CRDM 790 · Session Materials

NC State University · Spring 2027

Accessibility: All session materials are available in multiple formats. If any format creates a barrier, email kkcole2@ncsu.edu — an alternative will be provided before the next class session. This site works without JavaScript.

Comfort: This is a long session — nearly three hours. Bring snacks. Take bathroom breaks whenever you need to; you do not need to ask. Step out, stretch, get water. Comfort is part of good thinking, and you are welcome here as a whole person.

How to use this site

Before class Read the assigned text on Perusall. Complete the pre-class writing prompt.

During class Open the session slides (click any available week row). Press M to toggle reading mode.

Milestones Four graded deliverables across the semester. Submit via Moodle, email, or Google Drive.

Course schedule — Spring 2027

Sessions meet Thursdays 10:15 am–1:00 pm. Spring Break is March 15–19. Session materials are posted here as the semester unfolds. Throughout the semester, current students, alumni, and program faculty will join us — in person or via Zoom — for conversation; specific weeks will be confirmed once schedules are set.

Movement I · Weeks 1–5

Who Are We and What Do We Think?

Shared critical vocabulary, scholarly identity, and cohort formation. Readings: Giroux · Benjamin · Mbembe · Brown.

Week 1

Arrivals

Introductions · Intellectual Autobiography · Constellation Mapping

Available →

Week 2

Critical Pedagogy and the Scholar-Critic

Giroux, On Critical Pedagogy · Institutional Autopsy

Available →

Week 3

The Past Is Not Past

Benjamin, Illuminations · Wreckage & Promise Gallery · Guest: current student (TBD)

Guest Visit Available →

Week 4

Who Gets to Live

Mbembe, Necropolitics · Concept Translation Workshop

Available →

Week 5

The University Under Neoliberalism

Brown, Undoing the Demos · Identity Statement Swap

◆ Milestone 1 Due Available →

Movement II · Weeks 6–10

What Do I Know and Who Helps Me Know It?

Candidacy work begins — exam lists and committees. Readings: Federici · Fisher · Derrida · Haraway.

Week 6

Primitive Accumulation and the Labor of Knowledge

Federici, Caliban and the Witch · Canon Audit

Available →

Week 7

Hauntology: What Haunts Your Field?

Fisher, Ghosts of My Life · Derrida, Specters of Marx · Rapid Presentations · Guest: program faculty (TBD)

Guest Visit Available →

Week 8

Exam List Workshop

Haraway, 'Situated Knowledges' · Structured Peer Review

◆ Milestone 2 Due Coming Soon

Week 9

Committee as Intellectual Community

Kelsky, The Professor Is In · Committee Email Workshop · Guest Speaker

Coming Soon

Week 10

Individual Meetings Week

No full group session · Individual check-ins · Prospectus Seed Writing

◆ Milestone 3 Due Coming Soon

Spring Break March 15–19 · Rest. Read something for pleasure.

Movement III · Weeks 11–15

What Will I Make and Where Am I Going?

Rigorous, situated imagination. Prospectus drafting, peer workshopping, and forward vision. Readings: Marcuse · Ghosh.

Week 11

One-Dimensional Thinking and the Dissertation Imagination

Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man · Draft Audit

Coming Soon

Week 12

What Can Humanistic Imagination Actually Do?

Ghosh, The Great Derangement · The 'So What?' Gauntlet · Guest: alumnus/a (TBD)

Guest Visit Coming Soon

Week 13

Paths Forward: Alt-Ac and Otherwise

Guest Lecturers · Three Versions Side-by-Side · How Knowledge Travels

Coming Soon

Week 14

Prospectus Workshop

Full structured peer workshop · Workshop Response Protocol

◆ Milestone 4 Due Coming Soon

Week 15

What We Made and What We're Seeing

Prospectus Presentations · Week 1 Card Return · Closing Reflection

Coming Soon

Quick Links

Readings Perusall Primary reading platform Submissions Moodle Milestone submission portal Supplementary Google Drive Shared folder & materials Advising Office Hours Schedule a meeting Guide Perusall Annotations How to annotate well Guide Milestone Details All four milestones