ENGL 55.09 Hope? How Feelings Shape American Culture

Barack Obama defined hope as a culturally transformative feeling that required “audacity.” Yet scholars have questioned hope’s ability to bring about change, leading Lauren Berlant to speak of “Cruel Optimism.” Hope, Optimism, Audacity, Cruelty: how does affect impact American culture? We will develop frames for thinking historically and analytically about feeling’s influence on class, gender and ethnicity. Students will develop final projects that integrate imagination into an analysis of the questions hope raises.

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Dist:TMV; WCult:W

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