UBC Okanagan

Thanks to all who particpated and made this course so worthwhile!

Dates:                     Thursdays 7 - 9 pm
Location:                Rotary Centre for the Arts, Pacific Safety Boardroom 
Course Description:   This open seminar is designed to explore some key ideas in contemporary Critical Studies.  This year, we will explore the themes of monstrosity and otherness as these have been developed through language, literature, art, film and cultural discourse—the fields of Critical Studies. The construction of what we see as “other” than us--“other” than human, “other” than the self--has often bounded our sense of the human. The idea of “otherness,” or what is called “alterity” in philosophy, serves a function of stabilizing what we think of as normal, mainstream or conventional.  Monstrosity is an ‘other’ that (we like to think) marks the boundary of the human. But is that always the case? This open seminar will explore many of the different ways in which the other has been viewed, both historically, in contemporary contexts and from different cultural traditions. Through different lenses, each of the speakers in this series will examine ‘otherness’ and/or monstrosity—in both historical and contemporary contexts--in specific works, in political discourses, or in historical movements.  As a participant, you should treat this as a university course, although one for which you needn’t pay tuition and there aren’t any onerous assignments.  However, you must be prepared to do all the readings in advance of the class, or to view the films and access other materials that will be posted for you on-line. The classes will be part lecture, part discussion, so please come with a willingness to explore Critical Studies and to participate in the discussion. You are welcome no matter what your educational background, as this seminar is designed to instigate questions and stimulate ideas.

Lecture Schedule:  

September 15th   “Introductory Meet and Greet” (Jennifer Gustar; Lisa Grekul)
September 29th   “Angry Divs: Monsters and Persian Miniatures” (Hussein Keshani)
October 20th        “Monstrous Misreadings:  Eden Robinson's Monkey Beach as … Northern Gothic?” (Lisa Grekul) 
November 10th   “Biblical Monsters and Biblical Others” (Francisco Peña Fernández)
November 24th   “Ghosts in Hamlet” (Sean Lawrence)
January 5th          “Grendel” (Michael Treschow)
January 19th        "Vampires and Zombies go to Hollywood: Folk Creatures in Popular Culture” (Jelena Jovicic)
February 10th      “Monstrous Themes in Surrealism, Baroque Art and Romanticism” (Robert Belton)
February 24th     “Resistance is Not Futile: Colonial Monsters in Indigenous Literature” (Allison Hargreaves)
March 8th             “Beauties and Beasts for the Young” (Margaret Reeves)
March 22rd          “Where is the monster? Global Inequality and the Desire to ‘Make A Difference’” (David Jefferess)
April 5th               “Monstrosity and Alterity in the French film, Brotherhood of the Wolf (Le Pacte des Loups)” (Lorin Card)