- What is Cultural Studies and what is this course about?
- Make sure your Columbia school email address is set up correctly!
Week One (Jan 18) - Introductions
Week Two (Jan 25) - Culture as Ritual, Artifact & Idea
Assignments for today
- Carol Duncan, "The Art Museum as Ritual," Civilizing Rituals: Inside Public Art Museums (New York: Routledge, 1995), pp. 7-20.
- Theory Toolbox, Chapter 5 (check the menu on the right for a PDF copy of the book)
- Also read an abridged version of Yi-Fu Tuan, "The Significance of the Artifact," Geographical Review, Vol. 70, No. 4 (1980).
CULTURAL ARTIFACTS: The Art Museum
For further reading and research
- Carol Duncan, "Public Spaces, Private Interests," in Civilizing Rituals: Inside Public Art Museums (Chapter 3)
- Sam Pizzigati, "Culture and Art," from Greed and Good: Understanding and Overcoming the Inequality that Limits Our Lives (The Apex Press, 2004)
- Ellen Hoobler, "'To Take Their Heritage in Their Hands': Indigenous Self-Representation and Decolonization in the Community Museums of Oaxaca, Mexico," American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 30, Nos. 3 & 4 (2006): pp. 441-460.
- Nancy Marie Mithlo, "'Red Man’s Burden': The Politics of Inclusion in Museum Settings," American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 28, Nos. 3 & 4 (2004): pp. 743-763.
- Al Jazeera, "Museum Highlights Greece's Pride and Pain."
- Al Jazeera, "Struggle to Save Iraq's Cultural Heritage."'
- "Iraq's Ruined Library Soldiers On," The Nation, April 21, 2008.
- Google 'Art Project' (interactive tour through famous art museums and their collections).
Week Three (Feb 1) - Analyzing Institutions: The Corporation
Readings for today:
- Robert McChesney, “The Market Über Alles” In The Problem of the Media: U.S. Communication Politics in the Twenty-First Century (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2004), pp. 175-209.
- Stacy Mitchell, "Preface" to Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America's Independent Businesses (Beacon Press, 2007).
- In class screening: The Corporation
- FIELDWORK PAPER DUE TODAY
- Questions: Robert McChesney, “The Market Über Alles”
CULTURAL ARTIFACTS: Media corporations, 'Big-Box' retailers
For further reading & research:
- Interactive media ownership charts (via Free Press)
- Media Ownership chart (including Internet companies)
- Dave Gilson and Carolyn Perot, "It's the Inequality, Stupid: Eleven Charts That Explain Everything That's Wrong With America," Mother Jones, March/April 2011.
- The Walt Disney Company's assets (via Free Press)
- Wal-Mart growth in the U.S. (animation video)
- David Cromwell, "The Propaganda Model: An Overview," excerpted from Private Planet, 2002.
Week Four (Feb 8) - Analyzing Cultural Texts
Assignments for today
- Theory Toolbox, Chapter 6
- Henry A. Giroux, “Children’s Culture And Disney’s Films,” in The Mouse That Roared: Disney and the End of Innocence (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001), pp. 83-114.
- Film screening in-class: Class Dismissed
- Guide: Henry Giroux, "Children's Culture and Disney's Films"
- Guide: Ideology, Discourse, Hegemony (click HERE for PDF version)
CULTURAL ARTIFACTS: Disney films
For further reading and research
- An overview of the concept/term 'ideology'
- Mimi Nguyen, "Who's Your Heroine?: Negotiating Asian American Superpower in Mulan," Pop Politics, 2001.
- Matthias Stork, "Chaos Cinema" Press Play, 2011 (video essay).
Week Five (Feb 15) - Semiotics and Signifying Practices
Assignments for today
- Stuart Hall, “The Work of Representation” in Representation (London: Sage, 1997), pp. 15-43.
- Phillip M. Bratta, “Flag Display Post-9/11: A Discourse on American Nationalism,” The Journal of American Culture, Vol. 32, No. 3 (2009): 232–243.
- Guide: Zack's Semiotics PowerPoint shown in class.
- Guide: Semiotics & Communication (an overview)
- Guide: Daniel Chandler's Semiotics for Beginners
CULTURAL ARTIFACTS: Flags, Billboards
For further reading and research
- Semiotics online database (many links)
- Works Progress Administration (WPA) posters, circa the Great Depression and WWII.
- Carrie Rentschler, Carol Stabile and Jonathan Sterne, “United We Stand: Fresh Hoagies Daily,” Bad Subjects #59, February 2002.
- Demetrius W. Pearson and C. Allen Haney, "The Rodeo Cowboy as an American Icon: The Perceived Social and Cultural Significance," Journal of American Culture, Vol. 22, No. 4 (2004): pp. 17-21.
- Stuart Hall, "The Determinations of News Photographs," Working Papers in Cultural Studies, No.3. Reprinted in S.Cohen and J.Young (eds), The Manufacture of News, London: Constable, 1973.
- John Fiske and John Hartley, "The Signs of Television" and "The Codes of Television," Reading Television, pp. 36-67 (Chapters 3 & 4).
- Sau Paulo: A City Without Advertising
Week Six (Feb 22) - Framing 'Nature'
Assignments for today
- Theory Toolbox, "Nature"
- John Beardsley, "Kiss Nature Goodbye: Marketing the Great Outdoors," Harvard Design Magazine, No. 10, Winter/Spring 2000.
- Joan M. Schwartz, "Photographic Reflections: Nature, Landscape, and the Environment," Environmental History, Vol. 12, No. 4 (2007).
- EXAM TODAY! (on readings & notes from Weeks 1-6)
CULTURAL ARTIFACTS: Brands, Rainforest Cafe, The Nature Company/Discovery Store
For further reading and research
- Jennifer Price, "Looking for Nature at the Mall," from Uncommon Ground: Toward Reinventing Nature, edited by William Cronon, 1995.
- William Rollins, "Reflections on the Spare Tire: SUVs and Postmodern Environmental Consciousness," Environmental History, Vol. 11, No. 4 (2006).
- William Beinart and Katie McKeown, "Wildlife Media and Representations of Africa, 1950s to the 1970s," Environmental History, Vol. 14, No. 3 (2009).
- Christy Rodgers, "Bugs as Cultural Icons," LiP Magazine, No. 7, pp. 16-21.
- Finis Dunaway, "Seeing Global Warming: Contemporary Art and the Fate of the Planet," Environmental History, Vol. 14, No. 1 (2009).
- Mark Stoll, "Milton in Yosemite: Paradise Lost and the National Parks Idea," Environmental History, Vol. 13, No. 2 (2008).
Week Seven (Feb 29) - Subjectivity & Bodies
Assignments for today
- Theory Toolbox, Chapter 4 (‘Subjectivity’)
- John Berger, Ways of Seeing, Chapter 3
- Susan Sontag, "In Plato's Cave," On Photography, pp. 1-18
- Questions: Berger and Sontag
For further reading and research
- John Berger's Ways of Seeing (film). I am hoping to show Episode Three in class.
- Diane Arbus photo collection.
- Suzanna Walters, "Visual Pressures: On Gender and Looking," in Material Girls: Making Sense of Feminist Cultural Theory, Chapter 2.
- Catherine Lutz and Jane Collins, "The Photograph as an Intersection of Gazes: The Example of National Geographic," Visual Anthropology Review, Vol. 7, No. 1 (1991), pp. 134-149.
- Theory Toolbox, "Life"
- Al Jazeera, Slavery: A 21st Century Evil (a documentary series)
- Michelle Chen, "Slavery in Our Time," In These Times, July 21, 2010.
- Maurizio Lazzarato, "From Biopower to Biopolitics," Pli, Volume 13, Foucault: Madness/Sexuality/Biopolitics (2002):100-112.
Week Eight (March 7) - Gender Troubles
Readings for today
- Theory Toolbox, pp. 164-175 (on gender & queerness)
- Carol Stabile, “‘Sweetheart, This Ain’t Gender Studies’: Sexism and Superheroes”
- Mattilda, a.k.a. Matt Bernstein Sycamore, "Sweatshop-Produced Rainbow Flags and Participatory Patriarchy: Why the Gay Rights Movement Is a Sham," LiP Magazine.
- Recommended: Dave Zirin and Sherry Wolf, "Stop the Savage Sex Scare in Sports," Edge of Sports, September 14, 2009.
Reading questions & guides
- Guide: 'Queer' from Keywords in American Cultural Studies
- Guide: Sex, gender, and sexuality
- Guide: The three waves of feminism
- "Pink Scare," Bitch Magazine #52 (Red), Fall 2011.
- Cristen Conger, "Isn't He Lovely: The Cult of Muscularity," Bitch Magazine, September 8, 2011.
- Page McBee, "I Want to Be More Than Just a Man or a Woman," Salon.com, March 14, 2011.
- Dave Zirin, "The Dramatic Drop in Women’s Sports Coverage: An Interview with Mike Messner," The Nation, July 6, 2010.
- Annalee Newitz, "A drug for pregnant women that prevents lesbian daughters," io9.com, July 1, 2010.
- 'Love Story', at Xtranormal.com
- "Can you tell the difference between a men's magazine and a rapist?" Jezabel.com
Week Nine (March 14) - Constructing Race & Ethnicity, Part I
Readings for today:
- Theory Toolbox, Chapter 10, pp. 171-177; 189-193.
- "How the Irish Became White: An Interview with Noel Ignatiev," in Race Traitor: Journal of the New Abolitionism.
- Ward Churchill, "The Crucible of American Indian Identity," Z Magazine, Jan 1, 1998.
- "Wiping Latino American History Off the Map," Common Dreams, January 17, 2012.
Reading questions & guides:
- Questions: Ignatiev and Churchill
- Guide: 'Identity' from Keywords in American Cultural Studies
- Guide: 'Race' from Keywords in American Cultural Studies
- Guide: 'Ethnicity' from Keywords in American Cultural Studies
- Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Race, RACE-The Power of an Illusion, PBS.com.
- Interview with Stephen Jay Gould on race & biology, RACE-The Power of an Illusion, PBS.com.
- Ward Churchill, "Let's Spread the 'Fun' Around: The Issue of Sports Team Names and Mascots," in Acts of Rebellion: The Ward Churchill Reader, pp. 201-204.
- William 'Upski' Wimsatt, excerpts from Bomb the Suburbs (Soft Skull Press, 1999).
- William "Upski" Wimsatt, Cornel West, Noel Ignatiev, "I'm Ofay, You're Ofay," Transition, No. 73 (1997), pp. 176-203.
- F. James Davis, "The One-Drop Rule Defined," from Who is Black? One Nation's Definition (University Park: Penn State University Press) 1991
- “The New Racism and the Changing Beauty Norm,” Bad Subjects #76
- Sonia Scherr, "It Takes a Village to Raise a Racist," AlterNet, February 9, 2010.
- "The Critical Fashion Lover's (Basic) Guide to Cultural Appropriation"
- Native Appropriations blog
- Pancho McFarland, "Food Justice in the City," Environmental & Food Justice Blog, April 16, 2010.
- United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind (1923).
- Jennifer Lee & Frank D. Bean, "Reinventing the Color Line: Immigration and America's New Racial/Ethnic Divide," Social Forces, Vol. 86, No. 2 (2007): 561-586.
- Mimi Nguyen, "It's (Not) a White World: Looking for Race in Punk," Punk Planet, Nov/Dec, 1998.
Week Ten (March 21) - Constructing Race & Ethnicity, Part II
For today:
- Theory Toolbox, Chapter 9 pp. 154-164 (NOTE: pay particular attention to the term orientalism).
- Eric Repphun, "Avatar as European Orientalist Fantasy," The Dunedin School (blog), Dec 24, 2009.
- Catherine Hall, "Histories, Empires, and the Post-Colonial Moment," in The Post-Colonial Question, pp. 65-77.
For further reading and research:
- Post-colonialism overview (notes for class)
- Jack Shaheen, "Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 588 (2003): 171-193.
- Reel Injun (documentary film)
- Voices of the Heart (a documentary on Native American language immersion schools) Parts 1 & 2
- The Post-Colonial Question
- The Post-Colonial Studies Reader
- Post-Colonial Studies: The Key Concepts
Week Thirteen (April 11) - Post/Modernity & Globalization
For today:
- Thomas Misa, excerpt on modernity & technology (with highlighted passages).
- Theory Toolbox, Chapter 9 (I will review the material on Post-Colonialism and Orientalism from Week 9 when we discuss the content in the Theory Toolbox).
- Allen McDuffee, "Brewing Globalization with a local flavor," Pop Politics, Oct 2007. Note: The archives on Pop Politics were recently password protected, so the link I'm providing is a re-post (same content...just not as pretty to look at).
- REMINDER: Be sure to be thinking about or working on your CASE STUDY PAPER. It's due by the last day of class.
- Guide: Some notes on post/modernism and post/modernity.
- Guide: Stuart Hall, "What is Modern?" from Formations of Modernity.
- Guide: Professor Ron Strickland's PowerPoint presentations on modernity & postmodernity...I will be using them in class. Click HERE to access them.
- Guide: 'Globalization' from Keywords in American Cultural Studies
- Guide: What is Globalization? (an outline of trends)
- Guide: "Globalization," in the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
For further reading & research:
- Excerpt from Lindy Biggs, The Rational Factory (Johns Hopkins Press, 2002).
- Douglas Kellner (with Richard Kahn), "Resisting Globalization."
- McDonalds, Starbucks and corporate globalization (a map)
- Sarah Burdacki, "Strategy, Tactics, and Solidarity: The Anti-Globalization Movement and Its Discontents," Bad Subjects #65, 2004.
- Saskia Sassen, "Globalization or denationalization?," Review of International Political Economy, Feb 2003, Vol. 10, Issue 1, pp. 1-22.
- David Nye, an overview of the concept/term 'Technology'
- Thomas J. Misa "The Compelling Tangle of Modernity and Technology," in Modernity and Technology, edited by Thomas J. Misa, Philip Brey, and Andrew Feenberg, pp. 1-30.
- Modernism as the (re)organization & transformation of work
- Modernism and technology
- Raymond Williams, "Metropolitan Perceptions and the Emergence of Modernism."
- Raymond Williams, "When Was Modernism?," New Left Review, Issue #175, May-June 1989, pp. 48-52.
- Scott Thill, "5 Ways Techno-Gadgetry is Bringing Out the Worst in Humanity," AlterNet, February 2, 2010.
Week Fourteen (April 18) - The Politics of Space and Place, Part I
For today's class
- Theory Toolbox, Chapter 8
- Murray Foreman,"'Represent': Race, Space and Place in Rap Music," Popular Music, Vol. 19, No. 1, (2000), pp. 65-90.
- Iain Borden, “A Performative Critique of the American City: the Urban Practice of Skateboarding, 1958-1998.” Skateboard Directory, May 2001.
- REMINDER: Be sure to be working on your CASE STUDY PAPER (due by the last day of class).
CULTURAL ARTIFACTS: Highways, Skateboards, Maps, Automobiles
For further reading & research:
- Zack Furness, "Utopia and the City: An Interview with David Pinder," Bad Subjects #78, 2007.
- Megan Shaw & Rick Prelinger, "Manifest Congestion: Freeway Landscapes and Timescapes," Bad Subjects #40, 1998.
- Mike Davis, "Fortress L.A.," City of Quartz, pp. 223-247 (chapter 4).
- Elisabetta Povoledo, "In Italy, Creating Worlds Takes Precision, Yes, and Politics," New York Times, August 15, 2007.
- Luis Aponte-Pares, “Casitas Place and Culture: Appropriating Place in Puerto Rican Barrios,” Places, Vol. 11, No. 1, 1997.
- Setha Low, "The Edge and the Center: Gated Communities and the Discourse of Urban Fear," American Anthropologist, Vol. 103, No. 1 (2001), pp. 45-58.
- Don Mitchell, “The End of Public Space? People's Park, Definitions of the Public, and Democracy,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 85, No. 1 (1995), pp. 108-133.
- Cotten Seiler, “'So That We as a Race Might Have Something Authentic to Travel By': African American Automobility and Cold-War Liberalism," American Quarterly, Vol. 58, No. 4 (2006), pp. 1091-1117.
- Gary Allan Tobin, “The Bicycle Boom of the 1890’s: The Development of Private Transportation and the Birth of the Modern Tourist,” Popular Culture, 7, 1974.
- Tim Cresswell, “Mobility as Resistance: A Geographical Reading of Kerouac’s On the Road,” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. 18, No. 2 (1993), pp. 249-262.
- "Road Tripping Through Whitopia," In These Times, March 11, 2009 (an interview with Rich Benjamin, author of Searching for Whitopia)
- Kyra Kyles, "Navigating Chicago's Food Deserts," Chicago RedEye.com, August 9, 2010.
- "Chicago Most Closely Watched City," CBS News.com, April 6, 2010.
Week Fifteen (April 25th) - Resistance, Agency & Activism
For today:
- Stephen Duncombe, "Introduction" to The Cultural Resistance Reader (New York: Verso, 2002)
- Theory Toolbox, Chapter 11 ('Agency')
- Zack Furness, "Alternative Media: The Art of Rebellion," in Eds. Donaldo Macedo and Shirley Steinberg, Media Literacy: A Reader (Peter Lang Publishing: New York, 2007), pp. 187-196
- REMINDER: Be sure to be working on your CASE STUDY PAPER (due by the last day of class).
Reading questions & guides:
- Guide: Agency & Cultural Resistance
- Culture Jamming on Wikipedia
- Andrew Boyd & Stephen Duncombe on activism and What we Can Learn From Las Vegas.
- Interview with Reverend Billy on the 'Church of Stop Shopping'.
- Ross Haenfler, "Rethinking Subcultural Resistance: Core Values of the Straightedge Movement," Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Vol. 33 No. 4 (2004), pp. 406-436.
- Sunaina Maira, “Henna and Hip Hop: Cultural Production and the Work of Cultural Studies,” Journal of Asian American Studies, Vol. 3, No. 3 (2000), pp. 329-369.
- Daniel S. Traber, “L. A.’s ‘White Minority’: Punk and the Contradictions of Self-Marginalization," Cultural Critique, No. 48. (Spring, 2001), pp. 30-64.
- Stephen Duncombe, “Identity” in Notes From Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture (New York: Verso, 1997).
- Fred Turner, "Where the Counterculture Met the New Economy: The WELL and the Origins of Virtual Community," Technology and Culture, vol. 46 (2005): 485-512.
- Ann Hetzel Gunkel, "The Sacred in the City: Polonian Street Processions as Countercultural Practice," Polish American Studies, Vol. 60, No. 2 (2003), pp. 7-23.
- Tim Cresswell, “Mobility as Resistance: A Geographical Reading of Kerouac’s On the Road,” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. 18, No. 2 (1993), pp. 249-262.
Week Sixteen - Last Day! (May 2nd)
- FINAL EXAM TODAY
- CASE STUDY PAPER DUE BY TODAY! (upload via Moodle)