The Craft of Writing – The Rhetoric of Structure

There is a lot of talk of structure these days. This is especially true in our conversations about social problems: we hear of structural inequality, structural racism, structural violence—and in response, calls for structural solutions. The question of what a structure is, or what it means to call something structural, rarely gets addressed. This course will explore that question, for our contemporary usage has a significant intellectual past: over the past century, scholars described language, culture, the psyche, and even scientific revolutions as having a structure. In this course, we will read and critically engage with these major texts from the history of structuralism, keeping an eye toward how this intellectual history—and its major aftermath—has shaped the development of method in the human and social sciences, as well as our everyday understanding of ourselves and the social world. In particular, we will consider questions related to history, agency, and technology as they emerge across our interdisciplinary reading list.

This writing-intensive course fulfills the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement. We will develop and hone our skills in close reading, critical thinking and research, peer review, and clear, effective writing to craft compelling analytical essays.