Boxes
Composition 2 leads you on an extended journey into a topic. Instead of writing several small papers, the work we do in this course leads you to assemble one large project. Our concern with the visual focuses not just on visual objects, but on visual rhetoric. (By rhetoric I mean strategies and techniques for communicating meaning.)
Our research agenda for the semester comes from Chapter 14 of Writing About Cool, pages 154-5. Here is our specialized version of this assignment:
Pick a year before you were born. Any year will do: 1969, 1945, 1983, etc. Research to find events that occurred in that year. Choose your events from a variety of subject areas and disciplines. These might include (but are not limited to): comics, history, politics, films, TV shows, music, sports, science, fashion, etc. Once you have a list of events, produce seven "boxes" documenting these events in different ways. Each box should explore a different event and should make use of two or three research sources.
At the end of the term, Collect 5 of your 7 boxes (revised and honed) and write a collection narrative to explain the knowledge these boxes provide about your year.
Event list
The event list provides the starting point for your boxes.
Box assignments:
- Box 1: The Icon Event
- Box 2: History Jam
- Box 3: Culture Sampling
- Box 4: Web Documentary
- Box 5: Nostalgia Cut-Up
- Box 6: Annotated Map (Tie-in or Skratch)
- Box 7: Fetish Box
Collection
Your collection brings together many of your boxes into a single body of work. You will produce a bibliography and an introduction that explores the connections and relationships between your boxes.
