Professor: Marcel Brousseau 

4 credits

In this class we will examine the legal, literary, and cultural concept of documentation. In particular, we will critically analyze how legal paperwork determines identity and subjectivity, and how artists creatively confront the power of legal documentation. As we research the history of documents, archives, and the practices associated with documentation, we will also explore multiple forms of literature and media that address documentation as a cultural practice. Readings framing the theory and history of documentation—such as John Torpey’s The Invention of the Passport and Kate Vieira’s American by Paper—will alternate with creative texts from authors such as Sandra Cisneros, Langston Hughes, and Mahmoud Darwish, filmmakers such as Alex Rivera, and game designers such as Lucas Pope. These artists explore documents as varied as birth certificates, driver’s licenses, passports, visas, social security cards, customs forms, citizenship applications, reports, and memos by appropriating, incorporating, and deforming them. Through interdisciplinary research, students will work toward a stronger understanding of how identity is shaped in the struggle between legal and creative writing, and how categories such as race, gender, age, and nationality are constructed. By practicing analytical and creative writing, and engaging in rigorous discussion, students will also develop skills in methods of liberal arts scholarship.