AJ23006 Writing and Seeing at 5 km/h

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2016
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Rebekah Bloyd (lecturer), Mgr. Martina Horáková, Ph.D. (deputy)
Rebekah Bloyd (lecturer), doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 12 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/12, only registered: 0/12, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/12
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 16 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This is an intensive week-long course taught by Rebekah Bloyd.
“What does it mean to be out walking in the world, whether in a landscape or a metropolis, on a pilgrimage or a protest march?” Posed to us at the outset of writer and political activist Rebecca Solnit’s Wanderlust: A History of Walking, we will respond by considering her thoughts as well as those of urban planners, poets, translators, and citizen-pedestrians like ourselves. We’ll analyze the claims of renowned city designer Jeff Speck in his Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time and we’ll track the recent legacy of journalist Jane Jacobs: the international “Jane’s Walk.” We will ruminate on the art of urban walking along with Los Angeles Times former book critic David L. Ulin in his Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles. We ourselves will take three walks, beginning with a Writer’s Walk, where we’ll practice mapmaking and expression through figurative language. Next, in our Urban Walk, we’ll apply the four criteria of Specks’ “General Theory of Walkability” to specific streets of Brno; we’ll create a tumblr site which presents our visual, descriptive, and imaginative observations on select streets’ utility, safety, comfort, and interest for the pedestrian. Finally, we’ll engage in specific aural exercises in our Listening Walk, pondering our reactions and potential responsibilities in regard to noise and soundscapes. As we examine works centered on a movement deemed “the most obvious and the most obscure,” we’ll note the way contemporary poet-translators A.E. Stallings, Peter Cole, and W.S. Di Piero use the senses to engage us as they construct paths, places and ideas around, respectively, the cities of Athens, Jerusalem, and San Francisco. In turn, we will develop our own essays that invite the reader-listener to walk this way, in this place—and see what comes of a specific journey through time, environment and experience. We’ll engage in peer response sessions as we revise our drafts, incorporating researched material, strengthening our assertions, and honing individual styles. The course format will include discussion, and critical and creative thinking, writing, and viewing activities. At least once during the course, each student (as part of a pair or trio) will facilitate class discussion on an essay, book chapter, poem, article or visual image and word pairing. We will pursue the pleasures, ideas, and formal strategies of literature and contemporary writings. Readings are chosen to inform, to stimulate discussion, and to present both models and inspiration for us to develop our own writing prowess, including analytical, descriptive, narrative, and imaginative writing skills.
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
The course is taught: in blocks.
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