MAKING STRANGE: CONSTRUCTING IDENTITIES & MAKING SENSE OF OUR SURROUNDINGS
3:30 – 4:45 PM EST, WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY
In the light of increased sensitivities towards global threats, people are afraid of strangers. This course aims to give students the time and tools to reflect upon the meaning of “strange.” How is strangeness constructed? What is strange in one place at one time may not be considered strange elsewhere. How do we identify ourselves as being part of a particular culture and nation? What is familiar and what is alien to us and why? Through discussing these questions we can identify and explore larger issues, drawing from our respective local cultures. Course materials include film and short philosophical and literary texts. Students are welcomed from a wide variety of disciplines. They will venture out into their own communities to find local examples of strangeness and familiarity in the form of images, places, legends and stories, sayings, and history and then see how the local fits in with larger narratives. This research will be used to create digital projects on “making strange” that will be part of the COPLACDigital site and provide a resource for thinking through the issue of strangeness.
Yvonne Franke, Midwestern State University
Janet Wesselius, University of Alberta (Augustana Campus)
What do we have to say about this course?
What is a COPLAC digital liberal arts course?