Student-Originated Studies: Critical Theory + Critical Practice
Fall 2019
Winter
2020
Spring
2020
Olympia
Day
Junior - Senior
Credits per quarter
This student-originated studies program is designed for advanced students embarked on the composition of long-range and wide-ranging critical and creative writing projects oriented toward or against or beyond the emergent occasions that surround us. Intensive independent writing and reading will be complemented by weekly seminars, small-group workshops, and weekly and semi-weekly lectures ( via the Critical and Cultural Lecture Series and the Art Lecture series); occasional screenings and a local field-trip are possible as well.
“Language is fossil poetry,” Emerson declares. And indeed the radical sense of each term in this program’s subtitle offers substantial orientation for the various directions we might take:
crisis
in the sense of “decision” or “choice”;
theoria
in the sense of “making visible”;
praxis
in the sense of “action” or “doing.” All of which is to say that in addition to Emerson’s etymological enthusiasms we will be mindful withal of Wittgenstein’s no less fruitful suggestion that “the meaning of a word is its use.”
An expanded engagement with the question Montaigne had emblazoned on the rafters of his study — Que sçay-je? — will guide us in our individual and collective inquiry: What do I know? And what do I do? How do I know and how do I do? How do we do? How do we know? How can we do things with words to find out? How might our writing become an instrument for conducting rigorous ethical and epistemological investigations designed to reconnect us, by means of our study (however elaborate or playful or recondite), back to the world we live in right now?
Registration
Signature Required
Priority will be given to students who can demonstrate their readiness for intensive independent and coordinated inquiry. If you are interested in taking this program, please send a brief letter of introduction to Eirik Steinhoff that describes your project — what do you want to investigate, how do you plan to conduct your study, and what do you plan to compose? — along with any other pertinent information (such as a brief bibliography, a description of coursework or other experience that prepares you to participate in this program). No more than 2 paragraphs sent in the body of the e-mail — i.e., no attachments.
Course Reference Numbers
Signature Required
Priority will be given to students who can demonstrate their readiness for intensive independent and coordinated inquiry. If you are interested in taking this program, please send a brief letter of introduction to Eirik Steinhoff that describes your project — what do you want to investigate, how do you plan to conduct your study, and what do you plan to compose? — along with any other pertinent information (such as a brief bibliography, a description of coursework or other experience that prepares you to participate in this program). No more than 2 paragraphs sent in the body of the e-mail — i.e., no attachments.
Course Reference Numbers
Academic details
aesthetics, communication, communications, cultural studies, education, literature, philosophy and writing
Schedule
First Meeting
Revisions
| Date | Revision |
|---|---|
| 2020-02-04 | SOS Extended through spring quarter - not accepting new students |
| 2019-11-13 | SOS Extended one more quarter, is now a Fall/Winter SOS, was Fall only |