Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

Prison literature—poems, plays, memoirs, novels, and songs written in prison or about prison—constitute a significant part of American literature. Prisons expose many of the systemic inequalities of American life, above all those based on racism and the enduring legacies of slavery. Using the tools of critical race theory, feminism, and class analysis, this course will explore the forms of cultural expression that have emerged in relationship to the American prison experience. Though the course will touch on the rise of convict leasing, chain gangs, and work farms as part of the penal system under Jim Crow, the main focus will be on developments in the U.S. prison system and in prison literature since the 1960s, roughly from the prison writing of George Jackson, Angela Davis, and Malcolm X to the outpouring of contemporary fiction and poetry about prison life by Jesmyn Ward, Colin Whitehead, Rachel Kushner, and Reginald Betts. This is the era of what Michelle Alexander has called “the new Jim Crow,” the rise of mass incarceration, the partial privatization of the penal system, and the growth of supermax facilities. Among the questions we will explore together are these: What tools and techniques do writers use to construct the prison experience? What are the affordances offered by various genres (drama, autobiography, poetry, the novel) for exploring the prison system and the systems of oppression that converge at that site? Does some literature of incarceration perpetuate damaging discourses about “felons,” or does it revise and complicate stereotypes and narratives about incarcerated individuals? How do narratives involving change, conversion, growing up, or being defeated operate in various genres of prison literature? What role do mourning, witnessing, testifying, and resistance play in such writing? What is the imagined audience of various genres of prison writing, that is, for whom is it written? What ethical and political demands does such writing make on us as readers, citizens, activists?

Department: English and Comparative Literature
M 10:10 a.m.-noon
Instructor: Jean E Howard
CULPA: 12 Info
4 points

Details

ENGL GU4975

VIRTUAL ARCHITECTURE

Department: Architecture, Planning and Preservation
T 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
Instructor: Nitzan Bartov
Info
3 points

Details

ARCH A4980

HACKING THE ARCHIVE: LAB FOR COMP. HIST

This is a hands-on, project-driven, Laboratory Seminar that explores the frontiers of historical analysis in the information age. It harnesses the exponential growth in information resulting from the digitization of older materials and the explosion of “born digital” electronic records. Machine learning and natural language processing make it possible to answer traditional research questions with greater rigor, and tackle new kinds of projects that would once have been deemed impracticable. At the same time, scholars now have many more ways to communicate with one another and the broader public, and it is becoming both easier – and more necessary – to collaborate across disciplines. This course will create a laboratory organized around a common group of databases in 20th century international history. Students will begin by learning about earlier methodological transformations in literary, cultural, and historical analysis, and consider whether and how the “digital turn” might turn out differently. They will then explore new tools and techniques, including named-entity recognition, text classification, topic modeling, geographic information systems, social and citation network analysis, and data visualization. As we turn to specific projects, you will be able to either write a traditional history paper or try an alternative project, either working alone or as part of a team. Papers will entail applying one or more of the digital tools to a specific historical literature/debate or a novel historical topic. Projects might include assembling and “cleaning” a large dataset of documents, prototyping a new tool, launching a web-based exhibit, or drafting a grant application. You will be encouraged to seek out additional training as necessary, conduct experiments, and design ambitious projects that might extend beyond the life of the course. The seminar will meet every week, and start with a discussion of the readings. The second hour will be devoted to training in new tools for historical research, as well as individual and small group work. Students will also be encouraged to attend weekly lab meetings, and that will be a requirement of those undertaking alternative projects. The course is open to students with no training in statistics or computer programming, and no knowledge of international history. But all participants should be open to learning both historical and computational research skills, such as the critical reading of primary source doc