Fall 2022 Syllabi! “J.R.R. Tolkien” and “Histories of Anti-Capitalism”!

My syllabi are up for Fall 2022: a slightly revised version of my J.R.R. Tolkien class that utilizes this semester’s Haggery Museum of Art exhibit, and a brand new grad course titled “Histories of Anti-Capitalism.” Here’s the general plan for the anti-capitalism course, which is going to get finalized in consultation with the students who will be leading discussion each week:

WEEK THEMES AND ASSIGNMENTSWEEK 1 What Is Capitalism? What Is Anti-Capitalism?
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “The Communist Manifesto” [marxists.org]
Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism (excerpt) [D2L]
Existential Comics, “Explaining Capitalism to Aliens”Sep. 5 LABOR DAYWEEK 2 Four Futures
Peter Frase, Four FuturesWEEK 3 The Luddites and after
Gavin Mueller, Breaking Things at WorkWEEK 4 Critique
Barbara Foley, Marxist Literary Criticism TodayWEEK 5 Utopia
Fredric Jameson, “Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture,” “Utopia as Replication,” and An American Utopia [D2L and YouTube]WEEK 6 Postcolonalism
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the EarthWEEK 7 Black Marxism
C.L.R. James, Cedric Robinson, bell hooks, and Angela Davis [D2L]WEEK 8 Gender
Silvia Federici (wages for housework), Kathi Weeks (abolition of the family) [D2L]WEEK 9 20th century text we will choose togetherWEEK 10 Queer Marxism
José Esteban Muñoz, Cruising UtopiaWEEK 11 Disability
disability rights movements, the ADA, Marta Russell and Ravi Malhorta, Sami Schalk, “Neoliberalism and the Commodification of Mental Health” [D2L]WEEK 12 Ecology
John Bellamy Foster (ecology against capitalism), André Gorz (“The Social Ideology of the Motorcar”), Kathryn Yusoff (the Anthropocene), Greta Thunberg [D2L and Web]WEEK 13 The University
How the University Works; student movements; precarious labor and unionization; student debt abolition; state funding [D2L and Web]  THANKSGIVING BREAK: NO CLASSWEEK 14 21st century text we will choose togetherWEEK 15 PRESENTATIONS   Dec. 16 FINAL PAPERS DUE