COMM 6440: Grounded Practical Theory
Professor: Robert T. Craig
Time: Thursday 3:30-6:00
Place: Hellems 77
Course description:
Grounded practical theory (GPT) refers to a range of concepts and methods for theorizing communicative practices. The seminar will explore GPT through assigned background readings and individual research projects. Readings will include units on GPT with applications to discourse analysis of group interaction (selected articles), sociocultural activity theory and communities of practice (Wenger 1998), postmodern critical theory and practical philosophy (Benhabib 1992), reflexive practice theory (Bourdieu 1992), and genealogy of social practices (Foucault 2003). For the semester project, each student will select a sample of discourse (consisting of public documents, media texts, field observations, and/or recordings of interaction) from any field of social practice of interest to the student. Writing assignments will include short papers exploring the application of unit readings to the student’s discourse sample and a major paper developing a selected analytical approach in depth.
References:
Benhabib, S. (1992). Situating the self: Gender, community, and postmodernism in contemporary ethics. New York: Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (1992). The logic of practice. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Foucault, M. (2003). The essential Foucault (P. Rabinow & N. Rose ed.). New York: The New Press.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning,
and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Course Description:
Introduces students to the discipline of sociolinguistics, which is the study of language variation and use, and its application within education settings. Not designed as an advanced sociology or linguistics course. Areas of study include language variation, speech communities, the ethnography of communication, speech and social identities and sociolinguistic research related to teaching and learning.
LING 7800: Language and Sexuality
Professor: Kira Hall
Time: Tuesdays 3:30 – 5:50
Place: Hellems 104
Course description:
This seminar explores the role of language in the social construction and articulation of sexuality, broadly conceived to include sexual identity, desire, erotics, and reproduction. We will attempt wherever possible to draw links between social theory and sociolinguistic analysis, as we review a variety of theoretical perspectives in the humanities and social sciences and explore their implications for the linguistic study of sexuality. These perspectives arise out of discussions of sexuality in early and contemporary cultural anthropology, sexology, feminist theory, gay and lesbian studies, poststructuralism and queer theory, psychoanalysis, and globalization theory. Texts in critical gender/sexuality theory will be read alongside linguistic texts on sexuality written from varied methodological standpoints, among them sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, conversation analysis, and other forms of socially oriented discourse analysis.
Topics of discussion include: divergent sociocultural expressions of sexual identity; the linguistic construction of heterosexuality, romance, and eroticism; sexual harassment and homophobia; the interaction of sexuality, gender, and racialization; discourses of reproduction and sexual health; sexual jokes, teasing, and insults; language, kinship, and family organization; sexual lexicons and labels; political economy; transgender identities and their negotiation of dominant binary sexual systems; performativity and resignification; coming-out stories; parody, crossing, and other forms of linguistic appropriation; language, sexuality, and globalization. With case studies from diverse social and cultural settings, particular attention will be paid to how language and sexuality are articulated with other sociocultural practices, including age, culture, ethnicity, race, gender, and socioeconomic status.
Prerequisites: Familiarity with linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, or discourse analysis is highly recommended, as is some understanding of critical gender theory or other forms of social theory explored in the course syllabus. The seminar will be especially beneficial to students who have collected language data (or are in the process of collecting language data) relevant to the study of language and sexuality. Requirements include weekly reading responses, two short assignments involving the transcription and analysis of language data, and a final research paper. For more information about the seminar as well as required and recommended texts, contact Kira Hall, Departments of Linguistics and Anthropology, at kira.hall@colorado.edu.
LING 7900: Conversation and Grammar
Professor: Barbara Fox
(Interdependent Study)
Time: to be arranged based on schedule of interested studentsCourse description:
For information about the course, consult Barbara Fox, Department of Linguistics.
SOCY 5531: Graduate Seminar in Social Psychology
Professor: Leslie Irvine
Time: Tuesdays 3:00 - 5:50PM
Place: Ketchem 33
Course description:
Social Psychology is an interdiscipline situated between psychology, which examines inner lives and selves, and sociology, which examines the relationships between collectivities and organizations. Social psychologists examine how the self and the social interpenetrate, as well as how individuals influence one another. In other words, social psychology looks at the micro-macro link, also known as the relationship between structure and agency.
By setting out as its terrain the intersection of two disciplines, social psychology has the benefits of borrowing from both intellectual histories. Yet, because of the organizational structure of American universities, social psychologists tend to be in either psychology departments or sociology departments (although more often in the former). Thus, there is psychological social psychology, and sociological social psychology. This course deliberately adopts an inclusive view that recognizes the contributions of both traditions, but emphasizes the sociological view. Within sociological social psychology, there are two predominant approaches, loosely categorized as experimental and symbolic interactionist. This course will examine both approaches, but will place more emphasis on the latter.
