Week 04 Overview

Introduction

Welcome, everyone, to Week 4 of English 131A5. This week, our lessons will be centered around working with ideas of what a "nation" is to begin with, viewing the nation as a site of cultural production, and looking at the relations with nationalism, production, and rhetoric. 

We'll look at a film, theory, and background articles to assess how they communicate and connect across rhetorical situations. How do the texts present their arguments, and are they doing so in a vacuum? Or are they bringing other texts into conversation with them to inform their purpose? How are these texts responding to each other?

At the end of the week, using your understanding of rhetorical spaces, genre, and conversing with text, you'll be able to craft a synthesis discussion post that looks at how the different mediums respond to each other across all forms. 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, students will be able to:

  1. Develop an understanding of how texts and mediums are in constant conversation with each other
  2. Use your skills of genre analysis to synthesize ideas in a new space
  3. Position your voice between the texts to analyze and critique how they're working together/apart

Due Dates

Readings

1. Anderson, Imagined Communities Intro (pgs. 1-9)

2. Watch Top Gun (1986) (available on Amazon Prime Video, but let me know if you need a way to watch it)

3. Zenou, 'Top Gun' brought to you by the U.S. military, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/05/27/top-gun-maverick-us-military Links to an external site. (read AFTER watching the film)

Assignments

1. Synthesis discussion post (due 04/21)