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Academic Year 2004/2005

Junior Colloquium: Cultural Studies and American Studies
AMST 204 FA

The aim of our colloquium is to place some contributions of British cultural studies and American studies in a critical dialogue with one another. From this critical exchange we will develop a more rigorous grasp of cultural theory and a more complex understanding of what is at stake in cultural criticism and cultural history. Topics include the concepts of ideology, hegemony, and contradiction; the theorizing and historicizing of forms of subjectivity; Marxist theories, feminist theories, antiracism work. A number of exercises (including field trips) and analyses of texts (literary, historical) will put our theoretical work into practice.The aim of our colloquium is to place some contributions of British cultural studies and American Studies in a critical dialogue with one another. From this critical exchange we will develop a more rigorous grasp of cultural theory and a more complex understanding of what is at stake in cultural criticism and cultural history. Topics include the concepts of ideology, hegemony, and contradiction; the theorizing and historicizing of forms of subjectivity; marxist theories, feminist theories, antiracism work. A number of exercises (including field trips) and analyses of texts (literary, historical) will put our theoretical work into practice.

MAJOR READINGS

Terry Eagleton, "What is Ideology?" and "The
Significance of Theory"
Cornel West, "The Dilemma of the Black Intellectual"
Frederick Douglass, NARRATIVE
Lawrence Levine, BLACK CULTURE AND BLACK CONSCIOUSNESS
Leroi Jones, (Amiri Baraka) THE DUTCHMAN and THE SLAVE
Graeme Turner, "British Cultural Studies"
Allan Bloom, THE CLOSING OF THE AMERICAN MIND
Joel Pfister, "THE AMERICANIZATION OF CULTURAL STUDIES"
Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, "Sex as Symbol in Victorian
Purity"
Thomas Laqueur "Orgasm, Generation, and the Politics of
Reproductive Biology"
Barbara Kruger, WE WON'T PLAY NATURE TO YOUR CULTURE
James Kavanagh, "Ideology"
Roland Barthes, MYTHOLOGIES
William Cronon, CHANGES IN THE LAND: INDIANS, COLONISTS, AND
THE ECOLOGY OF NEW ENGLAND
Benjamin Franklin, AUTOBIOGRPAHY
Max Weber, THE PROTESTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM
Michael Wallace, "Visiting the Past: History Museums in the
United States"
Chris Weedon, FEMINIST PRACTICE AND POSTSTRUCTURALIST THEORY
Spike Lee, DO THE RIGHT THING (film)

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Three five page papers plus some exercises. Each student will take a turn at leading class discussion.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Only American Studies majors may take this course.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS AMST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: [HIST235 or AMST250] OR [HIST236 or AMST255] OR [ENGL203 or AMST155] OR [ENGL204 or AMST156] Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-21-2005

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