[
Wesleyan Home Page
] [
WesMaps Home Page
]
[
Course Search
] [
Course Search by CID
]
Junior Colloquium: Cultural Studies and American Studies
AMST204 SP
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" 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) 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
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:
Discussion
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
NONE
Grading Mode:
Graded
Prerequisites:
HIST235 OR HIST236 OR ENGL203 OR ENGL204
Last Updated on MAR-24-2000
Contact
wesmaps@wesleyan.edu
to submit comments or suggestions.
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459