Controversies in Cultural Theory, Fall 1998 B. Ricardo Brown, Ph.D.


NODE.801 Obsolete Syllabus B. Ricardo Brown, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Cultural Studies Pratt Institute BRBrownIII@earthlink.net Retrurn to the Course Materials Page

Controversies in Cultural Theory
Pratt Institute Fall 1998 SS. 510.01 Tuesday 9:30 -12:00

B. Ricardo Brown, Ph.D.
Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies
Office: Dekalb 419
Office Phone: 1.718.636.3567, ext. 2709
Office Hours: Monday 1:00pm-1:55pm and 4:30pm-5:30pm,
    Tuesday 1:00pm-1:55pm and by appointment
Email: brbrowniii@earthlink.com
URL: http://www.oocities.org/brbgc
Blog: http://node801.blogspot.com
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Course Description
Our present era has been characterized as an age of global integration and the age of a true world economy, yet we can just as often hear Culture invoked as both an expression of this globalism and in opposition to it. Cultural theory and cultural studies are hotly contested domains. This is true both in terms of their critics as well as by those working within these areas. This class will examine some of the current and historical controversies surrounding cultural theory and studies. Of course, we can not survey all of the various controversies, and indeed new controversies arise almost every day, but we will touch on some of the most important: science studies, multiculturalism and the academy, the role of the intellectual, the critique of everyday life, etc.

Course Requirements
One paper (15-20 pages) is required and will represent 70% of your grade. I do not intend this to be a lecture class and therefore class participation is required and necessary for our investigation of these sometimes difficult texts.
Participation will account for the remaining 30% of your grade. Each student will present a 2-5 minute summary of their paper. In addition, you are expected to come to class with questions or comments about the readings. These will serve as the basis for our discussion of the texts.

All papers are to be typed, Double spaced on white 8.5 x 11 paper, 8-20 pages in length, with a portrait orientation. This is not an art or design class, and I am not impressed by special fonts or graphics. Papers are due no later than the final day of Exam Week.

An Internet account giving access to both email and the WWW is strongly recommended.

For grammatical or stylistic questions, William Strunk and E.B. White’s Elements of Style is highly reccommended.

Grades and Incompletes
Grades will be posted at the end of the semester. Incompletes will be granted only in accordance with the established policy of the college. The request must be made in advance of exam week. It must be made in writing and is “available only if the student has been in regular attendance, has satisfied all but the final requirements of the course, and has furnished satisfactory proof that the work was not completed because of illness or other circumstances beyond control” (Pratt Institute Bulletin).

Readings
Copies of the readings will either be distributed in class and/or will be available on reserve in the Library. Many of the texts used in the first few weeks of class are available via the Internet. My URL at the top of the page will refer you in the direction of some of the other cultural studies resources available.
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Course Outline

Sept. 8, Session One
Introduction to the class

Sept. 15, Session Two: The Sokal/Social Text Controversy I
Alan Sokal “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of     Quantum Gravity”
Alan Sokal “A Physicist Experiments with Cultural Studies”
Bruce Robbins and Andrew Ross “Social Text Editorial Response”
Alan Sokal Response to the Social Text Editorial

Sept. 22, Session Three: The Sokal/Social Text Controversy II
Andrew Ross “Science Backlash on Technoskeptics: ‘Culture Wars’ spill over”
David Dickson “The New Politics of Science”
Mark Dowie “What’s Wrong with the The New York Times’s Science Reporting?”

Sept. 29, Session Four: Science Studies
Alan Sokal “What the Social Text Affair Does and Does not Prove”
Alan Sokal “Transgressing the Boundaries: an Afterword”
Stanley Aronowitz “Alan Sokal’s Transgression”
From Lingua Franca “Mystery Science Theater”

Oct. 6, Session Five: The Critique of Enlightenment
Adorno and Horkheimer exceprt from Dialectic of Enlightenment
Sandra Harding “Feminism, Science, and the Anti-Enlightenment Critiques”
Norman Levitt “The Worlds Highest IQ (and other Damned Souls)”
Stanley Aronowitz “Bringing Science and Scientificity Down to Earth”

Oct. 13 Monday Classes meet, No session

Oct. 20, Session Six: Feminism and Postmodernism
Nancy Fraser and Linda J. Nicholson “Social Criticism without Philosophy: an     Encounter between Feminism and Postmodernism”
Jane Flax “Postmodernism and Gender Relations in Feminist Theory”

Oct. 27, Session Seven: Postmodernism
Habermas “Modernity---An Unfinished Project”
Eagleton Postmodernism
Gilles Deleuze Postscript on the Societies of Control

Nov. 3, Session Eight: Marx
Marx The “General Introduction” to the Grundrisse

Nov. 10, Session Nine: Marx and the Critique of Marxism
Louis Althusser “Ideology and State Ideological Apparatuses”
Stanley Aronowitz exceprt from Science as Power

Nov. 17, Session Ten: Science and Determinism
Lynda Birke “Determined Women: Feminism and Biological Determinism”
Barbara Ehrenreich “The New Creationism”

Nov. 24, Session Eleven: Nature and Nurture: Evolution and Selection
Stephen J. Gould “Darwinian Fundamentalism”
John Maynard Smith Review of Dennett’s Darwin’s Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the     Meanings of Life.

Dec. 1, Session Twelve Nature and Nurture: Sexuality
Adrienne Rich “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence”
John D’Emilio “Capitalism and Gay Identity”
Michel Foucault Interviews on The History of Sexuality

Dec. 8, Session Thirteen Nature and Nurture: Crime
Lombroso Selection from Criminal Man
Hernstein and Wilson exceprt from Crime and Human Nature
Spethen J. Gould exceprt from The Mismeasure of Man

Dec. 15, Session Fourteen Presentations on Paper Topics