ENGL 103 B5: Precarious Spaces and/in Literature

D. Hetu

In this course we will consider literary engagements with precarity and spatiality. To do so, students will learn about as well as put into practice the different stages of a research project, such as developing a research problem and finding and assessing primary and secondary sources. Upon completing this course, students will be better equipped for placing their own ideas in conversation with knowledge acquired during research and literary readings. We will examine how our primary sources (short stories and poetry) challenge the dominant script of poverty and question, as well as reimagine, the materiality, affect, and politics of precarity, the latter which is often configured as a condition of dependency (Berlant).