Spring 2026 ENGL 205 Courses
ENGL 205 02: The Soulmate (Maffetone)
This course will offer an investigation into the concept of the soulmate as represented in literature: what exactly is a soulmate? In what ways (besides romance) might two souls or two lives become intertwined? How is this concept represented in popular culture or popular literatures and what are the implications of those representations? We will consider these questions primarily through a range of literary, popular, and rhetorical texts such as Never Let Me Go and Kindred, as well as a range of other narratives that feature or interact with the idea of the soulmate. This course will investigate the cultural hold of the soulmate narrative and how it supports or subverts anxieties and desires pertaining to love and identity.
Attributes: Lit and Moral Imagination
ENGL 205 06 & 07: Monsters! (Myers)
This class investigates how monsters are, in the words of Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, “embodiment[s] of a certain cultural moment—of a time, a feeling, and a place.” We’ll examine books, movies, and television shows that engage with the monstrous to determine where humanity ends and where monstrosity begins. Likely texts include Akwaeke Emezi’s Pet, What We Do in the Shadows, Terry Pratchett’s Monstrous Regiment, Alien, and Shrek.
Attributes: Lit and Moral Imagination
ENGL 205 03 & 04: Health, Activism, Community (Nix)
In “Health, Activism, Community,” the primary question guiding our studies is: How does activism make us healthier as a community? We will assess health through multiple lenses to develop a holistic framework for how we function with self and society. We will examine how injustices of any kind pose harmful threats to the well-being of people and communities. When we broaden our understanding of health to see injustice as an inhibitor to our well-being, we are then able to come alongside other communities as advocates and agents of change. This is an interdisciplinary course that will explore health and activism by studying essays, documentaries/movies, historical/government documents, scholarly research, speeches, fiction, visual art, and music. Ultimately, we study how an activist society helps to advance the well-being of its citizens and gives agency to the voiceless.
Attributes: Lit and Moral Imagination, Medical & Health Human minor, MHH - Critical Health Studies, MHH - Narrative & Artistic Exp
ENGL 205 04A, 08, & 10: Adulting in a Warming World (Ottum)
Giant wildfires. Rising seas. Species extinction. Although we may disagree on how best to address these challenges, it's no secret that humans today face profound environmental dilemmas. This is especially true for younger people, as trends emerging now (for example, extreme weather) are forecast to intensify in upcoming decades. American culture has long celebrated the nation's youth as a source of hope--children, so the saying goes, are our future. So what does it mean to come of age on a warming, increasingly unstable planet?
Whether you're joining this course as a traditional college-age student, or as someone outside that 18-23 category, this course will invite you to explore the relationship between environmental change and generational identity. Using recent works of literature as a guide, we’ll discuss questions such as:
- When it comes to climate change and other big environmental problems, what do older generations owe to younger ones?
- How do ideas like leaving a legacy, inheritance, and kinship change when we think about them in terms of the natural environment?
- How might the threats posed by climate change shape young people’s sense of identity—both as individuals and as a cohort? How about their goals and values?
- Thinking about climate change: how can older people get beyond emotions like guilt and paralysis? How can younger people get beyond emotions like anger and resentment? Should young people reject anger, or might anger be a driving force for action?
- What does it mean to be a good ancestor, environmentally speaking? How can art help us to articulate a positive vision for what kinds of ancestors we hope to become?
Prepare to read a lot in this class. This class also requires regular, substantive verbal participation. For questions, contact the instructor: Lisa Ottum (ottuml@xavier.edu).
Attributes: Environ Science/Studies Elect, Lit and Moral Imagination, Peace & Justice Studies Minor
ENGL 205 05: Dystopias (Wyett)
This course will focus on how dystopian literature comments upon existing social problems or ills by projecting where unchecked abuses might lead us. Our readings will consider how factors such as race, class, gender, nationality, sexuality, religion, age, and ability—and their intersections—shape power relations and threats to legal, civic, and human rights. Consequently, this course will also serve as an elective for the Gender and Diversity Studies major and minor and the Solidarity and Kinship Flag. Many of the works we will read feature disturbing depictions of violence and brutality. We will treat these subjects with sensitivity and care in class discussions, but the reading may sometimes be difficult. Ultimately, dystopias offer us roadmaps for resistance, change, and hope.
Attributes: Solidarity & Kinship Flag, Gender & Diversity Studies, Lit and Moral Imagination
ENGL 205 26: Food and Justice (Steckl)
This course uses literature to examine social and political power structures and critically analyze inequality and injustice in the US. This course has a community-engaged learning component, so we will be exploring the way food, in particular, has been a means of both oppression and liberation for marginalized populations. We will examine the cultural aspects of food in life and literature and work with various community partners to help improve social, health, and economic outcomes in the neighborhoods surrounding our campus.
Attributes: Lit and Moral Imagination, Peace & Justice Studies Minor, Service Learning
ENGL 205 11H & 15H: Literature of Captivity (Herren)
We will study several novels that focus on various forms of confinement and the condition of being trapped. In this course you will develop skills in close reading, critical thinking, oral discussion, literary analysis, and written reflection.
Attributes: Lit and Moral Imagination, Peace & Justice Studies Minor, Service Learning
ENGL 205 11: Disability & Literature (Lam)
How does literature perceive and grapple with disability? To answer that question, this course explores intersections between disability and American literature, using novels, essays, and other texts from the past 150 years.
Our study is divided into three units: disability in medicine and society, disability and spectacle, and disability representation. The day-to-day workload is generally around 40 pages (2-3 hours) of reading per class period, plus a short quiz in each class and a weekly discussion board post. Evaluation will consist of quizzes, midterm and final exams, discussion board posts, small homework/participation assignments, and a creative project.
By the end of the course, students can expect to engage with a broad range of disabilities and disabled perspectives, increasing their understanding, solidarity, and kinship with people whose abilities might vary greatly from their own.
Attributes: Lit and Moral Imagination, Medical & Health Human minor, MHH - Critical Health Studies, MHH - Narrative & Artistic Exp
ENGL 205 17 & 23: Hip Hop 50 & Beyond (Kamara)
This course will use aspects of hip-hop culture as the literary lens through which to interrogate contemporary and historical societal issues. This will be achieved through the examination of the texts under study, which may include, but are not limited to: critical essays, film, the literary arts (novel excerpts, short stories, and poetry), performance and visual arts, and music. Among the questions our course will consider: How has a culture as new as hip-hop garnered and sustained its worldwide significance? What might the content of hip-hop culture and its discourses signify and teach us about the social world? How does hip-hop culture facilitate our understanding of ethics and morality? What does hip-hop culture mean for the city of Cincinnati and beyond?
Attributes: Solidarity & Kinship Flag, Lit and Moral Imagination