Kathleen Curtin Do earned her PhD in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has experience teaching literature, linguistics, and writing. Her research focuses on life writing and the intersections of religious and cultural identity in the early modern period.
This course explores the past, present, and future of urban life by looking at speculative representations of cities. We focus especially on practices of time travel and world building used by futurists and creatives as tools for thinking about how our cities ought to be. In addition to engaging with a range of materials that demonstrate these practices over the course of the term, we will also experiment with using these practices as methods for problem solving, critical study, and the creation of urban futures in the real world, taking into particular consideration markers of identity such as race, gender, or class.
This course explores the past, present, and future of urban life by looking at speculative representations of cities. We focus especially on practices of time travel and world building used by futurists and creatives as tools for thinking about how our cities ought to be. In addition to engaging with a range of materials that demonstrate these practices over the course of the term, we will also experiment with using these practices as methods for problem solving, critical study, and the creation of urban futures in the real world, taking into particular consideration markers of identity such as race, gender, or class.
Human and animal lives have always been intertwined, and animals are omnipresent in human society on both metaphorical and practical, material levels. Animals often play a central role in cultural metaphors and myths, but they are also physically present in homes and workplaces, and in local as well as global economies. Both levels in this complex web of relationships structure society in areas as varied as art, economy, entertainment, health, law, media, and science. However, the ways in which human society deals with its coexistence with animals, and the ways it interacts with, uses, and handles them; are complex and embedded in paradoxes that are often affected by structures of power. The purpose of this course is to stimulate critical reflections on different social constructions and the ethical and moral implications of human relationships with animals. Over the course of the semester we will: (1) examine the evolution of human/animal relationships over time, (2) consider the unique roles that different species play in human lives and the ways we treat them as a result, and (3) engage in interviews, personal reflections, argumentative essays, and research reports about human/animal relationships.
Human and animal lives have always been intertwined, and animals are omnipresent in human society on both metaphorical and practical, material levels. Animals often play a central role in cultural metaphors and myths, but they are also physically present in homes and workplaces, and in local as well as global economies. Both levels in this complex web of relationships structure society in areas as varied as art, economy, entertainment, health, law, media, and science. However, the ways in which human society deals with its coexistence with animals, and the ways it interacts with, uses, and handles them; are complex and embedded in paradoxes that are often affected by structures of power. The purpose of this course is to stimulate critical reflections on different social constructions and the ethical and moral implications of human relationships with animals. Over the course of the semester we will: (1) examine the evolution of human/animal relationships over time, (2) consider the unique roles that different species play in human lives and the ways we treat them as a result, and (3) engage in interviews, personal reflections, argumentative essays, and research reports about human/animal relationships.
The 21st century is projected to be the century of cities, and it is projected that two-thirds of all people on the planet will live and work in urban centers by 2050. A hallmark of cities is their heterogeneity ,and they have recently become even more so given worldwide accelerated migration patterns.
Using a variety of critical, theoretical, and cultural lenses, this course will familiarize students with the defining qualities of multilingualism and expand their understanding of the relationship between the spatial organization of a city, its linguistic landscape, and the inequities they reveal. The course will balance readings and in-class/online discussions with guest lectures to help students develop the necessary tools and competences needed to engage with multilingualism in large and diverse cities in the US and around the world.
The 21st century is projected to be the century of cities, and it is projected that two-thirds of all people on the planet will live and work in urban centers by 2050. A hallmark of cities is their heterogeneity ,and they have recently become even more so given worldwide accelerated migration patterns.
Using a variety of critical, theoretical, and cultural lenses, this course will familiarize students with the defining qualities of multilingualism and expand their understanding of the relationship between the spatial organization of a city, its linguistic landscape, and the inequities they reveal. The course will balance readings and in-class/online discussions with guest lectures to help students develop the necessary tools and competences needed to engage with multilingualism in large and diverse cities in the US and around the world.