ENGL 244 - Supervidere: Surveillance Cultures of the American Canon

FC ARHU

4 credits
This course considers American surveillance cultures in historical contexts. Focusing on five sites of surveillance - colony, plantation, factory, prison, city - we explore how surveillance has shaped American culture and society from the colonial period through the 19th century. We will ask how literature represents acts of surveillance and also how writing serves as an early surveillance technology. Readings include: Salem witch trial transcripts, captivity narratives, slave narratives, gothic tales, and prison literature. We will pay particular attention to how this literary history has shaped the uneven power relations of the present.

Prerequisites: None. Corequisite: CAST 312.