The manifesto exploded in the 20th Century, spanning aesthetic and political spectrums in order to consolidate groups, challenge dominant structures, and otherwise make claims for how the future should look. This course will examine the genre of the manifesto from Marx to cyborgs by looking at its use by writers, thinkers, and activists, asking about representation (both in how artists represent subjects, and how speakers represent their constituents), identity, the avant-garde, modernity/modernism, and the implied suggestions of utopian worlds. By examining such a specifically action-oriented genre, we will explore just what connection, if any, art and literature have to the political, real, everyday, whatever-we-call-it, shared world and our abilities to craft its future. (Theory)