ENG 2908 - THE CULTURE OF GLOBAL RECESSION

credits: 6.0
A truly interdisciplinary, multimedia immersion in the contexts of the Global Financial Crisis which began in 2007-2008. Students will become familiar with a multitude of often conflicting accounts of its causes and consequences through the critical analysis of both mass media and scholarly sources. Student responsibilities will include short daily reading assignments, active discussion of visual media and other lecture materials, contribution to group projects, weekly quizzes, simple research tasks, and a paper. Objectives: A) Describe a series of events which were part of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008; B) Identify a range of conflicting narratives associated with the onset and perpetuation of the crisis; C) Summarize multiple causal explanations of this specific crisis and of financial crisis generally; D) Distinguish between empirical and speculative approaches to analyzing the crisis; E) Perform informed rhetorical analyses of depictions and explanations of the crisis. Method of Instruction: Lectures, screenings, full class and small group discussions, research prompts, and readings. Method of Evaluation: Final Paper (Critical Analysis) 30%, Weekly Quizzes 25%, Research Prompts 25%, and In-Class Exercises 20%. Meets *GLP Distribution Requirement.