Cultural Criticism: Test 2

Cultural Criticism: Test 2. Make sure to look through the entire document and read the instructions carefully.

I have created a link on the Canvas site under “Assignments” for uploads of Word documents. Please follow the instructions on Blackboard for uploading your documents.

Please write an essay on one of the topics listed below.

TEST: CHOOSE ONE OF THE COURSE TOPICS WE HAVE DISCUSSED IN CLASS (see below).

The point of your essay is to summarize key concepts (and people) for the categories of critical theory we have studied thus far (information from the book chapter) and then link that information to the specific essays we have studied. This test is intended to provide the opportunity to reflect on how well you have assimilated the material. You should, therefore, focus on synthesizing your ideas and analyzing the material rather than compiling an exhaustive, comprehensive, encyclopedic list of random facts. Please make sure to organize your comments within paragraphs and include an introduction and conclusion. Also provide references for any direct quotations.

Your essay should be two-to-three pages of typed, double- spaced text (12-pt. font). If you include direct quotes from the reading, please use quotation marks and cite your source using in-text citations). You may use your notes and books/essays to answer the questions.

Possible topics for your essay (write about ONLY one topic and ONE essay):

1. Trauma Studies

Reading: 

Malpas and Wake, pp. 167-176.

Guerin, Frances and Roger Halles, “Introduction,” The Image and the Witness: Trauma, Memory and Visual Culture (New York: Wallflower Press, 2007), 1-20.

Traverso, Antonio and Mick Broderick, “Interrogating Trauma: Towards a critical trauma studies,” Contiuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 24, 1 (January 2010): 3-15.

2. Disability Studies 

Since there is no chapter in Malpas and Wake for this topic, we will read additional essays.

Hevey, David, “The Enfreakment of Photography,” in The Disability Studies Reader, 3rd edition, edited by Lennard Davis (London: Routledge, 2010), 507-521.

Lehrer, Riva, “Beauty in Exile,” in Criptiques, edited by Caitlin Wood (May Day, 2014), 151-61.

Shakespeare, Tom, “The Social Model of Disability,” in The Disability Studies Reader, 266-73.

3. Posthumanism

Reading: 

Malpas and Wake, pp. 144-153

Christopher Bolton, “Puppet Voices, Cybourg Souls:  Ghost in the Shell and classical Japanese Theater,” Intepreting Anime. University of Minnesota Press, 2018, 95-136.

N. Katherine Hayles, “Introduction” and “Conclusion,” How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics. University of Chicago Press, 1999. There is a scan of the sections on Canvas as well as a link to the entire open source book.

4. Postmodernism 

Reading: 

Malpas and Wake, pp. 120-130.

Richard Appignanesi and Chris Garratt, Introducing Postmodernism: A Graphic Guide by published by Icon Books Ltd in 2007.

Steven Best and Douglas Kellner, Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations published by The Guilford Press in 1991.

Cultural Criticism: Test 2

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