The Modern Critical Theory Lecture Series - Fall 2007
8/28: Kant
Lecture: Michael Rothberg (Unit), Jim Hansen (English), and Robert Rushing (Comp Lit)
Readings:
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, trans. and ed. Paul Guyer and Allen Wood, "'B' Introduction"
Kant, Critique of Judgment (Introduction, Parts I-IV)
Kant, Critique of Judgment (selections in Norton)
Edmund Burke, “Of the Passion Caused by the Sublime”
Recommended: Frederick Beiser, "The Enlightenment and Idealism," from The Cambridge Companion to German Idealism
9/4: Hegel
Lecture:William Schroeder (Philosophy)
Readings:
G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A.V. Miller (Introduction, “Sense-Certainty,” and “Self-Consciousness” [through “lordship and bondage”], pp. 46-66 & 104-119)
9/12: Nietzsche
Lecture: Alexander Nehamas (Philosophy, Princeton University)
Readings:
Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (book)
9/18: Freud
Lecture: Lilya Kaganovsky (Slavic/Comp Lit)
Readings:
Leitch, Vincent B. (ed.). "Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939." Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. 913-956.
Sigmund Freud, Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria (book)
9/25: Marxism
Lecture: Jim Hansen (English)
Readings:
Leitch, Vincent B. (ed.). "Karl Marx, 1818-1883 and Friedrich Engels, 1820-1895." Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. 759-787.
Leitch, Vincent B. (ed.). "Walter Benjamin, 1892-1940." Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. 1163-1186.
Adorno, Theodor W.. "On the Fetish-Character in Music and the Regression of Listening." Essential Frankfurt school reader. Arato, Andrew; Gebhardt, Eike (eds.). Continuum, 1982. 270-299.
10/2: Structuralism
Lecture: Michael Rothberg (English/Unit)
Readings:
Readings by Ferdinand de Saussure and Roland Barthes (only from Mythologies) in Norton
Claude Lévi-Strauss, “Structural Analysis in Linguistics and in Anthropology,” Structural Anthropology
Althusser, Louis; Ben Brewster (trans.). "Ch. 9: Marx's Immense Theoretical Revolution." Reading Capital. Verso, 1979. 183-193.
10/9: Lacan, Althusser, Zizek
Lecture: Robert Rushing (Italian/Comp Lit)
Readings:
Jacques Lacan, "The Mirror Stage" & "The Agency of the Letter in the Unconscious" (Norton)
Althusser, Louis. "Ideology Has No History (excerpt)." Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. Leitch, Vincent B. (ed.). W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. 1496-1505.
Zizek, Slavoj. "Ch. 4: Courtly Love, or, Woman as Thing." The Metastases of Enjoyment: Six Essays on Woman and Causality. Verso, 1994. 89-112.
Zizek, Slavoj. "Ch.1: How Did Marx Invent the Symptom?." Sublime Object of Ideology. Verso, 1989. 11-53.
10/16: Derrida
Lecture: Bruce Rosenstock, Religious Studies
Readings:
Jacques Derrida, Limited, Inc. (book)
10/24: Foucault: "Visual Parrhesia? Foucault and the Truth of the Gaze"
With guest speaker Martin Jay, History (University of California, Berkeley)
Reading: Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish (book)
Abstract: Near the end of his career, Foucault explored the value of truth-telling exemplified by the Greek practice of parrhesia, stressing the personal investment in candor or what he called veridiction. This paper explores the implications of this commitment to truth-telling in the register of the visual. Did Foucault believe that images can also tell the truth? Did he overcome his suspicion of ocularcentrism, the extent of which has been questioned by several recent commentators, in his consideration of the truth in painting and other visual phenomena?
10/30: Feminism
Lecture: Sarah Projansky (Gender and Women’s Studies/Cinema Studies)
Readings:
Mulvey, Laura. "Ch.4: Visual pleasure and narrative cinema." Feminism and film theory. Penley, Constance, ed.. NY: Routledge, 1988. 57-86.
Collins, Patricia Hill. "Ch. 6: Some Group Matters: Intersectionality, Situated Standpoints, and Black Feminist Thought." Fighting Words: Black Women and the Search for Justice. University of Minnesota Press, 1998. 201-228.
Fausto-Sterling, Anne. "Ch. 9: Gender systems: toward a theory of human sexuality." Sexing the body: gender politics nad the construction of sexuality. Basic Books, 2000. 233-255.
Shohat, Ella. "Gendered Cartographies of Knowledge: Area Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Postcolonial Studies." Taboo Memories, Diasporic Voices. Duke University Press, 2006. 1-16.
11/6: Queer Theory
Lecture: Martin Manalansan (Anthropology/Asian American Studies)
Readings:
Butler, Judith. "Ch. 1: Imitation and Gender Subordination." Inside/Out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories. Fuss, Diana (ed.). Routledge, 1991. 13-31.
Cohen, Cathy J.. "Punks, bulldaggers, and welfare queens: the radical potntial of Queer politics?." GLQ 3. (1997): 437-465.
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. "Introduction: Axiomatic." Epistemology of the closet. University of California Press, 1990. 1-63.
Warner, Michael. "Introduction." Fear of a Queer Planet. Warner, Michael (ed.). University of Minnesota Press, 1993. vii-xxxi.
Secondary Readings:
D'Emilio, John. "Ch.31: Capitalism and gay identity." Lesbian and gay studies reader. Abelove, Henry, Michèle Aina Barale and David M. Halperin (eds.). New York : Routledge, 1993. 467-476.
Foucault, Michel. "Right of Death and Power Over Life." History of Sexuality. Vintage Books, 1978. 135-159.
Newton, Esther. "Ch. 5: Role models." Mother camp: female impersonators in America. Printice-Hall, 1972. 97-111.
Rubin, Gayle. "Thinking sex: notes for a radical theory of the politics of sexuality." Pleasure and danger: exploring female sexuality. Vance, Carole S. (ed.). Routledge & K. Paul, 1984. 267-317.
11/13: Postcolonial Theory
Lecture: Jed Esty (English)
Readings:
Fanon, Frantz. "Ch. 7: The Negro and recognition." Black skin, white masks. Grove Press, 1967. 210-222.
Leitch, Vincent B. (ed.). "Edward W. Said, b. 1935." Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. 1986-2012.
Leitch, Vincent B. (ed.). "Homi K. Bhabha, b. 1949." Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. W.W. Norton & Co., 2001. 2377-2397.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. "Ch. 2: Literature." Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Toward a History of the Vanishing Present. Harvard University Press, 1999. 112-141.
Secondary:
Gates, Jr., H.L.. "Critical Fanonism." Critical Inquiry 17.3 (Spring 1991): 457-470.