This course aims to introduce students to cultural studies reading practices, key concepts, and terms within the field of English and literary studies. We will explore cultural studies methodologies through a focus on literary and cultural productions emerging from, and about, the urban. This course, then, will explore the ways in which urbanicity (urban subjects, milieu, space, social movements) and its cultural production reproduce, regulate, and/or contest normative notions of racialization, sexuality, gender, and class.

Possible primary texts might include: Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower, Cynthia Kadohata’s In the Heart of the Valley of Love, Karen Tei Yamashita’s Tropic of Orange, Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, hip hop lyrics and music videos.

Possible secondary texts might include: Stuart Hall’s “The Emergence of Cultural Studies and the Crisis of the Humanities,” Raymond William’s Marxism and Literature, Paul Gilroy’s There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack, Jeff Chang’s Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, Mike Davis’s City of Quartz, Min Song’s Strange Future, and Tricia Rose’s Black Noise and The Hip Hop Wars.

Your grade will be determined by a midterm, final, group presentation, and participation (which includes actively reading and participating in class discussions, quizzes, and informal writing assignments).

This course does not meet the University “W” requirement.
This course does fulfill the VLPA requirement