodal composition. We will engage critical debates around archives as repositories of individual and collective memory, as sites of inclusion and exclusion, and as tools for social justice. Moreover, we will investigate questions of preservation, storage, cataloging, exhibition, and access as they help shape our thinking about how we can create archives of our own and encourage audiences to interact with our work. As we explore how archives and archival exhibitions use multiple modes—linguistic, visual, aural, gestural, and spatial—we will craft personal archives, analyze existing archives, and create archival exhibitions that incorporate existing materials. The course design and topic accommodate a broad range of personal interests, disciplinary approaches to archives, and multimodal composition experience.
While students will use selected platforms to complete coursework, technical savvy is not a course prerequisite. Students will receive instruction in selected technical tools, or they will be directed to relevant UW Learning Technologies workshops.
Although 382 has no formal prerequisite, it is an advanced composition course, and instructors expect entering students to know how to formulate claims, integrate evidence, demonstrate awareness of audience, and structure coherent sentences, paragraphs and essays.
Goals and Methodology
Students in the course work toward several goals:
- Analyzing critical literature on archives;
- Critically engaging in rhetorical and design analysis of multimodal archives;
- Applying knowledge and composition strategies gleaned from textual analysis to your own work;
- Producing complex multimodal archives that demonstrate purpose as well as awareness of audience, context, and stakes; engage specific genre conventions; incorporate relevant artifacts; and purposefully combine selected modes;
- Identifying and explaining composition decisions;
- Integrating feedback and self-assessment to revise draft materials;
- Locating, evaluating, and ethically using sources and multimodal assets;
- Drawing connections between coursework and out-of-class interests, life goals, and career plans.
Course activities promote active learning, incorporating a blend of small-group activities, discussion, hands-on technical skills practice, studio time, and mini-lecture. The course design reflects a process approach to composition, with students building large projects via a series of short assignments. My role is to provide the tools and resources you will need to advance your own thinking and composing. I will pose questions, design activities to help you generate ideas, and provide feedback on your work. Your role is to do the hard work. You will analyze texts, produce multimodal projects, critically respond to others’ work, and revise your own work multiple times.