10118 9:30a- 10:45a TR TBA Logemann

Contemporary American culture is filled with heroes of various kinds, and this course will provide students with an opportunity to consider the importance of the category of heroism in our culture. We will begin this introductory reading and writing course by exploring various definitions of, and ideas about, heroism. This initial inquiry will lead us to explore the ideology of heroism and to investigate, in particular, the prominence of heroic (white) men, and the dearth of heroic women and minorities, in cultural representations of American heroism. In addition to tackling accessible readings from fields like psychology, sociology and cultural studies, we will examine the phenomenon of the sports stars like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods as heroes, media coverage of heroism during Hurricane Katrina, and films portraying both heroes and superheroes as we seek to complicate our understanding of the hero, race and gender in America.