For the most part, I teach two courses for Arts Studies in Research and Writing at the University of British Columbia (UBC):
ASTU 400a Interdisciplinary Studies in Arts: Knowledge-making is an advanced scholarly writing course focusing on knowledge-making in disciplinary contexts, and methods for the analysis of scholarly discourse. In the course, you will build on your own knowledge of disciplinarity to explore the styles of expression which characterize knowledge-making activities in particular fields of discursive practice or disciplines. You will read about social theories of written texts, corpus-supported and other analytical methods, and the range of genres typical of a research culture’s activity system. Using methods of discourse analysis, you will design and carry out a study relevant to your interests and discipline.
WRDS 150 Research and Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences provides an apprenticeship for students entering the academic community, by assisting you to practice reading, research, and writing, which will equip you to participate in scholarly conversations about important world issues. Because this course is both theoretical and practical, you will have the opportunity to become familiar with the conventions of academic writing and to think critically about the form and function of scholarly texts, whilst developing your own research and writing. I teach two versions of WRDS 150, via the topic areas of religion and international development. In each case, we engage critically with academic articles representing different disciplinary perspectives (e.g., economics, geography, political science, psychology, religious studies, sociology), each of which addresses the topic area. Our focus in dealing with these texts is on identifying (a) how academic writing about the topic area differs from other sources, and (b) how the characteristic research methods and writing styles of each discipline contribute to producing different types of knowledge about the topic area.
In Fall 2016, I was also delighted to teach ENGL 312a Discourse and Society for UBC’s Department of English. In looking at how people use language to achieve social goals – such as constructing identity, framing gender, wielding power, and persuading others – this course (a) addresses some of contemporary society’s most important issues, while (b) giving students invaluable theoretical and analytical resources with which to engage more critically and effectively with our world.