This honors seminar for English 25 is designed for a small group of motivated students to meet together with Professor Liu once a week (in addition to their activities for their regular sections). (For the meeting Zoom information, see the GauchoSpace site for the course.)

Students will have a chance to delve more deeply into specific topics in the course as well as range widely to other topics of their choice related in some way — conceptually, historically, socially, or otherwise — to the course. Each student will have a chance to serve as the intellectual leader of one or more classes during the quarter in exhibit assignments” by exhibiting for the class’s attention “artifacts” (textual passages, online sites, videos and images, or other material) and setting the direction of discussion about them. At the end of the quarter, students will also be asked to be creative in a “remaking assignment.” The assignment is to modify one of the passages, sites, images, or other artifacts they earlier exhibited in the course as an inventively transformed object.

“Exhibit Assignments” for One or More Classes (by rotation among students)

After the initial introductory class, each class will start with unstructured discussion of recent readings and lectures in English 25. This is a chance for Professor Liu to ask students what interests or puzzles them, and for students to ask the professor and each other about specific themes in English 25.

Then each honors section class will turn to discussion of an “exhibit” curated by one of the students (with students assigned to one or more classes in the quarter, depending on the number of students taking the course). An “exhibit” consists of the following parts, which the student makes available by the end of the [day of week TBD] (by 11:59 pm) before that week ‘s honors section by submitting through description, quotation, or linking (in one or more documents or files sent to the class):

1. An artifact from the course readings — a passage, online site, video or image, or other material — from the course readings that the student would like the honors section to discuss together. (The document[s] or file[s] that the student uploads for the assignment in Gauchospace should identify, quote, link to, or reproduce the material, depending on its nature.)

2. A secondary artifact from outside the course — a passage, online site, video or image, or other material — from outside the course readings that the student finds interesting because it relates to the first artifact above in some way — whether to confirm, deepen, expand, complicate, or challenge it. (This artifact should also be identified, quoted, linked to, or reproduced for the class.)

3. A question — a single interesting question about the artifacts or the issue they represent that the student thinks would be a good way to open class discussion. The best question is one that is relatively short and pointed, but in a way that suggests a rich area of thought, a new perspective, a contradiction or problem, or some other angle on the issues. (This question should be uploaded as part of the document[s] the student uploads for the assignment in Gauchospace.)

End-of-quarter “Remaking Assignment” (by all students)

The last honors section class of the quarter will be devoted to a collective show-and-tell by everyone of their “remaking” of one artifact from their earlier exhibits. Students must choose one of the artifacts they previously exhibited (whether one from the English 25 course readings or from outside the readings) and “remake” it in a way that is motivated by a thesis or line of thought about it (in other words, by some reason for making changes in the original). For example:

• Rewrite or remediate a passage, an image, Web page, etc. (you can do this in a low-tech style if you wish, e.g., by drawing on a piece of paper)
• Hybridize one artifact with another; collage together images and text; or “link” from words or parts of a Web site to other online sites (you can just underline where you want to put links on a print-out if you wish, with URLs identified for each link)
• Make a physical model or sculpture representing an idea, a passage or scene in a work, etc.
• Revise a passage from a different perspective (as if taking a different “role” in a role playing game). For instance, rewrite a passage from the point of view of someone living in a different historical epoch; someone who is of a different gender, nation, race, ethnicity, class, or age. Or, another example: take the imaginary viewpoint of someone who has never before seen a particular form of media, information, or communication technology or anything like it–for instance, someone who has never seen a book, listened to a recording, or been online. How would that person describe what they are seeing or hearing in their terms?
• “Deform” or “glitch” an artifact, taking your inspiration from the readings for Lecture 29 in the English 25 course (especially the essay by Lisa Samuels and Jerome McGann on “Deformance and Interpretation”).

In addition to “remaking” your artifact of choice, add a short 1-2 page commentary laying out the rationale for your remaking.

The “remade” artifact and commentary must be uploaded by the end of [date TBD] (11:59 pm) by submitting one or more documents or files for the Gauchospace assignment for the last class (in your folder on the site).