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My initial post/topic is a bit vague. My ambling might be from short exposure to many different things and not being well versed yet in any particular theories. To break it down a bit, I could sum up what I’ve had in various classes.
The professor for my Narrative Theory course basically designed her syllabus as a chronological “narrative” of narrative theory – various selections by Henry James’ “theory of fiction”; to formalism & structuralism (Bakhtin, Propp, Greimas); post-structuralist theorists (Barthes, Kermode, Booth, Chatman, Genette); Marxist theorists (Lukacs, Jameson); Feminists theorists (Susan Winnett, Rachel Blau DuPlessis). I might have some of this out of order or in the wrong “camp.”
The Literary Criticism course followed the expected trajectory – very brief exposure to Marxist, psychoanalytic, queer, post-modern, post-structural theories (very, very short readings by Deleuze, J.L. Austin, Freud, Marx, Benjamin, Derrida, Foucault, Lyotard). One of his underlying intents was to address the growing fear/anxiety/disdain for theoretical discourse in academia or contemporary culture (that’s another whole thread...).
The learnability class (‘Learning, Language, and Computation’) is this cross-disciplinary kind of course – moving from innate theories (most reading people in the Chomsky camp – like Stephen Pinker) to the opposing views held by connectionists/emergence theory.
Linguistics vs. neural network models.
The Anthropology of Race class is essential designed around three guiding structures-Pt 1 was numerous introductory articles around the anthro. of race & early thinkers and ‘Racial Formation’ (Franz Boas, DuBois, Omi/Winant, Vijay Prashad, etc.; plus a couple of ethnographies – White by Definition (Creoles) by V. Dominguez, and Blackness & Race Mixture (in Colombia) by P. Wade). Pt 2 is “Racial Discourse” – more articles, as well as Foucault and Said. Pt 3 (post-Foucault) is “Dilemmas of Resisting Racism” (Paul Gilroy, among others).
I’m just rattling off lists of theorists and theories here. Guess I’m wondering two sorts of things. My questions might sound a bit naive & dumb here, having only scattered readings and articles here and there (with a few exceptions - Foucault). On a basic level (in literary theory/criticism) I’m just wondering what comes “next?” After many competing, contradictory schools of theory (feminism, marxism, etc.), after swimming around in a world of post-structural, post-colonial, post-modern theory (deconstruct everything), what then? What might emerge from all of “that?”
There’s also, I think, some really, really interesting, out-there ideas happening in the world of anthropological theory. Reading a Paul Gilroy essay now which is sort of going against the fifteen or so articles by various authors that I just read previously to it, in that he’s criticizing various antiracist ideas, organizations, modes of resistance, etc, and seems to be going for “abandoning” the idea of “race” completely (& imagining a new kind of humanism).
I’m also generally wondering what sorts of interesting, new theory courses might be popping up at various universities. If I did some quick web surfing through various university offerings & programs I’d answer my own question. I’m intrigued by Rushkoff’s “post-linear narrativity” and “theoretical perspectives on interactivity” (teaching Grant Morrison & P-orridge next to Foucault, McLuhan, etc).
As well, my school has a first-time “Game Theory” course next semester. The professor emailed me the syllabus....maybe I’ll post some info. on it...
I’m ambling around here, I know.... |
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