Thread by @UofWEnglish

Welcome to the Honours Information Session! I am Andrew Burke (@aabwpg), the Honours Chair this year, and I am taking over the @UofWEnglish feed to tell you about the Honours program and to launch the 2020-21 seminar schedule. 1/n

So, let’s start with the basics. The Honours program is a 4-year, 120-credit degree aimed at students who want to pursue an in-depth study of English. It treats “English” as elastic: students can take courses that focus on literature, film, cultural studies, and more. 2/n

Honours is recommended for those who are considering pursuing studies at a graduate level. In recent years, we have students go on to do their MAs and PhDs in English, Cultural Studies, Film Studies, Media and Communications, Library & Information Studies and more! 3/n

But we have also had students use the degree as prep for law school, social work studies, professional writing & editing programs, journalism, and public relations & communications work. Honours is a flexible degree people take in different, and often unexpected, directions. 4/n

So now a little about the structure of the program: the main feature of the program is that students take a series of 4000-level seminars, capped at 15, that sees them study a wide range of periods, national literatures, topics, concepts, and theories. 5/n

ENGL-2142, Field of Literary and Textual Studies, is perhaps the key course for students thinking about joining Honours. It is a seminar-style course students ideally take early in the program & provides an intro to literary study, but also to the seminar format itself. 6/n

The good news is that 2142 is a co-requisite rather than a pre-requisite. That means, for students entering the program, you can take 2142 alongside 4000-level seminars, in a simultaneous learn and do scenario! 7/n

Indulge me a screenshot of the UWinnipeg Calendar that lays out the 5 areas from which Honours students must get 3 credits each, cause it is easier to typing it all out! 8/n

Side note, unnumbered, the @uwinnipeg Calendar is an interesting read. All the details are there, for Honours as well as for other English degree possibilities! uwinnipeg.ca/academics/cale…

For those of you who like math and formulas, the Honours program looks like this:

2142 + 3151 or 4110 + pre-1789 + post-1789 + Global Literatures + Cultures/Identity + Texts, Forms & Practices 9/n

Caveat: 2003 Field of Children’s Literature, 2145 Field of Cultural Studies, and 2146 Screen Studies also count as co-requisites, and offer another pathway to 4000-level courses, even if 2142 is required. 10/n

Additional note: Honours students take a minimum of 24 credits at the 4000-level, so, even after you fill the requirements, students have the opportunity to double up on courses in any of the areas, to follow their specific interests. 11/n

Now let’s make our way to the 2020/21 seminar schedule! This schedule is provisional and subject to change. Of course, any changes will be posted here on Twitter and on official departmental website: uwinnipeg.ca/english/ 12/n

Unnumbered shoutout to @UofWEnglish Chair @bw_christopher who assembles this slate based on faculty requests and with an eye to making sure that the department covers the bases in terms of the breadth and width of course offerings.

First, some breaking news! Prof. Zbigniew Izydorczyk’s Medieval Literature course, ENGL-4242, has been postponed. It will be rescheduled for either fall 2020 or winter 2021. A 4000-level spring course to replace this will be announced shortly!

OK, on to FW 2020-21! Of course, ENGL-2142 Field of Literary and Textual Studies is offered each year, and next year is no different. It will be taught by Prof. Kathryn Ready on Thursday afternoons from 2.30pm-5.15pm. This is a 6-credit, full-year course.

Next up is Prof. Peter Melville’s ENGL-4110 Critical Theory course, another full-year offering. The topic and exact title of the course is TBA, but Prof. Melville has sent along this general description:

"Drawing on representative texts from a number of critical schools (including Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism, ecocriticism, queer theory, and critical race studies), this course considers how theory complicates and enriches our understanding of language, culture, and society."

(applause to Prof. Melville for sending in a 278 character description that I could add quotation marks to that makes it Twitter perfect.)

Now, let’s take a look at Fall 2020 seminar courses. First up is Prof. Cat Tosenberger’s ENGL-4160 Young People’s Texts and Cultures course. The topic for Fall 2020 is Witchcraft and Folklore and will take place on Wed. 2.30pm-5.15pm. 17/n

Also offered in Fall 2020 will be Prof. Doris Wolf’s Canadian Literature and Culture on Mondays from 2:30pm-5:15pm.

The third of our Fall 2020 offerings is Prof. Paul DePasquale’s Indigenous Literatures and Cultures course on Friday afternoons from 2:30pm-5:15pm

And the final of our four Fall 2020 offerings is Prof. Heather Milne’s ENGL-4901 course: Topics in Gender, Literature, and Culture: Queer Canada. Prof. Milne has sent along a description of next year’s seminar:

"This course explores LGBTTQ2S literature, film and theory in Canada from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Specifically, we will consider the conflictual relationship that queer people have had to the Canadian nation state. 1/5

We will learn about the history of state oppression and the regulation of queer people and queer sexualities and we will also learn about how LGBTTQ2S communities have fought back against this oppression. 2/5

We will consider how the AIDS crisis and AIDS activism affected queer communities in Canada, and will learn about state censorship of LGBTTQ2S literature, art and film. 3/5

We will consider how queer communities of colour and Two Spirit communities have drawn attention to intersecting forms of oppression and racism, and how these communities have challenged and fought against racism within queer communities. 4/5

We will also consider how Two-Spirit and QTBIPOC writers and artists have explored and celebrated their identities through their writing, film, art & activism. 5a/5

We also consider how homonationalism & pinkwashing operate within present-day Canada, and how these concepts are manifested in many aspects of our national culture." 5b/5

(apologies everyone for these numbering woes. massive respect to twitter essayists who have these things down)

Now on to the Winter 2021 seminar courses. First up is Prof. @alybrickey's ENGL-4285 Modernism course, which will take place Tuesdays from 8:30am-11:15am. Prof. Brickey has sent along a description: 1/2

"In this course we'll read through some of the best and fiestiest manifestos to grace the late 19th and early 20th century. From Communism to Feminism, Vorticism to Futurism, we'll think through the manifesto's peculiar aesthetic form and idiosyncratic cultural function." 2/2

Also offered in Winter 2021 is Prof. @aabwpg's - and, yes, it is weird to refer to myself in the third person here - Screen Studies course, which will focus on Audiovisual Archives and the Experimental and Essay Film. That course is scheduled for Thursdays from 1:00pm-3:45pm.

The third of our four Winter 2021 seminar courses is Prof. Bruno Cornellier's ENGL-4742 Cultural Studies: Culture, Power, and Property. Prof. Cornellier has sent along a short description: 1/3

"The course starts with a theoretical examination of the regime of property of European capitalism and colonialism. 2/3

Students then explore different ways this regime of property is implemented in the realm of culture, focusing on how BIPOC subjects push back against cultural appropriation and extraction." 3/3

Professor Cornellier's course is slated for Thursdays from 8:30am to 11:15am.

Our final Honours seminar for Winter 2021 is Prof. @CandidaRifkind's ENGL 4294 Contemporary Literature & Culture: Graphic Remediations, which will be held Wednesday nights from 18:00-21:00.

Prof. Rifkind has sent along a description of the course: "This seminar explores two-way relationships between the “graphic novel” (book-length comic) and other forms and media: photography, fine & graphic art, prose novel, film, & interactive online media. 1/4

Graphic Remediation draws on concepts from comics, media, film, audience & affect studies, eg: mediation, intervisuality, intertexuality, adaptation, remediation, hypermediation, immediacy, distantiation, empathy, ethics. 2/4

Genres discussed in Graphic Remediation will include realism, auto/biography, documentary, fantasy, & speculative dystopias. No prior study of comics required – bring your intellectual curiosity & willingness to explore the new! Critical & creative assignment options. 3/4

Graphic Remediation tentative print book list (check candidarifkind.com after July 1) includes Shaun Tan,
@emilferrisdraws, Octavia Butler, Damian Duffy, @JIJennings, Harvey Pekar (other readings & digital texts TBD)." 4/4

And that's a wrap for the Honours Information Session and 2020-21 Seminar Launch! Thanks for joining! If you have further questions about the Honours program, do get in touch with me at @aabwpg or a [dot] burke [at] uwinnipeg [dot] ca.

And if you know someone who might be interested in the Honours program or taking Honours courses, tell them to get in touch! I will unroll this haphazardly numbered thread and post it to the English Department website for those who couldn't join us today!

We now return you to our regular programming!