SS 330.01 &
.02
Department
of Social Science & Cultural Studies
Pratt Institute Spring 2014
Meetings
& Rooms:
Section
I: Engineering 311
Tuesday
2:00-4:50pm
Section II: Engineering 311
Wednesday 2:00-4:50pm
B.
Ricardo Brown, Ph.D.
Professor
of Social Science and Cultural Studies
Office:
Dekalb 419 Hours: 12:30-2pm Tues/Weds Phone:
1.718.636.3533
Email:
BBROW993@Pratt.edu
URL:
http://node801.org
SS-330
Cultural Studies
This
course explores the relations of cultural artifacts in the
contemporary world to their various social contexts. Culture is
understood as the material expressions and images that people create
and the social environment that shapes the way diverse groups of
people experience their world and interact with one another. The
course focuses on the critical analysis of these various forms of
media, design, mass communications, arts, and popular culture.
Detailed
Course Description & Objectives
The
present era is often characterized as an age of global integration
and a truly world economy as well as an era of social and
environmental crises. In the midst of these changes we can often
hear “culture” invoked as both a positive expression of this
globalism and sometimes as something that opposes it. The full
meaning of culture remains a topic of fierce debate and so “culture”
is used as a political weapon, a claim of privilege, a rallying point
for identity, a reservoir of resistance, or refers to various
artifacts and practices that must be either preserved (good culture)
or eliminated (degenerate culture).
Cultural
Studies emerged from the attempts to understand these complex social
and political uses of “culture” in such debates as those over
“high & low” art, the value of the artifacts of popular
culture (cinema, television, music, etc.), the deployments of
knowledge and authority in the social relations of everyday life. We
will examine how Cultural Studies offered a critical understanding of
what Max Horkheimer termed “life as it is lived.” Attention will
be paid to the fate of Cultural Studies as it became accepted and
absorbed by various academic disciplines. In the final sessions,
special attention will be given to the reception of Cultural Studies
in the United States.
This
course is designed to give you a foundation in Cultural Studies. It
will show you how Cultural Studies emerged and its subsequent
variations and lines of descent. You are not expected to already
know this, nor are you expected to already be familiar with the texts
we will use and issues that will be raised. You are expected to
engage the course materials seriously. You will finish the course
with an introduction to different ways of understanding the history
of the present day and the social relations of everyday life.
OUTLINE OF THE COURSE OF STUDY
Session I: Introduction
to the Course
Session
II: Cultural
Studies as a Cultural Artifact
On the Question “What is Cultural
Studies?”
Simon
During. 1999. “Introduction” to The Cultural Studies Reader.
Second Edition. New York: Routledge.
Peruse
and review:
Raymond
Williams. 1983. “Culture” and “Society” from Keywords: A
Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Revised edition. New York:
Oxford University Press, pp. 87-93 and pp. 291-295.
Richard Johnson.
1987 (1996). “What is Cultural Studies Anyway?” in What is
Cultural Studies? A Reader. Edited by John Storey. New York:
Arnold, pp. 1-30.
Comment
Due By Sunday, 7am.
What,
if anything, has changed about your answer to the question “What is
Cultural Studies?” and what do you hope to learn from the study of
a field like Cultural Studies?
Session
III: Dialectic of Enlightenment I
Immanuel
Kant. “What is Enlightenment?”
Peruse
and review:
Raymond Williams. Civilization,
57-60; History, 146-148; Humanity, 148-151; Individual 161- 165;
Western, 333-334. from Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and
Society.
The
Dialectic of Enlightenment I: Bach, Kant, Theresiana, Frederick,
Sade, Horkheimer
Max
Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. “Juliette or Enlightenment and
Morality” from Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical
Fragments, pp. 81-119.
Debate between Michel Foucault
and Noam Chomsky (1971)
Session
IV:Dialectic of Enlightenment II: The Culture industry
Theodor
Adorno. 1975. “Culture Industry Reconsidered.” New
German Critique, 6, Fall, pp. 12-19.
In
Our Time --- The Frankfurt School (BBC Radio4 podcast)
Peruse
and review:
Max
Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. Dialectic of Enlightenment,
“The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception,” 129-167.
Session
V: Fetishism and Popular Culture
Umberto
Eco. “Casablanca” in Travels in Hyper-Reality pgs.
197-212.
Fetishism and Popular Culture
Comment
II. Due Sunday 7am.
Keeping
in mind that the Frankfurt School’s concept of a Culture Industry
is not just a matter of corporate domination, but also the
commodification of leisure (i.e., it is a commodity to be consumed)
and the constant repetition of styles and fads, does the Culture
Industry still exist?
Session
VI: Cultural Studies and Understanding the Popular
Angela
McRobbie. 1996 (1999). “The Place of Walter Benjamin in Cultural
Studies” in Simon During, ed. The Cultural Studies Reader.
Second Edition. New York: Routledge, pp. 77-96.
Stuart
Hall in During. “Encoding, decoding” in Simon During, ed. The
Cultural Studies Reader. Second Edition. New York: Routledge,
pp. 507-517.
Session
VII: The Centre for Contemporary
Cultural Studies and “The Birmingham School”
Michael
Green. 1985 (1996). “The Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies”
in John Storey, ed. What is Cultural Studies? A Reader. New
York: Arnold, pp. 49-60.
Peruse
and review:
Stanley
Aronowitz. “British Cultural Studies” in Roll Over Beethoven:
the Return of Cultural Strife. Hanover: Wesleyan
University Press, pp. 109-130.
The Origins of
Cultural Studies in the U.K.
Session
VIII: The
Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies and “The Birmingham
School”
Raymond
Williams. 1989. [Three essays from] The Politics of
Modernism. New York: Verso. [Required]
“What is Modernism?” pp. 31-37.
“Metropolitan Perceptions and the Emergence of
Modernism” pp. 37- 48.
“The Politics of the Avant-Garde” pp. 49-64.
Comment
III. Due Sunday 7am.
Raymond
Williams is very critical of the concept of “postmodern” in its
many uses. Describe what you believe are three arguments supporting
his view. Briefly put forward any alternative view that you might
hold.
Session
IX: Intellectuals,
Power and Commitment, Identity, Authenticity, Multiculturalism
bell
hooks. “A Revolution in Values: the Promise of Multicultural
Change,” in Simon During, ed. The Cultural Studies Reader.
Second Edition. New York: Routledge, pp. 233- 240.
Cornel
West. “The New Cultural Politics of Difference,” in Simon During,
ed. The Cultural Studies Reader. Second Edition. New York:
Routledge, pp. 203-220.
Audre
Lorde. 1984. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the
Master’s House.” in Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by
Audre Lorde. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, pp.110-113.
Session
X: Intellectuals,
Power and Commitment, Identity, Authenticity, Multiculturalism
John
d’Emillio. “Capitalism and Gay Identity.” from Powers of
Desire: The Politics of Sexuality. Ann Snitow, Christine
Stansell & Sharan Thompson, eds. 1983. New York: Monthly Review
Press.
Borges,
Jorge Luis. “The Argentine Writer and Tradition” in Labyrinths:
Selected Stories and Essays.
Stuart
Hall. “What is this ‘Black’ in Black Popular Culture?” Social
Justice, Vol. 20, nos 1-2. pp. 104-114.
In
Our Time --- Borges (BBC Radio4 podcast)
Session
XI: Cultural Studies in Societies of Control I
Kafka and the Crisis of the Society of
Discipline
Franz
Kafka. The Penal Colony.
Peruse
and review:
The
Dialectic of Enlightenment I: Bach, Kant, Theresiana, Frederick,
Sade, Horkheimer
Max
Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. “Juliette or Enlightenment and
Morality” from Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical
Fragments, pp. 81-119.
Session
XII: Cultural Studies in Societies of Control II
Kafka and the Crisis of the Society of
Discipline
Franz
Kafka. The Penal Colony.
Peruse
and review:
The
Dialectic of Enlightenment I: Bach, Kant, Theresiana, Frederick,
Sade, Horkheimer
Max
Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. “Juliette or Enlightenment and
Morality” from Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical
Fragments, pp. 81-119.
Session
XIII: Cultural Studies in Societies of Control III
Herbert
Marcuse. One Dimensional Man:
Studies in the Ideology of Advanced
Industrial Society, Introduction and
Chapter 1,
http://www.marcuse.org/herbert/pubs/64onedim/odmcontents.html
Gilles
Deleuze. “Postscript on the Societies of Control”
Comment
IV. Due Sunday 7am.
Should
an intellectual/ artist/writer etc. be social/y/politically committed
in their work or should they stand at a distance from their
commitments. Is the latter just another form of commitment?
Session
XIV:
Herbert
Marcuse. One Dimensional Man: Studies in the Ideology of
Advanced Industrial Society, Introduction and Chapter 1,
http://www.marcuse.org/herbert/pubs/64onedim/odmcontents.html
Peruse
and review:
Lefebvre,
Henri. 1968. “Terror and Everyday Life” from Everyday Life
in the Modern World. New York: Harper Torchbooks, pp.143-193.
Ivan
Zatz-Diaz. 2005. "The Weight of Nightmares: Small screens,
social space and representation in contemporary capitalism" from
Situations: Project of the Radical Imagination, Vol 1, No 1
(2005). http://ojs.gc.cuny.edu/index.php/situations/article/view/3
XIV.
Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies
Raymond
Williams. 1989. “The Future of Cultural Studies” in The
Politics of Modernism. New
York: Verso, pp. 151-162.
Stuart
Hall. “Cultural Studies and its Theoretical Legacies” in Simon
During, ed. The Cultural Studies Reader. Second Edition. New
York: Routledge, pp. 97-112.
Session
XV: Review. Final Essay.
Comment
V.
What
do you see as the achievements and legacies of Cultural Studies? How
do you respond to the question “What is the Future of Cultural
Studies?”
____________________________________
Course
Requirements and Grading
Short
Essay Questions
There
are five short essay questions. Each is directly related to the
readings just completed. Short essays should be 2-4 pages (800-950
words).
While
the quality of your weekly comments is most important, it is also
important that all the work is performed as the semester progresses.
Self-Evaluation
At
the end of the course you may submit a 1-2 page essay describing your
evaluation of your performance and your assessment of what you
believe to be a fair final grade.
Absences
and Lateness
Persistent
absences or lateness will result in a reduction of your final grade
consistent with the policies of the university and of the department
of Social Science & Cultural Studies.
An
incomplete will be granted only in accordance with the established
policy of the university. An
incomplete is “available only if the student has been in regular
attendance, has satisfied all but the final requirements of the
course, and has furnished satisfactory proof that the work was not
completed because of illness or other circumstances beyond control”
(Pratt Institute
Bulletin). If
you do not turn in your final work on time, and you do not have an
approved incomplete, you will fail the course.
Grades
80%
- Short Essay Questions
10%
- Class participation (e.g., being prepared for class, having the
week’s reading in class, questioning the professor’s
interpretation of the material, comments and questions about the
course readings, etc)
_____________________
Readings
Required
Text
ONE
TEXT MUST BE PURCHASED:
Raymond
Williams. 1989 (2007). The Politics of Modernism: Against the
New Conformists. New York: Verso. ISBN-10: 1-84467-580-7
ISBN-13:
978-1-84467-580-7
Most
of the readings will be available through the LMS site for the course
(at my.pratt.edu) or via the links provided in the syllabus. The
exception is the required text by Raymond Williams.
*BRING
YOUR OWN COPY OF THE READINGS TO CLASS EACH SESSION.*
*See
Course and Grading requirements*
Suggested
sources for purchasing the required text:
Book
Culture (Broadway and 114th Street) http://www.bookculture.com/
St.
Marks Bookshop http://www.stmarksbookshop.com
The
Strand www.strandbooks.com (the huge second-hand store on 12th
Street & Broadway).
The
Advanced Book Exchange http://www.abebooks.com
Powell’s
Books http://powells.com
Academic
Integrity
Pratt Institute considers
Academic Integrity highly important. Instances of cheating,
plagiarism, and wrongful use of intellectual property will not be
tolerated.
• Faculty members will report
each incident to the registrar for inclusion in students’ files.
·More than one report to the
registrar during a student’s program of study at Pratt will result
in a hearing before the Academic Integrity Board, at which time
appropriate sanctions will be decided. These may include dismissal
from the Institute.
·The nature and severity of the
infraction will be determined by faculty members who can: ask
students to repeat an assignment, fail students on the assignment,
fail students in the course and/or refer the incident to the Academic
Integrity Board.
For more details about these
procedures please see the Pratt Student Handbook, the Pratt
Bulletins, and the pamphlet entitled Judicial Procedures at Pratt.
Cheating
If students use dishonest methods
to fulfill course requirements, they are cheating. Examples of this
include, but are not limited to:
• Obtaining or offering copies
of exams or information about the content of exams in advance.
• Bringing notes in any form to
a closed book exam.
• Looking at another student’s
paper during an exam.
• Receiving or communicating
any information from or to another student during an exam.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a bit more
complicated, but the rules of documentation and citation are very
specific and are tailored to different academic disciplines. Types of
plagiarism include:
• Including any material from
any source other than you in a paper or project without proper
attribution. This includes material from the Internet, books, papers,
or projects by other students, and from any other source.
• Using your own work to
fulfill requirements for more than one course.
• The extensive use of the
ideas of others in your work without proper attribution.
• Turning in work done by
another person or a fellow student as one’s own.
Please remember that all work
must be the student’s own. If it is not, the source should be cited
and documented appropriately. If there are aspects of this statement
that are not understood, ask faculty members for help.
“Community
Standards”
Students must adhere to all
Institute-wide policies listed in the Bulletin under “Community
Standards” and which include policies on attendance, academic
integrity, plagiarism, computer, and network use.
Accommodation
of Disabilities
Not a problem, you should talk or
write to me after one of the first classes. However, I am required
to state that students who require special accommodations for
disabilities must obtain clearance from the Office of Disability
Services at the beginning of the semester. You should contact Mai
McDonald, Disability Services Coordinator, in the Office of the Vice
President for Student Affairs, Main Building, Lower Level:
718-636-3711.
*****
In
addition to the readings for the course, it is highly recommended
that you obtain these texts, especially if you are majoring in
Critical & Visual Studies or completing the Minor in Cultural
Studies:
Andrew
Arato and Eike Gebhardt, eds. 1982.
The
Essential Frankfurt School Reader. New
York: Continuum.
Stanley
Aronowitz. 1993. Roll over Beethoven: The Return of
Cultural Strife. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN: 0819562629.
Jorge
Luis Borges. 1989. Ficciones. Anthony
Kerrigan (Editor), Anthony Bonner (Translator). Grove Press;
ISBN: 0802130305.
Simon
During, ed. 1999. The Cultural Studies Reader.
2nd edition. Routledge; ISBN: 0415137543.
Murray
Edelman. 1998. Constructing the Political Spectacle.
University Of Chicago Press. ISBN-10:
0226183998.
Michel
Foucault. 1973. The Order of Things: A History of the Human
Sciences. New York: Vintage. ASIN: B000HZIHD0.
Max
Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno edited by Gunzelin Schmid Noerr,
translated by Edmund Jephcott. 2002. Dialectic of
Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Stanford University
Press. ISBN: 0804736332. DO NOT ORDER THE OLDER TRANSLATION
PUBLISHED BY CONTINUUM EXCEPT FOR REFERENCE.
Cary
Nelson and Lawrence Grossberg, eds. 1988.
Marxism
and the Interpretation of Culture.
University of Illinois Press. ISBN-10: 0252014014; ISBN-13:
978-0252014017.
John
Storey, ed. 1997. What
is Cultural Studies? A Reader.
New York: Arnold/St. Martin's Press. 1997. ISBN-10:
0340652403; ISBN-13: 978-0340652404.
John
Storey. 2003. Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture:
Theories and Methods.
University
of Georgia Press, Second edition. ISBN-10: 082032566X; ISBN-13:
978-0820325668.
Raymond
Williams. Materialism and Culture. New York: Verso.
ISBN-10: 1844670600
ISBN-13:
978-1844670604.
Raymond
Williams. (1976) 1985. Keywords:
A Vocabulary of Culture and Society.
Revised edition. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN-10:
0195204697; ISBN-13: 978-0195204698.
__________________
Documentaries,
Films, and Music which will be referred to during the Course
Stuart
Hall Representation and the Media (lecture)
Debate between Noam
Chomsky and Michel Foucault on Human Nature (video)
bell hooks Cultural
Criticism & Transformation (interview/discussion)
Casablanca
The Trial (Orson
Wells version)
Metropolis
Brazil
Dr.
Strangelove
Degenerate
Art Exhibit documentary.
Michael
Wood Hitler’s
Search for the Holy Grail documentary.
Marcuse's
Hippopotamus documentary.
Committee
for a Free Congress History of Political Correctness
documentary.
The Train
Arnold
Schoenberg
Pierrot
lunaire
Alban
Berg
Violin
Concerto
Anton
Webern conducts Alban Berg's Violin Concerto ("To the Memory of
an Angel"), with Louis Krasner, who commissioned the work as a
tribute to Manon Gropius, the recently deceased daughter of
Alma Mahler and Walter Gropius.
or
Theodor
Adorno
String
Quartets
Anton
Webern
Five
Movements for String Quartet
Variations
for Piano (performed by Glenn
Gould)
Quartet
for violin, clarinet, tenor sax and piano
Arr.
of Bach's Musical Offering
Video
of a performance:
John
Cage
Music
for Marcel Duchamp
As
Slow as Possible
Music
for Piano
Charles
Ives
Songs
Conlon
Nancarrow
Studies
for Player Piano
Steve
Reich
Octet
Six
Marimbas
New
York Counter Point
Music
for 18 Musicians
Dagmar
Krause
Songs
of Kurt Weill (see also her Tank
Battles: Songs of Hans Eisler)
Deutsche
Miserere
Zu
Potsdam "Unter den Eichen"
In
Potsdam "Unter den Eichen"
Carla
Bley
Musique
Machanique
Sidney
Bechet
High
Society
Louis
Armstrong & King Oliver
Canal
Street Blues
Dizzy
Gillespie & Charlie Parker
Bebop
The
Ornette Coleman Double Quartet
Free
Jazz
John
Coltrane
A
Love Supreme
Thelonious
Monk & John Coltrane
Off
Minor
Fred
Frith
Prints
Legs
(from the documentary Step Across the Border)
Robert
Fripp
Frippertronics
Improvisation
Astor
Piazzolla musical settings of
some poems of Jorge Luis Borges
Rough
Dancer and the Cyclical Night
El
Tango
see also Borges &
Piazzolla
