theoria

I routinely teach in a program called ArtsOne. The idea of ArtsOne is that first year students have a common schedule and take a number of courses on a particular topic or theme. For the past few years, I have taught in the “Criminal Matters” cluster, which, as the title suggests, is largely an introduction to the criminology program–although I do my best to stretch the meaning of criminology. At the behest of the Dean who runs ArtsOne, I have been working on a proposal this past week to introduce a new ArtsOne cluster. The Dean requested a cluster that would take up monsters and he specifically mentioned zombies and vampires. After a number of inquiries with faculty and senior graduate students and the recently PhD-ed, I found two other people willing to participate in this project, which we have decided to call “Monsters and Monstrosity.” Should the proposal be approved, I will teach a First Year Seminar in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology called “Sociology of the Weird and Apocalyptic,” André Loiselle will teach a First Year Seminar in the School for Studies in Art and Culture called “Movie Monstrosity: A Creepy Fascination with the Abnormal,” and Aalya Ahmad will teach a First Year Seminar in the Department of English called “Literary Monsters from Grendel to Zombies.” The draft proposal–for the curious or for those looking to set-up your own monster-based learning community–can be read here [pdf].