Begging, Borrowing, and Stealing
I'm working with a theme in my English 101 (basic college-level composition/research) course, focusing on copying, borrowing, and plagiarism and the ethics of using other people's ideas, words, style, etc. It's currently structured in three general parts:
Part I: I like to begin with a section examining notions of imitation in education--I was thinking of starting with Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," that basic idea that the shadow is inferior to the original, the source, the real...but I'm not sure. Was thinking a classic text would give the course a little gravitas, announce its seriousness to students, which I like to do in my context....but maybe there's a better choice?
I have in the past taught Richard Rodriguez's essay "The Achievement of Desire", but I might like to work with something else...if anyone has any suggestions of an essay that explores the role of imitation, mimicry in the process of becoming educated, I'd welcome it. I'd like something that acknowledges how much learning depends upon mimicry and what it means to both copy, work with, and then move beyond one's teachers...that's what I see/like in Rodriguez's work.
Part II: We then work with a Malcolm Gladwell essay "Damaged" from the New Yorker that profiles psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis's work with serial killers, and which the British playwright Byrony Lavery then copied massive portions of for her play FROZEN, and then we read Gladwell's defense of Lavery's actions in his essay "Something Borrowed." This section is pretty well in hand, and I like the way it works. I have used Jonathan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence" (from Harper's Magazine a few years ago), in which he plagiarizes everything in the essay to make a case for a broad understanding of the creative commons, and then offers all his sources in the end.
Part III: I'm interested in then moving to exploring cultural appropriation, and I'd like to do it through requiring students to read an accessible, book-length argument, if possible. I.e., I'd rather not use essays but work with them on how to read an extended argument.
I have short pieces, like Nell Bernstein's "Going Gangsta', Choosin' Cholita" and could contrast that with James Ledbetter’s “Imitation of Life” (about white appropriation of rap music)... I've used the PBS Frontline documentary "The Merchants of Cool" which is pretty dated by this point but it's about corporate appropropriation of youth culture....
(In the past, I also worked with Ariel Levy's problematic book Female Chauvinist Pigs in this class, having them read critical reviews of it--and it's very accessible, so I can keep the focus on learning to work with a book-length text rather than on basic understanding.... But I just have too many problems with her argument.)
I'd welcome any and all brainstorming that people would be willing to offer on this course.
Part I: I like to begin with a section examining notions of imitation in education--I was thinking of starting with Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," that basic idea that the shadow is inferior to the original, the source, the real...but I'm not sure. Was thinking a classic text would give the course a little gravitas, announce its seriousness to students, which I like to do in my context....but maybe there's a better choice?
I have in the past taught Richard Rodriguez's essay "The Achievement of Desire", but I might like to work with something else...if anyone has any suggestions of an essay that explores the role of imitation, mimicry in the process of becoming educated, I'd welcome it. I'd like something that acknowledges how much learning depends upon mimicry and what it means to both copy, work with, and then move beyond one's teachers...that's what I see/like in Rodriguez's work.
Part II: We then work with a Malcolm Gladwell essay "Damaged" from the New Yorker that profiles psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis's work with serial killers, and which the British playwright Byrony Lavery then copied massive portions of for her play FROZEN, and then we read Gladwell's defense of Lavery's actions in his essay "Something Borrowed." This section is pretty well in hand, and I like the way it works. I have used Jonathan Lethem's "The Ecstasy of Influence" (from Harper's Magazine a few years ago), in which he plagiarizes everything in the essay to make a case for a broad understanding of the creative commons, and then offers all his sources in the end.
Part III: I'm interested in then moving to exploring cultural appropriation, and I'd like to do it through requiring students to read an accessible, book-length argument, if possible. I.e., I'd rather not use essays but work with them on how to read an extended argument.
I have short pieces, like Nell Bernstein's "Going Gangsta', Choosin' Cholita" and could contrast that with James Ledbetter’s “Imitation of Life” (about white appropriation of rap music)... I've used the PBS Frontline documentary "The Merchants of Cool" which is pretty dated by this point but it's about corporate appropropriation of youth culture....
(In the past, I also worked with Ariel Levy's problematic book Female Chauvinist Pigs in this class, having them read critical reviews of it--and it's very accessible, so I can keep the focus on learning to work with a book-length text rather than on basic understanding.... But I just have too many problems with her argument.)
I'd welcome any and all brainstorming that people would be willing to offer on this course.