In the
first week of class, I’ll ask each of you to self-identify with one “trace”
concept—a concept and corresponding set of questions to use as a kind of lens onto
reading our primary texts (e.g., art/techne,
embodiment and imagery, invention, rhetorical reasoning, genre/style, language,
topics/commonplaces, agency). Over the semester, we’ll pool the results of our traces to build a
more nuanced—if not troubled—understanding of what we read. These will be some
of the most important work you do for this class, and perhaps some of the most
rigorous, as you come to class each week prepared to talk about what your
reading reveals on that concept or set of questions. Some texts will feature
much more on your concept than others, although every text will feature
something on each concept.
Please
bring to class (in print/material form) the results of your first trace, so
that we can witness and discuss the range of approaches everyone takes. For
subsequent traces, I will ask you to contribute directly into the shared
documents I set up for us on Google Drive. There is no prescribed length, and
the format may vary depending on what allows you to present your individual findings
with sufficient focus and depth. By compiling the traces, you
will—together—achieve necessary breadth. Ultimately your traces should bring a
reader to a more generative understanding of what s/he reads.
