The Politics of Culture and the Culture of Politics: Interdisciplinary Perspectives IDSEM-UG 800 Fall 2013 Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York University COURSE INFORMATION Instructors: Sinan Antoon, Gallatin (1 Washington Place), room 510, email: sa234@nyu.edu, Office Hours: Tuesdays and Wednesdays 2:30-4:30, sign up at http://bit.ly/bueg7k Stephen Duncombe, Gallatin (1 Washington Place), room 602, email: stephen.duncombe@nyu.edu, Office Hours: Mondays 4-5, Tuesdays 2-4, Wednesdays 11-2, sign up at http://goo.gl/m5z9nd Ritty Lukose, Gallatin (1 Washington Place), room 610, email: ritty.lukose@nyu.edu, Office Hours: Mondays 3:30-5, Thursdays 9-1pm,sign up at http://goo.gl/a2in8z George Shulman, Gallatin (1 Washington Place), room 508, email: gms1@nyu.edu, Office Hours: Mondays 3:30-6, Tuesdays 2-5pm, Thursdays 10-12pm, 4-6pm email to make appointment. Course Time/Place: Session 1: Mondays, 2:00-3:15, Silver 206' Session 2: With Antoon (002), Mondays 3:30-4:45, Gallatin, room 601 With Duncombe (003), Wednesdays 3:30-4:45, Gallatin, room 601 With Lukose (004), Tuesdays 2:00-3:15, Gallatin, room 601 With Shulman (005), Thursdays 2:00-3:15, Gallatin, room 601 COURSE DESCRIPTION
One of the hallmarks of our contemporary commonsense is that everything we do in our everyday life is political the food we eat, the music we listen to, the clothes we wear, the poetry we read. Yet, we also continue to view certain people (i.e. elected officials, street protestors) and certain practices (ie voting and throwing rocks at police) as properly the domain of politics. Further still, dominant western conceptions of politics assert that only certain kinds of cultures can produce democracy, for example one that is modern, westernized and secular. Each of these assertions assume a relationship between something called culture and something called politics fundamental concepts within a range of disciplines and theories that seek to understand how societies reproduce and are transformed. This interdisciplinary seminar will examine the following questions: What is culture and how has it been defined in different texts and disciplines? What is politics and how has it been defined in a range of texts and disciplines? How and why have scholars and activists sought to put the cultural and the political in some dynamic relationship to each other? The seminar will not only include a range of texts across disciplines but will enact an interdisciplinary perspective by having four instructors from a range of disciplines (anthropology, political theory, cultural studies/sociology/media studies, and literary studies). COURSE OBJECTIVES 1) Introduce students to key concepts (culture, politics) and seminal, classic texts across a range of disciplines and fields of inquiry. 2) Introduce students to interdisciplinary modes of inquiry and help them to understand how one goes about producing interdisciplinary thinking and writing. 3) Develop critical and analytical skills through close reading of texts and writing. REQUIRED TEXTS Reading materials will be available through NYU Classes under resources. For class reference purposes only -- do not copy or distribute. COURSE PROCEDURES AND ASSIGNMENTS This course follows a lecture/seminar format. Therefore, punctuality, regular attendance and participation are important for this class to work well. Arrival in a timely way and regular attendance is a requirement. If, due to illness or other emergency, you must miss class, please let your section instructor know via email. MISSING MORE THAN ONE CLASS WILL JEOPARDIZE YOUR GRADE. Three papers are due during the semester (each one should be 5-8pages in length, double-spaced). These are short, analytical papers for which you will be given prompts. Your papers will be graded by your section instructor. If you get a B- or less, you have the opportunity to re-write your paper within two weeks of when the paper was due.
No laptops, ipads, phones are allowed in class. Plagiarism is an increasingly important and difficult issue in college teaching that we take it very seriously. If you have any questions about plagiarism, there are many guides about plagiarism and how to avoid it (for example: http://libguides.wlu.edu/content.php?pid=332860&sid=2722623). COURSE GRADING Papers 75%, participation 25% COURSE SCHEDULE I. Introducing Terms Week #1 Monday 9/9 Class Introduction Week #2 Monday 9/16 - Introduction I - Senses of Culture Williams, Keywords, Culture Herder, from Reflections on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind Arnold, from Culture and Anarchy Durkheim, What is a Social Fact?" Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah (Introduction), Selections Week #3 Monday 9/24- Introduction II - Senses of Politics Aristotle, Book One, The Politics Machiavelli, from The Prince Goodwyn, introduction to The Populist Moment Foucault, Two Lectures on Power Zerilli, Machiavelli s Sisters
II. Conceptualizing Culture Week #4Monday 9/30 - Culture as Structure A - the Marxian tradition Marx & Engels, from the German Ideology Marx & Engels, "Communist Manifesto" Williams, Base & Superstructure Week #5Monday 10/7 - Culture as Structure B - post-marxism Williams, "Hegemony" Adorno & Horkheimer, The Culture Industry Althusser, Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses Hall, Notes on Deconstructing The Popular Benjamin, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction DUE FRIDAY 10/11 FIRST PAPER Monday 10/14 no class due to fall break either for common Monday class or sections that meet on Mondays and Tuesdays (10/15). Wednesday/thursday sections still meet. Week #6 Monday 10/21 - Culture in the anthro tradition A culture as symbolic order Boas, The Aims of Anthropological Research Geertz, Thick Description Geertz, Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight
Week #7Monday 10/28 - Culture in anthro tradition B - culture as practice/critique of culture de Certeau, from the Practice of Everyday life Clifford, On Ethnographic Authority Abu Lughod, Against Culture Scott, Culture and Criticism III. Theorizing Politics Week #8Monday 11/4 - Consensus/Conflict in Politics Machiavelli, excerpts from The Discourses speeches by Barack Obama and Al Sharpton, 2004 speeches by George W Bush and Osama bin Laden Morgan, from Sisterhood is Global Combahee River Collective Statement Week #9Monday 11/11 - Politics in the nation-state form Renan, What is a Nation? Rogin, two essays on race and nation Anderson, from Imagined Communities Chatterjee, The Nationalist Resolution of the Woman Question
Week #10Monday 11/18 - Empire/imperialism/anti-colonialism Gandhi, Hind Swaraj Fanon, from Wretched of the Earth Nasser, speech Said, Orientalism Reconsidered Coronil, After Empire DUE FRIDAY 11/22 SECOND PAPER Week #11Monday 11/25 -national/popular movements - parts and wholes Gramsci, excerpts from Prison Notebooks Laclau & Mouffe, from Hegemony & Socialist Strategy Hall, Jefferson, et al., from Resistance Through Ritual Amin, Gandhi as the Mahatma Sections that meet wed. 11/27 and Thursday 11/28 do not meet due to the Thanksgiving break. IV. Cases Week #12Monday 12/2 - Aesthetics and Politics Shelley, In Defense of Poetry Ranciere, from The Politics of Aesthetics Picasso, Guernica Neruda, The Heights of Maccu Piccu Auden, Musees des Beaux Arts
Szymborska, Children of Our Age Week #13Monday 12/9 - Gender/Culture/Politics Rubin, The Traffic in Women Ortner, Is Female to Male as Nature to Culture? Butler, Performative Acts & Gender Constitution: an Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory Mahmood, Feminist theory, Embodiment, and the Docile Agent: Some Reflections on the Islamic Revival Week #14 Wednesday 12/11 classes meet on a Monday schedule: wrap up DUE FRIDAY 12/13 THIRD PAPER