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English 2150: Happiness
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Course Overview
Everyone wants to be happy, or at least we all think we do. But, what is happiness? Why do advertisements, pharmaceutical companies, doctors, parents, and friends all think they know the big answer? In “Happiness,” Dead Prez writes, “we can’t escape from the realness/happiness is all in the mind.” Following this notion that “happiness is all in the mind,” this course will begin by exploring and interrogating recent work in the recent field of psychology often referred to as “happiness studies,” beginning with excerpts from Daniel Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness. The course will include a wide variety of texts, with an emphasis placed on looking at scientific studies and newspaper articles alongside literature (both contemporary and canonical). In exploring different types of literature—from nonfiction to fiction to poetry and plays—you will learn how to look for intriguing questions in a text, pull together evidence and analyze its implications, make sound and interesting claims based on your evidence, develop convincing arguments, and structure coherent essays with clear theses. Be prepared to write frequently, engage in class discussions of assigned readings, respond to student work, share your own writing with peer editors, and participate in small group work and presentations.
