CAT 2

CAT 2 courses (six units, winter quarter) are writing-intensive, foregrounding argumentation, revision, and writing as process by examining case studies of culture, art, and technology interacting in the present moment. Students must have passed CAT 1 in order to enroll in CAT 2.

Winter 2025 Courses

CAT 2: To Infinity and Beyond: Media Narratives of Earth and Outer Space

Phoebe Bronstein

Associate Teaching Professor, CAT

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 11:00-11:50 a.m.

From The Jetsons (1962-1987) to David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet (2020), this CAT 2 class explores media narratives that center and intertwine earth and outer space—how is planet earth (our home) narrated in popular media? And, outer space/space exploration? How do these conversations frame, represent, and engage conversations about environmental protection, stewardship, and climate change? The first part of the class will focus on narratives of planet earth in both past and contemporary media, with particular attention to how these stories intersect and engage with the race, gender, place, and the climate crisis. How do these stories narrate humans, technology, and the environment here on earth? The second half of the class will look at narratives of space travel and exploration (starting with the space race), in TV shows and films like Lovecraft Country, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Martian, asking how both past and present investment in space travel inform and engage narratives about our environment, the planet, and our places here.

CAT 2: The Process of Music: A Study of Listening, Composing, and Performing

Joe Bigham

Lecturer, CAT

Tuesday/Thursday 11:00 a.m.-12:20 p.m.

Within academic studies of music, a dramatic shift in scholarship reframes music as something we actively "do" for purposes that go beyond entertainment. Christopher Small coined the term "Musicking" to describe one mode of this musical participation as a reflection of contemporary social ordering. Tia De Nora theorized music as part of the process of self-identification and social grouping. For the half of this course, we will consider these theories relative to our own personal musickings. In the second half of the course, we will see how musicking is negotiated and frequently debated through different media forms to define ourselves in the present moment. We will develop our writing abilities through describing subjective experiences of sound, analyzing the use of music in contemporary US culture, and hypothesizing the role of technology in various musical activities.

CAT 2: Disability Rhetoric

Jennifer Marchisotto

Lecturer, CAT

Monday/Wednesday/Friday 10:00-10:50 a.m.

From "lame" to "insane," the language of disability is consistently tied to negative opinions, often without thought. Much of popular culture's depiction of disability is underpinned by ableist assumptions; however, in recent years we have seen increased critical attention to the way popular media talks about disability. In this class, we will analyze the different ways popular culture invokes disability as a way of reinforcing or challenging ableist histories of representation. We will read and discuss work from contemporary disability scholars and use those ideas as a framework through which to understand the multifaceted way disability appears in popular culture. In keeping with the goals of CAT 2, we will read and watch creative texts that draw on the language of disability for entertainment purposes to think critically about the relationship between public media and cultural understandings of ability. Students will be required to complete both formal and informal writing assignments throughout the quarter to better hone their skills as critical thinkers and develop their own analytical voice. Possible authors and texts include Catherine Prendergast, Nirmala Erevelles, Melanie Yergeau, Roxane Gay, Rivers Solomon, Ellen Forney, Glee, Crip Camp, and Game of Thrones.

Asian Diasporas in Film and Media

Hoang Nguyen

Associate Professor, Literature

Tuesday/Thursday 9:30-10:50 a.m.

Asians are everywhere: on college and university campuses, in high-tech companies and ethnic restaurants, from the west and east coasts to the flyover states in between. This course examines the ubiquitous presence of Asians in the United States and around the world through film and visual media. Asians are considered forever foreigners ("Where are you really from?") but also model minorities. On the one hand, Asians have been described as the threatening yellow peril and as robotic workers taking over America. On the other, Asians are loved and envied for their popular cultures (anime, K-pop, and dramas, for example) and their cuisines (for example, General Tso's chicken, pad thai, and phở). The course considers the reasons why Asians venture far from Asia: to seek asylum from war-torn countries, to seek a good education and well-paying jobs, to search for family, to look for love, to find a new home. We will also consider the reasons why diasporic Asians want to return to their countries of origin: to reunite with family, to find themselves, to seek closure.

The Asian diasporic figures we will examine include the immigrant, the refugee, the migrant worker, the adoptee, the restaurateur, and the Internet bride. We will consider the following questions: How does diaspora challenge, and reinforce, national identity? How does it disrupt gender and sexual norms? What intimate relationships does diaspora make possible and disallow? How does it interrogate notions of ethnic, racial, and cultural authenticity? In what ways does it trouble, and reinvest in, the idea of an originary homeland?

The films we will study may include Flower Drum Song (1961), The Way of the Dragon (1972), Surname Viet Given Name Nam (1989), First Person Plural (2000), Seeking Asian Female (2012), and Crazy Rich Asians (2018). Students will develop and hone skills in film and media analysis, critical thinking, and writing and argumentation that can be applied to close readings of diverse visual and written texts.

CAT 2CE: Me Across Media: Narratives of Self-Discovery and Self-Construction

Liz Popko

Assistant Teaching Professor, CAT

Seminars: Monday/Wednesday 9:00-10:50 a.m.

Fieldwork: Friday 9:00-10:50 a.m.

This CAT 2CE course is restricted to students who have applied for and been accepted to the Community-Engaged Honors Program.

What does it mean to be oneself? Do you find yourself? Create yourself? Is there only one self you can be? In this class we will explore different conceptions of the Self through narrative media (fiction, film, poetry, among others) and consider the ways that technology enables or shapes how we experience ourselves, and arguably each other. From the fragmented self of postmodernism to the no-self of Buddhism, and everything in between, what narratives speak to us and resonate with "who we are"? How does the Self—in whatever construction—fit into a larger community of Selves? How do other Selves impact or intersect with a singular Self? In this small, seminar-style course we will examine how the Self and subjectivity are characterized across media and make arguments about the role of art and technology in self-definition, self-expression, belonging, and meaning-making more generally.

As part of this course, you will be required to participate in a number of experiential opportunities related to media technology and storytelling. These experiences may include conducting interviews with campus communities, participating in creative writing workshops, attending local events, and volunteering. You'll use our class content to develop deeper understandings of these experiences and a greater appreciation for the intersections of technology, art, and identity.