This course addresses the role of the archive in literary and cultural studies. It examines the debates, theories, and methods that emerge in relation to archival research, particularly around issues of memory, recovery, access, materiality, and the relationship between research and researcher. The syllabus includes units on power and history, bodies and affect, reading along or against the grain, photography and mediation, colonial archives, the Black Atlantic, human rights, and the ephemeral. We also will be reading primary literary sources indelibly inflected through archival matters. Assignments are designed to encourage students to a) consider the influence of archival encounters; b) develop relationships with local archives and greater orientation in such literary institutions; and c) reflect on how the archive might bear on their approach to literary study.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 15

Prerequisites: None.

Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Not Offered