This is a segment from my course in Introduction to Literary Studies at Bryant University. A global survey of twentieth and twenty-first century literature, the course begins with a unit on the influence of psychology and the inner world as realized through early twentieth century fiction and non-fiction. This unit ends in a short essay in which students compare and contrast at least two texts from the unit, considering symbolism, a revised understanding of the mind, psychology, or surrealism among other topics. Our discussion of Joyce’s “The Dead” begins a unit on social crisis, war, and experimental writing. In this excerpt, I ask the students to consider the end of the story and if they think Gabriel Conroy truly has had an epiphany that may cause him to change. Students were directed to move to one side of the room or the other based on their answers so they are motivated to make a claim and respond to each other’s claims. My goal was for students to critically examine and interpret the text. In the process of realizing Gabriel’s intentions toward change, the students point to the simultaneity of foreboding, hesitation, and unity suggested by the ending. The students’ ability to make and support a claim about a text is a continuation of the first assignment and practice for a sourced essay assigned for later in the semester.

In this video lecture for my course on The Working Life at Johnson & Wales University, I review core concepts and terms explored by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in his 1979 work, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. I assigned my students an article by David Swartz, which summarizes Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, action, and habit; however, the article does not supply the background of Bourdieu’s research in this particular text, his argument, or his motivation for writing. I situate Bourdieu’s thesis among his contemporaries and in relation to previous philosophy on taste, culture, and preference. I also review Swartz’s interpretation of Bourdieu’s habitus. Our reading on habitus is part of a brief unit of theory in the course, which includes Michel Foucault’s “Panopticism” from Discipline and Punish and Karl Marx’s essay “Estranged Labor.” Habitus addresses the relationship between work identity and the influence of social origin; it also suggests profession a set of practices and work as a structuring structure of its own.