German 570
Modern Critical Theory: An Advanced Introduction
Credit: 4 hours.


**Note: the current UIUC Course Catalog description of German 570 is out of
date. German 570 will, in Fall 2006, be taught entirely in English; all readings
are also in English. No prior knowledge of German or of other modern European
languages is required. German 510 is also no longer a prerequisite for German
570.

Historical survey of the foundational thinkers, texts, and schools that orient
contemporary work in the humanities, from Kant and Hegel to Cultural Studies,
Queer Theory, and Postcolonial Theory. As an “advanced introduction,” the
course is intended primarily for beginning graduate students, but also for those
who feel they have not covered the development of critical theory in a
systematic way. The course will include significant discussion of figures such as:
Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Adorno, Barthes, Levi-Strauss, Lacan,
Derrida, Foucault, Kristeva, Williams, Hall, Said, Spivak, Bhabha, Zizek, and
Butler. Among the topics we will certainly address are: history, aesthetics, the
subject, value, power, language, ideology, materiality, gender, sexuality, race,
and colonialism. The purpose of this course is to ensure that graduate students
receive a rigorous introduction to critical theories and methodologies central to
a variety of fields in the humanities and to provide the basis for interdisciplinary
conversation and intellectual community among graduate students and faculty
members from across the university.
Modern Critical Theory has an unusual format. The course will meet twice a
week, once a week in a public session that will include all interested graduate
students and once a week in a closed session limited to registered students.
Drawing on the resources of the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, we
will invite to class "guest experts" from around campus and occasionally from
off-campus; these guests will visit the public sessions of the seminar and
lecture on particular topics throughout the semester. Public sessions will include
students from Laurie Johnson's German 570 course, Robert Rushing's
Comparative Literature 501 course, and Michael Rothberg's English 510 course
as well as all other interested students.
Prerequisite: none.


CRN: 39732
Type: Lecture-Discussion
Section: R
Time: Tuesdays 7:30-9:00 p.m. for public lecture;
German 570 seminar then meets on Thursdays 3:00-4:50 p.m. in room G36 FLB
Instructor: Johnson, L.
Laurie Johnson
Assistant Professor of German
Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
3072 FLB, 707 S. Mathews Ave.
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone: 217/265-4037