Dear Learner, 

A syllabus is an open question.

It is a thought trail, an account of what you saw along the way of a research pursuit, skill acquisition, a kitchen read with relevance to a certain topic or question. 

Unlike an academic essay, a syllabus is an open form of knowledge, not argumentative.

It is situated. Compiled by someone with a perspective and certain background experiences and environments that shape it. (4)Zone Books. Haraway, Donna. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” Feminist Studies 14, no. 3 (1988).

It is not programmatic: it does not force ideas and arguments. It does not evangelize. 

It is a joy. The reading experience is often nonlinear and defies its intended temporality: a hop-scotch reading will elicit just as juicy results. A remix would add, not subtract.

A syllabus is tentacular, magnetizing connections, synthesis, resonance. 

A syllabus embodies the idea of re-search: it guides you beyond what you already might look for.

It outlasts the Real classroom—digitally, physically, as the foundations for new thinkers—in memory.

A syllabus embodies: knowing less is knowing more.

None of these ideas are new or ours, for as long as we can remember them.

It’s impossible to say this in English, or written language, without built in problems: that I must (you)se “I,” that we must write in a linear fashion (that language functions this way), that this becomes fixed (for now) (as far as you know). How much can we resist argument and prescription in written language?

This is a work in process. A website is never Current, but reborn each time the link opens on a new device.

Love, 
The Multisyllabi team