LIT 6855
Theorizing Culture
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Meetings
Instructor
Office Hours Telephone e-mail
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Mondays Per 6-8, TUR 4112 Susan Hegeman Wednesdays
2-4 pm and by
appointment 392-6650, x 289 |
National
Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution |
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This course will
address the
interdisciplinary conversation between
literary studies and anthropology in a number of ways. First,
our
reading will focus on anthropological texts that have been particularly
influential to literary scholars; for example, Levi-Strauss's Tristes Tropiques, Geertz's The Interpretation of
Cultures, and Clifford's The
Predicament of Culture.
Second, we will consider the vexed concept of "culture"
in relation to a variety of disciplinary practices. In particular, we
will
address development over the past few decades of a diversity of
"cultural"
approaches in the humanities, including the new historicism, the new
cultural
history, and cultural studies. We will also discuss recent calls, in
both
anthropology and in the humanities, to revise or reject this so-called
cultural
turn. While this course is intended to be useful for anyone interested
in
twentieth century literary history (especially modernism and
postmodernism) or
in anthropology, it should be particularly relevant to students
interested in
the intellectual history of the twentieth century and in the historical
and
theoretical bases of cultural studies.
Books ordered
The following books have been ordered for this class at Goering's Textbook Store, "Books and Bagels" (1717 NW 1st Avenue; Tel. 352-377-3703). If you purchase your books elsewhere, please try to get the editions ordered for the class.
Benedict,
Ruth: Patterns of Culture
(Mariner
Books 0395500885)
Douglas,
Mary, Purity and Danger
(Routledge
0415289955)
Levi-Strauss,
Claude: Tristes Tropiques
(Penguin
0140165622)
Geertz,
Clifford: The Interpretation of Cultures (Basic Books 0465097197)
Clifford,
James: The Predicament of Culture
(Harvard UP 0674698436)
T.S.
Eliot, Christianity and Culture (Harvest 0156177358)
Raymond
Williams, Raymond: Culture and Society: 1780-1950 (Columbia UP 0231057016)
Hebdige,
Subculture: The Meaning of
Style (Routledge
0415039495)
Richard
E. Lee, Life and Times of Cultural Studies (Duke 082233173x)
Sherry
B. Ortner ed., The Fate
of "Culture:"
Geertz and Beyond (U Calif P 0520216016)
Course
Requirements
1.
Attendance and active participation in the seminar is expected. You
should be
prepared to be called upon. You will also be asked to informally
introduce the
readings for a given week.
2.
You will hand in 25-30 pages of written work over the course of the
semester.
Depending on your needs and goals for the course, this may be in the
form of
three short papers of 8-10 pages in length, one long paper, or a long
and a
short paper. Students choosing to write one long paper should show me a
prospectus of 1 page by Oct 31. I recommend that advanced students
working on
extended projects related to the course material write one long paper.
Students
whose goals are to develop a strong familiarity with the material
should consider
writing shorter papers of a more explicatory sort.
Due dates
Sept
26, Oct 31: recommended dates for turning in short papers.
Oct
31: prospectuses for longer papers due
Dec
7: last day to turn in papers and receive comments before the end of
the semester
Dec
12: last day to turn in a paper and receive a GRADE for the semester
Course
policy on Incompletes: I am willing to let students take Incompletes to
have
more time to complete a long final research paper. However, in the
interest of
not excessively prolonging the work of this course, I will accept
seminar
papers and grade them for full credit until the end of the spring 2006
semester. Students who turn in papers after this date will not receive
an "A"
in the course.
Schedule
of Classes and Readings
The problem with culture
August
29 Introduction and Discussion: The Rhetoric of Culture
September
5 NO CLASS; Labor Day
September
12 Cultural Complaints; readings
TBA
The
anthropological
tradition
September 19 Benedict, Ruth: Patterns
of Culture
September 26 Douglas, Mary, Purity and
Danger
October 3 Levi-Strauss, Claude: Tristes
Tropiques
October 10 Geertz, Clifford: The
Interpretation of
Cultures
October 17 Clifford, James: The
Predicament of
Culture
The literary
tradition
October
24 T.S. Eliot, Christianity and Culture
October
31 Raymond Williams, Raymond: Culture and Society: 1780-1950
Cultural Studies
November
7 Hebdige, Subculture: The
Meaning of Style
November
14 Richard E. Lee, Life and Times of Cultural Studies
November
21 Sherry B. Ortner
ed., The
Fate of "Culture:" Geertz and Beyond
November
28 readings TBA