Transcending Discipline: Alternative Modes of Representing Knowledge
University Curriculum: University Curriculum
CRN: 13587
Credits: 3
This course is designed for graduate students in all disciplines, fields, and areas of creative practice – especially for those interested in breaking out of the constraints of traditional academic writing styles, and in displacing and even transcending the inherited conventions that govern the presentation of scholarly research. In every academic discipline, there are conventions for expressing the knowledge produced by research, though conventions differ by discipline. From rules of argumentation to footnotes, we examine those inherited conventions, exploring alternative ways – non- or anti-disciplinary ways – to represent knowledge. We begin by looking at a wide range of ways that writers and artists have modified inherited symbols and genres (e.g., the U.S. flag, maps, legal documents, news reports) to subvert their associated meanings. We go on to look at works, across a range of media, that modify or challenge scholarly conventions: for example, the Wertheims’ crocheted coral reefs – a work in the medium of traditionally feminine crafts, distinctly not a peer-reviewed paper – that claims to be Applied Mathematics and Evolutionary Biology. The course is a sustained epistemological inquiry: What counts as knowledge in the academy? Whose knowledge is institutionally legitimated and whose isn’t? On what grounds, and through what mechanisms? What does this mean about systems of authority? How do myth, poetry, bodily sensation, subjective experience, and indigenous knowledges confront values like evidence, proof, objectivity, and realism, and lend themselves to a critique of Western disciplines? Finally, students contribute found examples to the syllabus, and make their own creative work that expresses knowledge in non- or anti-disciplinary modalities.
College: University Curriculum (UL)
Department: University Curriculum (UNIV)
Campus: New York City (GV)
Course Format: Seminar (R)
Modality: In-Person
Max Enrollment: 12
Add/Drop Deadline: February 3, 2025 (Monday)
Online Withdrawal Deadline: April 15, 2025 (Tuesday)
Seats Available: Yes
Status: Open*
* Status information is updated every few minutes. The status of this course may have changed since the last update. Open seats may have restrictions that will prevent some students from registering. Updated: 1:18am EDT 10/13/2024