Current Debates in Cultural Studies

Fall 2003 Syllabus

Current Debates in Media and Cultural Studies

COMM 8750/WST 8920, Fall 2003
Thursdays, 7:15-9:45 PM, Room TBA
Class Home Page: http://www.tedfriedman.com/theory.htm

Dr. Ted Friedman
Office: 738 One Park Place South
Email: tedf@gsu.edu
Phone: (404) 463-9522
Home Page: http://www.tedfriedman.com

Course Description
Cultural Studies is a interdisciplinary field devoted to exploring the political implications of popular culture. Like any academic field, it’s a world at once rife with controversy over some topics and univocal about others. Some concepts attract firestorms of controversy; others ossify into unexamined shibboleths. The purpose of this class is to reexamine both the ongoing debates and unquestioned assumptions of cultural studies – to figure out the limits of the discipline as its stands, and to ask where it might go from here.

Among the conflicts we’ll survey include:
• Base vs. superstructure – which, “in the last instance” (to quote Althusser) determines the other?
• Resistance vs. hegemony – does resistance just reinscribe hegemony? If there’s resistance everywhere, why does so little seem to change?
• Anti-essentialism vs. strategic essentialism – is foundationalism always a mistake? What are the limits of relativism?
• Utopianism vs. reformism – is Utopia hopelessly unrealistic, or the only possible motivator for any increment of change?
• “False consciousness” vs “cynical reason” – why do people ally themselves with politics that seem to be against their own best interests?
• Selling out vs. crossing over – is access to a larger audience worth the compromises of working within the culture industry?
• Identity politics vs. postethnicity – are identity politics self-marginalizing, or are postethnic coalitions simply new forms of white priviledge?
• Academics vs. public intellectuals – is there a way to bring Ivory Tower ideas to a larger audience? What changes in the process?
• Academia vs. itself – how does the corporatization of the university change the role of the professor and the nature of academic work?
• Theory vs. praxis – how does the esoteric language of theory translate into the real world of political activity?
• Disciplinary conflicts – literature vs. sociology vs. film studies vs. anthropology vs. rhetoric vs. . . .
• Methodological conflicts – ethnography vs. textual analysis vs. theoretical discourse vs. historical research vs. political economy vs. . . .
• National conflicts – British Cultural Studies vs. American Cultural Studies vs. Australian Cultural Studies vs. . . .
• And on and on . . .

This class will largely be a class about “theory,” in the sense that it is interested in big questions – not just the limited questions that individual works of scholarship tend to ask about their subjects, but much wider questions about how we can relate individual works of scholarship to broader debates. Not all of the readings for the class will be self-consciously theoretical. But we will continue to ask these same questions of each reading, as we attempt to answer the questions that necessarily haunt all work in cultural studies.

Readings
Class readings will include books, a coursepack of articles, and news items distributed via the class email list.

The course books are available at the GSU bookstores, with the exception of Postethnic America, which can be ordered from Amazon.com or bn.com. Please note that some books on the bookstore shelves will not be used in the class. Here are the books you’ll need:

• John Storey, ed., What Is Cultural Studies?
• John Hartley, A Short History of Cultural Studies
• Ian Hacking, The Social Construction of What?
• David Harvey, Spaces of Hope
• Donald Hall, The Academic Self
• John Street, Politics and Popular Culture
• Larry Gross, Up from Invisibility
• Sarah Projansky, Watching Rape Culture
• David A. Hollinger, Postethnic America
• Toby Miller et al, Global Hollywood
• Will Brooker, Using the Force

The coursepack is sold by Bestway Copy Center, 18 Decatur Street SE (on the first floor of One Park Place South). See the last page of this syllabus for full citations of coursepack readings.

Email Group
All students will be signed up to the class email list. I will regularly forward media news and cultural criticism to the list. You’re encouraged to forward other interesting information, post your reactions to recent movies, respond to other postings, or continue any other ongoing discussions from class.

Schedule

Part I: The State of Cultural Studies

8/28 Introduction

9/4 What Is Cultural Studies?
John Hartley, A Short History of Cultural Studies
John Storey, “Cultural Studies: An Introduction” (WICS)
Stuart Hall, “Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms” (WICS)
John Fiske, “British Cultural Studies and Television” (WICS)

9/11 What’s (Maybe) Wrong with Cultural Studies?
Richard Johnson, “What Is Cultural Studies Anyway?” (WICS)
Cary Nelson, “Always Already Cultural Studies” (WICS)
Meaghan Morris, “Banality in Cultural Studies” (WICS)
Fredric Jameson, “On ‘Cultural Studies’” (CP)
Donna Harway, “Teddy Bear Patriarchy” (CP)
Michael Schudson, “Paper Tigers” (CP)

Part II: Theory

9/18 Hegemony, Resistance and Utopia
Terry Eagleton, “Ideology and Its Vicissitudes in Western Marxism” (CP)
Michelle Barrett, “Ideology, Politics, Hegemony,” (CP)
Fredric Jameson, “Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture” (CP)
Douglas Kellner, “Ernst Bloch, Utopia and Ideology Critique”
http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/kell1.htm
Outside Screening: See Jaws

9/25 Cynical Reason and the Desert of the Real
Slavok Zizek, The Sublime Object of Ideology pp. 1-84 (CP)
Zizek, “The Spectre of Ideology” (CP)
Zizek, “The Matrix: Or, The Two Sides of Perversion”
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9912/msg00019.html
Zizek, “Welcome to the Desert of the Real”
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-0109/msg00106.html
Zizek, “Ideology Reloaded”
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16248
Outside Screening: See The Matrix

10/2 Ontology
Hacking, Ian, The Social Construction of What?
Selections on the Sokal Hoax from Lingua Franca
http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/
Berube, Michael. “The Return of Realism and the Future of Contingency”
www.blusparx.com/berube/pdf/realism_enginst.pdf

Part III: Praxis

10/9 Space
David Harvey, Spaces of Hope

10/16 Academia
Donald Hall, The Academic Self

10/23 Politics
John Street, Politics and Popular Culture
Tony Bennett, “Putting Policy into Cultural Studies” (WICS)

10/30 Visibility
Larry Gross, Up From Invisibility
Ellen Rooney, “Discipline and Vanish” (WICS)

11/6 Postfeminism
Sarah Projansky, Watching Rape Culture
Elizabeth Long, “Feminism and Cultural Studies” (WICS)
Franklin, Lurie, and Stacey, “Feminism and Cultural Studies: Pasts, Presents,
Futures” (WICS)
Outside Screening: See Thelma and Louise

11/13 Postethnicity
David A. Hollinger, Postethnic America
Manthia Diawara, “Black Studies, Cultural Studies” (WICS)
Stuart Hall, “Race, Culture and Communications” (WICS)

11/20 No Class – NCA Convention

11/27 No Class - Thanksgiving Break

12/4 Globalization and Political Economy
Toby Miller et al, Global Hollywood

12/11 Audience
Will Brooker, Using the Force
Ien Ang, “Culture and Communication” (WICS)
Outside Screening: See Star Wars

Assignments

I. Discussion leadership – 30% of final grade (2 classes, 15% each)
You will sign up to lead, with a group, discussions for two classes – one in the first half of the semester, one in the second.

To prepare for the discussion, in addition to reading the week’s assignment, research these questions to put the reading in a broader context:

1. What is the author’s background? What discipline is the author trained in? What else has s/he written? In which journals has s/he published?

2. What was the reception of the book? How was book reviewed? What criticisms have been made of the author’s work? How has the author responded? Whom has the author influenced?

Then, meet with your group to prepare for a class discussion. Don’t bother summarizing the work. Rather, concentrate on how the work relates to the key questions we’ll be asking all semester. In addition to the research topics, other subjects for discussion should include:

3. Theoretical debates: In which of the current debates in cultural studies does the work intervene? Where does the author stand? How does this work move the arguments forward?

4. Methodology: What methods does the author use? What are the advantages and limitations of this methodology?

5. Applicability: How might the ideas in this work be applied to other, more recent examples? To address this question, bring to class one brief contemporary media text, such as a music video, TV commercial, or website, for the class to discuss in the context of the week’s reading. The example should be self-contained – rather than discussing a section from a larger work, such as a movie clip, try to find an example that can stand on its own. Longer examples, such as sitcom episodes, can be screened, but be sure to check with me first if you plan to show a clip of more than 5 minutes.

6. What’s at Stake: Why does this work matter? How does this work function as praxis – a synthesis of theory and practice? (As Marx put it, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.”)

Outline the key topics of discussion in a short (1-2 page) handout for the class. There’s no need to include more detail, or to prepare a PowerPoint presentation – the focus should be on presenting material orally and facilitating a good class discussion.

II. Journal Presentation – 10% of final grade
Sign up (via email) to give a presentation on one of the journals listed on the website. Browse through the last several years of the journal, reading enough articles to give you a sense of the journal’s disciplinary focus, methodological assumptions, and theoretical framework. Which scholars are regularly cited? What knowledge is taken for granted? What kind of specialized language is employed? Pay particular attention to debates within the journal, such as essays which provoke responses. Also research the journal’s submission policies and rejection rate. Give a 15 minute presentation addressing these questions. Summarize your research on a one-page handout for the class.

III. Research Presentation – 10% of final grade
Present a 10 minute summary of your research project and answer questions from the class. Summarize your project on a one-page handout for the class.

IV. Research Paper – 50%.of the final grade
Write a 15-20 page paper on a subject relating to cultural studies. You should write this paper with an eye towards eventually presenting it at a conference, expanding it and publishing it. In addition, if you already have a thesis or dissertation topic in mind, consider how this paper might form the basis for a chapter of the larger work.

A one-page prospectus is due October 9. I will schedule individual meetings with you to discuss the prospectus.

I will look at drafts of the final paper submitted on or before December 4. You’re welcome to submit multiple drafts for feedback.

The final paper is due December 15.

Policies

Academic Honesty
The university’s policy on academic honesty is published in On Campus: The Undergraduate Co-Curricular Affairs Handbook, available online at http://www.gsu.edu/~wwwcam. The policy prohibits plagiarism, cheating on examinations, unauthorized collaboration, falsification, and multiple submissions. Violation of the policy will result in failing the class, in addition to possible disciplinary sanctions.

Withdrawals
Students withdrawing on or before the midsemester point will receive a W provided they are passing the course. Students who withdraw after the midsemester point will not be eligible for a W except in cases of hardship. If you withdraw after the midsemester point, you will be assigned a WF, except in those cases in which (1) hardship status is determined by the office of the dean of students because of emergency, employment, or health reasons, and (2) you are passing the course.

Incompletes
Incompletes may be given only in special hardship cases. Incompletes will not be used merely for extending the time for completion of course requirements.

Changes to the Syllabus
This syllabus provides a general plan for the course. Deviations may be necessary.

Courespack Bibliography

Jameson, Fredrick. “On ‘Cultural Studies’.” Social Text 34 (1993): 17-52.

Haraway, Donna. “Teddy Bear Patriarchy.” From Primate Visions: Gender Race and Nature in the World of Modern Science. New York: Routledge, 1989.

Schudson, Michael. “Paper Tigers.” Lingua Franca (August 1997): 49-56.

Eagleton, Terry. “Ideology and its Vicissitudes in Western Marxism.” From Slavoj Zizek, ed. Mapping Ideology. New York: Verso, 1994.

Barrett, Michele. “Ideology, Politics, Hegemony: From Gramsci to Laclau and Mouffe.” From Zizek, ed.

Zizek, Slavoj. The Sublime Object of Ideology. New York: Verso, 1989.

Zizek, Savoj. “The Spectre of Ideology.” From Zizek, ed.

Jameson, Fredric. “Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture.” Social Text 1 (1979): 130-148.
COMM 8750/WST 8920, Fall 2003
Thursdays, 7:15-9:45 PM, Room TBA
Class Home Page: http://www.tedfriedman.com/theory.htm