ENG 444B - Copyright/Copyleft: Sampling/Plagiarism/Appropriation/Reinvention?

How do concerns about intellectual property shape understandings of authorship, intellectual collaboration, and writing tutoring? How are these understandings inflected by discourses of capital, nation, gender, sexuality, disability, and celebrity? What does “originality” mean amidst postmodern/postcolonial aesthetics and poststructuralist conceptions of subjectivity? These and other questions wil be examined by engaging with a growing body of critical writing on issues around copyright and plagiarism, as well as films, music videos, and novels by artists who have been accused of plagiarism or have made fun of or otherwise responded to such charges. Letter grade with Pass/No Pass option. (Offered as needed.) 3 credits