ICS 251 Introduction to Cultural Studies Theory Fall 2006

Dr. Phillip McArthur, Office: MFB 211, Phone: 293-3907

Course Objectives:

This course will provide an introductory survey to the theoretical territory of cultural studies. This includes developing familiarity with key foundational theories, terminologies, and critical thinking. Our project has less to do with specific “cultures” and more to do with “culture” as a process, symbol, and complex configuration of meanings, ideas, social relations, and expressions. It is my desire that we come to a more complex understanding of what we call “cultural” and that this understanding inform the rest of our studies in the ICS program. I also hope we learn that knowledge is not the answer to a question, but something to be used to answer a question.

“…that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle…of things both in heaven and in the earth…things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and perplexities of he nations…and a knowledge also of countries…that ye may be prepared in all things when I shall send you again to magnify the calling whereunto I have called you…”

Outcomes:

• Become a critical reader and thinker.
• Achieve capacity to synthesize and integrate knowledge.
• Communicate effectively and persuasively in speaking and writing.
• Acquire deep familiarity with foundational theories and theorists.
• Explore nexus between critical theories and personal convictions.

Texts:

Blackboard Readings (can be downloaded).

*You must obtain a CES Net ID and set your password in order to access the blackboard. Go to byuh.edu/netid (or “information station” on the BYUH web) to obtain your ID and password. You will then access the site by going to the byuh webpage, select “current students”, then select “blackboard”.

Course Requirements:

• Three essays: Each essay will explore your understanding of the foundational theoretical principles through application to a socio-cultural problem. Each essay must be at minimum three pages, typed and double-spaced. Our goal is to create the quality of writing consistent with a university classroom through a multi-stage process.
• Three Exams: Two unit exams (units I and II) and a final (combines unit III with a significant comprehensive portion).
• Participation: I will note who comes to class each day having read the assignment and prepared to engage in the discussion. Be prepared to be called on at anytime. Because I want to pace the course according to how well we are comprehending the materials, there will be no fixed reading schedule, rather, depending on what we accomplish in a given hour I will assign the reading for the next session at the end of each class period. I will also post this assignment on blackboard after class.

Three Essays 45%

Three Exams Unit I 10%

Unit II 10%

Unit III + Final 25%

Participation 10%

***Final Exam: Friday Dec. 15 th, 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.

***There Will be No Early Exams!

Unit I: Sociological Underpinnings of Culture

Herder on Culture and 18 th Century Nationalism

*J & J Penrose, “ Herder’s Concept of Nation…”

Hegel’s Dialectic

*D. Palmer, from “The 19 th Century” (on Georg W. F. Hegel)

Marx on the Production of Social Relations and Culture

*D. Palmer, from “The 19 th Century” (on Karl Marx)

Marxism, Alienation, Base and Superstructure, Production, Class, Ideology, Consciousness (uploaded as “Marx Supplement”)

Gramsci on Hegemony

Hegemony (uploaded as Gramsci)

Gilman on Women and Economy

*Charlotte Gilman, “Women and Economics”

Adorno on the Culture Industry

*T. Adorno & M. Horkheimer, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception”

Hall on the Popular

*Stuart Hall, “Notes on Deconstructing ‘The Popular’”

Unit II: Mind, Meaning, and Power

Freud on the Psyche

Unconscious, Psychoanalysis, Condensation and Displacement, Oedipal Complex, Phallus (uploaded as “Freud Supplement”)

*Sigmund Freud, “The Relation of the Poet to Day-Dreaming”

Nietzsche’s Subversive Subjectivity

D. Palmer, “the 19 th Century” (on F. Nietzsche)

Saussure’s and Levi-Strauss’ Structuralism

D. Palmer, “Structuralism and Poststructuralism” (Saussure & Levi-Strauss)

Structuralism, Sign (uploaded as structuralism supplement)

Pierce’s and Barthes’ Semiotics

*John Fiske, “Communication, Meaning, and Signs (Pierce)

Semiology/Semiotics, Code (uploaded as “Semiotics Supplement I”)

*John Fiske, “Signification” (Barthes)

Connotation/Denotation (uploaded as “Semiotics Supplement II”)

Derrida’s Poststructuralism

*D. Palmer, “Structuralism and Postructuralism” (Derrida)

Difference/différance, Poststructuralism, Deconstruction (uploaded as “Derrida Supplement”)

Foucault on Discourse and Power

*Michel Foucault, “Truth and Power”

Irigaray on Deconstructing Phallocentrism

*D. Palmer, “Structuralism and Poststructuralism” (on Luce Irigaray)

Lyotard on the Postmodern

*Jean-Francois Lyotard, “Defining the Postmodern”

Bricolage, Modernity, Postmodernism (uploaded as “Lyotard Supplement”)

Unit III: Local Contexts and Global Forces

Fanon and Anderson on Modern Nationalism and Culture

Nation/Nationalism (uploaded as “Nation Supplement”)

*Frantz Fanon, “National Culture”

*Benedict Anderson, “Imagined Communities”

Said on Orientalism

Imperialism, Orientalism (uploaded as “Said Supplement”)

*Edward Said, “Orientalism”

Spivak and the Post-Colonial

Post-Colonialism,Subaltern (uploaded as “Spivak Supplement”)

*Gayatri Spivak, “Can the Subaltern Speak?”

Appadurai on Globalization and Transnationalism

Globalization, Diaspora, Hybridity (uploaded as “Appadurai Supplement”)

Arjun Appadurai, “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy”

hooks on Gender, Race and Power

*bell hooks, “feminism: a transformational politic”

Linking-up Theory to the Emphases

*Rey Chow, “Listening Otherwise, Music Miniaturized: A Different Type of Question About Revolution”

*Clifford Geertz, “Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight”

*Joshua Meyrowitz, “Media and Behavior: A Missing Link”

ICS Outcomes

1. ICS graduates will possess a high degree of cultural literacy (history, philosophy, culture) in at least two world areas.
2. ICS graduates should be able to effectively manage cultural differences and conflicts, and be prepared to develop solutions to real world problems.
3. ICS graduates should be able to think critically.
4. ICS graduates should be able to articulate and sustain their views through verbal and written discourse.
5. ICS graduates will enter graduate school or find employment within one year of graduation.

Special Needs

Brigham Young University Hawai’i is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere, which reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability that may impair your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact the students with Special Needs Coordinator, Leilani A’una at 293-3518. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. If you need assistance or if you feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established grievance policy and procedures. You should contact the Human Resource Service at 780-8875.

Preventing Sexual Harassment

Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in an educational program or activity that receives federal funds, including Federal loans and grants. Title IX also covers student-to-student sexual harassment. If you encounter unlawful sexual harassment or gender-based discrimination, please contact the Human Resource Services at 780-8875 (24 hours).