English 086 is a challenging course for students and instructors alike. It is the only required course for English majors and one that is taught regularly by many different professors in the English department. My versions of 086 is less of an overview of the many approaches to critical theory than it is a semester-long inquiry into some of the broader questions posed by theory in general. From there we examine two novels through the lenses of postmodernism and postcolonialism. Throughout the course we also examine the history behind the discipline of English Studies as the students consider “what is it that we do when we ‘do English’?”

Taught Summer 2004; Fall 2004 (2 sections); Spring 2005; Summer 2005; Spring 2009 (2 sections).