CTSJ 100 Introduction to Critical Theory

This course introduces critical theory in the context of the problem of social justice. Introductions will be made to psychoanalytic, Marxist, feminist, structuralist, deconstructive, and postcolonial criticism. Reader-responses; New criticism; lesbian, gay, and queer criticism, will also be surveyed. There will be close readings of the work of Louis Althusser, Georges Bataille, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida, as well as in depth readings of essays by Guy Hocquenghem, Julia Kristeva, and Trinh T. Minh-ha.