CHID 390 A: Colloquium in the History of Ideas

AGAINST AND BETWEEN: PLAYING WITH ARCHIVES, GENRE AND HISTORY VLPA CREDIT IN THIS COURSE, WE WILL TEST THE LIMITS OF THE USUAL ARCHIVES, GENRES AND HISTORIES WE RELY ON TO UNDERSTAND CREATIVE EXPRESSION. ALTHOUGH THIS COURSE INCLUDES TEXTS THAT CAN EASILY BE PLACED IN MORE OR LESS DISTINCT GENRES OR MODES OF REPRESENTATION -SUCH AS FICTION, PHOTOGRAPHY, AND VIDEO, AS WELL IN DISTINCT CULTURAL MOMENTS -THE INTERNET AGE, THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY, THE WAR ON TERROR- WE WILL NOT BE SO CONCERNED WITH APPROACHING ANY OF THEM MERELY ACCORDING TO THEIR PROPER FORMAL OR HISTORICAL PLACEMENT. BY PLACING EACH OF OUR TEXTS IN ENTIRELY NEW AND OFTEN PERHAPS UNEXPECTED FORMATIONS OR RELATIONSHIPS, BY CREATING NEW ARCHIVES OR ARGUING FOR NEW CONNECTIONS, WE WILL TRY TO CULTIVATE AN ANTI-METHODS OR ANTI- GENRE HABIT IN ORDER PERHAPS TO FIND NEW FORMAL POSSIBILITIES AND HISTORICAL CONNECTIONS.