Special Topics: Introduction to Literature
LIT 190S
LIT190S Intro to Surveillance
Crosslists: CMAC 190S-01 / VMS 190S-01 / SOCIOL 190S-01
Instructor Rukimani P
Wed/Fri 1:25-2:40PM
Friedl 102
No Prerequisites
With the advancement of technology, the surveillance of civilians—particularly marginalized populations—by the U.S. government, corporate conglomerates, and academic institutions has become a more pressing concern now than ever before. We have witnessed this in various accords over the past decades through the mass harvesting of personal information for target advertising, the violation privacy agreements, the use of military-grade drone surveillance by universities to monitor student protests, and much more.
Thus, this course traces the history of surveillance in the United States through a critical race studies framework, examining its development, implementation and advancement by the state as it is structured and operated within the matrices of anti-blackness, colonialism, and racial capitalism. Students can expect to read and discuss key texts alongside undertaking small-scale computational projects that will explore the logics of surveillance.
Introduction to the study of literature and other forms of cultural expression, such as film. Different introductory approaches will be used in each section (for example, a systematic account of literary genres, a historical survey of ideas and forms of fiction, concepts of authorship and subjectivity, or of literary meaning and interpretation). More than one national literature or culture represented.
