ENGL 494 W23 Morrison

ENGL 494: Rhetoric of the Selfie

Prof. Aimée Morrison Email: ahm@uwaterloo.ca

Hagey Hall 269 Twitter: http://twitter.com/digiwonk

Office hours: Wednesday 1-4

Course description:

This course considers the “rhetoric of the selfie” using interdisciplinary research and an

intersectional lens. How does the selfie operate as a means of self-expression, a mode of

communication, an artistic object, or an activist practice? Who creates selfies, and for what

kinds of audiences and purposes, and in which contexts? Does selfie culture empower or

oppress? What is “selfie culture” and is it just one thing? This course has a meta-critical

orientation as well: how can we use literary tools on everyday texts? Is the selfie an

appropriate object of scholarly scrutiny? How can we ensure ethical uses of primary

materials, neither appropriating nor suppressing the expressions of those we would study?

Content note:

Digital photography in social media often pushes the boundaries of norms of acceptable

representational practice as devised in the age of print media. This is a large part of what

sets it apart and makes it interesting to researchers. We are looking largely at marginalized

communities online, for whom questions of representation are crucial and contested. We

will talk about race and culture, about disability, about disenfranchisement and

oppressions of various sorts.

Take care of yourself: the material can be challenging emotionally as well as intellectually,

and it’s okay to be upset and it’s okay to take a break or ask for help. Take care of each

other: one person’s thought experiment is another person’s lived reality—what is

hypothetical to you may be very real to someone else in the room. Take care when you

speak. As well, something that is a lived reality to you may be completely new to someone

else in the room—be kind in addressing what others might not know, and remember that

ignorance is simply the condition of not-knowing, which can be corrected, which is the

proper aim of scholarship. Be gentle to one another and to yourself.

Course learning outcomes:

The design of the content and schedule of the course is determined by the specific research

problem posed in the course description: What is the “rhetoric of the selfie”? How do we

study selfies? What do they mean and how do they produce meaning? However, the course

has a more general set of learning objectives related to your development as researchers,

writers, and senior undergraduates in English.

Foundational Knowledge—by the end of the course you should be able to:

Identify salient characteristics of photographs across a variety of media platforms

Relate digital photography to the history of photography and social media

Theorize the links between digital photography, social media, and broader culture

* Create new media (imaginary or otherwise) in response to new media

Application—over the course of the term you will:

Describe instances of digital photography, aesthetically, technically, rhetorically

Engage social media texts ethically, with care and curiosity

Frame persuasive critical positions orally and in writing

* Produce critical media objects that perform argumentation through design

Integration—this course encourages you to:

Develop a clear, concise, and scholarly ‘voice’

Enact “débrouillage,” finding research questions, identifying problems, and solving them

Collaborate with others to generate and disseminate research products

This course is reading intensive, writing intensive, and participation intensive: it is

also selfies intensive and you will be required to participate in selfie culture. In new media

studies and, particularly, within Digital Humanities, collaboration, bootstrapping, and

public research are normative: expect the course and your role in it to be “front stage”

from the first week forward.

Email policy

Email is fast but it is not instant. I am available to you but not constantly or immediately. I

will read your email within one business day, and respond within two. Friday is the failsafe

email clearout/catch-up day for me. Please use the email tool on Learn or your

email will drift off my screen and I will never find it again, and it will remain unanswered,

alas. I use email primarily to set up appointments, not to answer questions of substance.

This class is an inclusive space

The university mandates that I say this: “Note for Students with Disabilities: The

AccessAbility Services office (AS), located in Needles Hall, Room 1401, collaborates with all

academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with

disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require

academic accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the

AS office at the beginning of each academic term.”

But what is really important is this: I strive to make my classes accessible to whatever

student happens to cross the digital threshold. Everyone has a right to the full experience of

the university education they have earned by admission and/or tuition payment. Night

owls, English learners, introverts, rebels, loud-talkers, assault survivors, grieving students,

anime fans but only like the subs and not the dubs, injured students, disabled students,

people with dial up internet, people who wear sunglasses indoors because it’s, like, too

much. If there’s something you need to help you succeed, lemme know. If something in this

document is freaking you out, let’s talk. If you’re registered with AccessAbility Services

(man, that’s a lot of paperwork to fill out!!!!) you can for sure have them send me

whatever. Or talk with me. Me, I’m autistic with a  very large side order of ADHD , so,

yeah. Let me help you out here.

Required and Recommended texts

You will need access to a computer, and to an internet connection to access course

materials. Make sure you’re using Learn as your main hub for the course. Longer, required

critical readings (ie, scholarly articles and book chapters) are all available through the

LEARN site. The case studies, collaborative notes, and other course materials are on

Learn as well. You will need access to assigned materials during class meetings. This might

mean printing things out to have in front of you, or downloading things onto your

computer, or otherwise keeping all the needed stuff accessible and usable on any device

(computer, tablet, phone, e-reader) while you are in a video conference at the same time.

Assignments and Mark Distribution

The following are the graded components of the course:

  • Group Work 35% (wks 3-11)
  • Selfie / Analysis 20% (wk 6)
  • Case Study: Context Resources 15% (wk 9)
  • Case Study: Analysis 15% (wk 11)
  • Participation Portfolio 15% (wk 12)

Detailed handouts describe what is expected of you from each assignment; please read

these carefully, do not throw them out, and do refer to them as you complete the

assignments. Due dates are marked on the course calendar on Learn.

If you find yourself facing obstacles, please contact me as soon as you know this will be a

problem, and we can work something out.

Rights and Responsibilities

Every member of this class—instructor as well as students—has rights and responsibilities

to ensure a pleasant and productive experience for all. We are all answerable to University

policies governing ethical behaviour (Policy 33) and academic integrity (Policy 71), as

well as to those outlining grievance or dispute procedures (Policy 70). Please consult

these documents, available from the website of the university secretariat.

Here are some more specific expectations for this course:

 

You will:

  • know the university policies that govern your behaviour
  • participate actively in your own learning by accessing the course website at least
  • weekly, and keeping up with the readings and activities
  • respect the rights of others to learn as well: this means active listening as well as
  • active speaking in class meetings and in communications with group members; in
  • group work it means as well to remain accountable and accessible to your group
  • members.
  • give thoughtful consideration to instructor feedback on written and oral work

I will:

  • adhere to the university policies that govern my behaviour
  • attend all scheduled classes
  • make myself available for consultation in person and over email
  • return assignments within 2 weeks
  • provide helpful and respectful feedback on your work

On academic dishonesty: it is a serious offense to appropriate the intellectual labour of

another to yourself. Plagiarism consists of using the words or ideas of another without

proper attribution. I expect that the work you submit in this course will be the product of

your own labour, and that your research sources will be scrupulously documented.

On academic dishonesty and intellectual property: be aware that this course contains the

intellectual property of the instructor—me. Intellectual property includes items such as:

  • Lecture content, spoken and written (and any audio/video recording thereof);
  • Lecture handouts, presentations, and other materials prepared for the course (e.g.,
  • PowerPoint slides);
  • Work protected by copyright (e.g., any work authored by the instructor or TA or used by the instructor or TA with permission of the copyright owner).

Course materials are used to enhance your educational experience. However, sharing this

intellectual property without permission is a violation of intellectual property rights. Don’t

do this.