Spaces and places do not just exist out there, but are made through the ways that we interact with them. Space is shaped through a huge variety of things, including maps, borders, transportation, traditions, customs, architecture, and the environment. And of course, different people experience place in different ways. In addition to this already-existing range of experience, we also invent places through literature, film, and visual art: what is the relationship between the written city and the lived city?
We will address these topics through contemporary literature by writers from a variety of global locations. In particular, we will address the question of how power affects our relationship to place, asking what effects differences of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and disability have on experiencing and writing about space?
We will primarily read novels, but also short stories, films, and theoretical texts to develop critical thinking, reading and writing skills. This class is a CI-H subject, which means that it will provide you with a foundation in writing and oral communication. CI-H subjects require that you plan, organise, draft, and revise a series of sequenced assignments based on course material. These subjects require at least 20 pages of writing, typically divided among three to five assignments.