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Study of a Period: The 21st Century

ENGL 104.910
instructor(s):

This course will offer students the opportunity to think about cultural forms being generated today. We will look at contemporary art, literature, film and other digital media that are responding to, and shaping the direction of, the coming century. We will consider how artistic production is changing especially with regard to three major shifts: the rise of new media, the increasing rate of globalization, and the demands of confronting climate change. The course is designed to explore these issues in both critical and creative responses. Through the course, students should have a better idea of the times they live in, and how they can effectively relate to them. Some of the writers, artists and cultural critics we will engage include: W.G. Sebald, Don DeLillo, Caroline Bergvall, Ai Wei Wei, Olafur Eliasson, Swoon, Slavoj Zizek, Lev Manovich, and Judith Butler. We will also consider some of these concerns as they are raised in popular films like The Matrix Trilogy and A.
 

fulfills requirements