English 7/894: Theories of Networks
- Julia Romberger
- Shelley Rodrigo
An increasing amount of scholarship in English studies focuses on the interactions between texts and other texts, people, technologies, etc. To account for these various types of relationships between different types of objects a number of theories of networks have emerged. Whether you want to study networks and/or add to the theoretical discussion, you first need to know the key theoretical discussions that help define:
- what and/or who is a network node?
- what types of agency are articulated for various types of nodes?
- how are different types of nodes situated within a network?
- what are the types and directions of relationships between nodes?
- what happens to content or meaning as it travels through a network?
- how do networks emerge, grow, and/or dissolve?
Some of the key theories we will be exploring include: Rhetorical Theories of Context, Physical IT Network/ing, Genre Theories, Hypertext Theory, various theories of Social/ized Networks, Ecology, and Neurology. Some key authors: Bitzer, Foucault, Spinuzzi, Latour, Castells, & Rickert.