Theme Overview

In Dreams & Nightmares, students will encounter a variety of texts (narrative, visual, and multimodal), which offer complex expressions of lived expeirencea s well as the uncanny projections of alternate realities. The visions of sleepers, creators, and collective groups provide unique opportunities to investigate and write about individual identity amidst wider cultural networks.

"Dreams & Nightmares is a writing course featuring readings on the subject of our personal and cultural hopes and fears, especially as they become manifested in real environments, whether social communities, physical spaces, or even virtual realities."

-- Michael Sanders, Lecturer in College Writing

Sample Course Topics:

• The American Dream
• Monster Studies
• Oneirology
• The Subconscious
• The Uncanny
• Hyperreality
• Media Hoaxes and Moral Panics
• Transhumanism

Examples of the Kinds of Texts that Students Might Encounter:

• Bong Joon-Ho, Parasite
• J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Carmilla
• Yuri Herrera, Signs Preceding the End of the World
• Sarah Hughes, "American Monsters: Tabloid Media and the Satanic Panic"
• Safiya Umoja Noble, "Teaching Travyon: Race, Media, and the Politics of Spectacle"

Examples of Research Projects Pursued by Students in this Theme:

• "Unpacking the Advert: Exploring Implicit Messaging in 20th Century Menstrual Advertising"
• "Navigating Uncertainty: Unpacking the Emotional and Behavioral Responses of WashU Students to Climate Change"
• "Twin Peaks and the Anxiety of Colonial Guilt in the American Nightmare"
• "Subconscious Conversations: Bilingual Dreaming, Language Acquisition, and Cultural Acclimation"
• Survive the Night: the Creation of Horror in Five Nights at Freddy's Video Games"
• "Dreams to Dreamers: How the Implementation of DACA has Affected Recipients' Perceptions of the American Dream"