based on writing

Writing

In his introductory chapter (What is theory?), Jonathan Culler suggests that contemporary theory can be understood as “the critique of whatever is taken as natural and the demonstration that what has been thought or declared natural is in fact a historical, cultural product” (14). He briefly discusses the work of Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida as examples “that theory involves speculative practice: accounts of desire, language, and so on, that challenge received ideas (that there is something natural, called ‘sex’; that signs represent prior realities) (14). Keeping this in mind, for your first Discussions post (due by 7 PM on Tuesday, January 27) please review your notes on Cullers chapter, select an idea in either the section Foucault on sex (5-9) or the section Derrida on writing (9-13) and write a brief commentary of between 300 and 500 words that discusses what you’ve found to be interesting and convincing or problematic and confusing about the idea. You are encouraged to consider Cullers summaries of important arguments by Foucault or Derrida in relation to your own experiences, academic or otherwise. Your commentary must incorporate some direct quotation from Cullers chapter, and you can certainly draw attention to and quote from other parts of What is theory? as well as any other texts that seem relevant. The strongest commentaries will reveal a careful and engaged reading of the chapter and will balance direct quotation from Culler with paraphrase and summary. While you should certainly compose and save your commentary in a Microsoft Word document (use this as a way to collect your posts throughout the semester), dont attach your commentary as a file. Instead, please copy and paste your commentary directly into the dialogue box since this will make it easier for us to read your work.

In addition to posting your commentary, please also post to this forum a photo or screen shot of your annotations (physical or digital) on the specific passage(s) youve considered in your commentary. And remember to also take some time after you have posted and before our session on Wednesday morning toread over the posts of your peers and select at least one to respond to in some way.