This class would be a space for parents and prospective parents to meet and talk about how we envision applying, or apply, our study of theory to our roles as parents. We would meet every other week or once a month for at least a few months and would look at gender theory, queer theory, theories of oppression and expression – anything which seems to apply to child rearing. We will develop our curriculum collaboratively, as we go, and post readings.
We might also read theory relating specifically to parenting and child development, such as Philippe Ariès’ “Centuries of Childhood.” We might also juxtapose theory with current child development methodologies and practices, such as Foucault on Ferber, and so on. We can also look at seminal non-traditional child development books, such as “Sumerhill.” Finally, we can share theory that we are generally excited about which might inform some aspect of parenting. We would talk about how we make day-to-day decisions as parents in relation to a theoretical framework (for example, how does Nancy Chodorow’s object-relations work inform how you dress your child).
Over the course of several weeks we'll read most of "The Lost Lunar Baedeker" by Mina Loy (a modernist poet and former futurist who wrote in the late teens and twenties), and "Imaginations," WCW's trippy book of prose, poems, prose-poems, and an anti-novel, with a strange but quite serious discourse on poetics woven throughout. We'll focus primarily on that discourse (most notably found in "Spring and All"). We'll call our themes Illusion and Consciousness -- subjects in which Loy and Williams are quite tangled up.