Welcome to Contemporary Culture. Just to recap the assignments thus far: 1) go to news.google.com and personalize that page using key phrases and terms from the syllabus. For example: contemporary culture, empire, post-colonial, postmodern, etc.  2) the reading assignment for NEXT WEDNESDAY is the first two chapters of Terry Eagleton’s After Theory which is now available in the book store. 

Friday I’ll lecture on culture in the contemporary period. Next week we’ll begin our discussions of Eagleton’s book. If you’ve had no experience with “high theory” (specifically the work of writers such as Kristeva, Foucault, Spivak, and many others) then this text will give you an insight into the stakes of that loose agglomeration of critical views and methods.

I’m really looking forward to the semester. If you have any questions you can ask on this blog entry. See everyone on Friday.