Anthropology 516
2007
Room 345
(Cross-listed URBS 516 and AFST 516)
with
Michael Delli Carpini, Dean Annenberg
School of Communications
&
John Jackson. Prof,
Purpose: The theme of the 2007-2008 Public Interest Workshop is Scholarship
in Action. In this workshop we address different ways that scholars
connect theory with action in the public domain. Reading classic works by engaged scholars and
public intellectuals, we focus on (1)the synergistic relationship between
intellectual work and civic engagement and (2)discuss the ways in which engaged
scholars and prominent public
intellectuals "increase the efficacy of their political interventions in
and through the vigorous defense of their independence from economic and
political powers" (Bourdieu l989).
The aim is to come out of the class with an understanding of how we as students,
scholars and citizens can use and/or develop scholarship to engage the central
questions of our times. A prominent goal
of the course is to distill from the readings a conceptual, methodological, and
critical framework for a Public Interest Social Science..
Topics
considered are:
1.
Role of the Public Intellectal: (Bourdieu, Said, Zizek, Negri,
Gramsci);
2.
Feminist Public Intellectuals: ( Judith Butler, Seyla Benhabib, Nancy Fraser);
3. Key concepts: public(s); public sphere;
civil society; freedom; the social concomitants of difference;
multiculturalism; interests; public interest sphere; public opinion; public
reason;
3.The Media and Representation:
evolution and devolution of common sense (doxo) spheres (ie. liberalism, left,
right, common sense, doxa of political parties etc.) in the formation of
political subjects in the form of citizen action..
The
Workshop is offered for credit to advanced undergraduates and graduate
students. Students will write reviews
and/or critiques of the readings as a way to develop a reflexive profile of
themselves as public intellectuals. For
the final paper students will analyze and critique a public interest theme with
which they are engaged. Included in this
paper should be a translation into a publicly consumable form. The latter can
range from a journalistic essay or a short video to the creation of a website
or a pod-cast. The purpose of these assignments is to give students the
opportunity to practice integrating theory and action with the intent of circulating
knowledge in the public sphere.
Class Schedule
and
Part I: Role of the Public Intellectual: The life
and times of Bourdieu, Edward Said, Slavoj Zizek and Antonio Negri:
Templates for Public Interest
Scholarship and Action.
Week 1: 9/10
Pierre Bourdieu
·
Acts of Resistance: House of
our Own Bookstore (HOO)
·
Pierre Bourdieu and
Democratic Politics: The Mystery of Ministry (HOO) Chs 1, , 7, and 9 (peruse
other chapters).
Week 2: 9/17
Edward Said
·
Orientalism: Edward Said
(HOO)
·
James Clifford's review of
Orientalism (Bb)
·
Nadia Abu El-Haj:
"Edward Said and the political present;" (Bb)
·
Peruse Articles by Said: (1)
Zionism from the point of view of its victims; (2) Dignity, Solidarity, and the
Penal Colony (articles on Bb)
·
Week 3: 9/24
Slavoj Zizek
·
Welcome to the Desert of the
Real: Zizek (HOO)—read mainly to figure out what Zizek means by "the real."
·
See with a friend: Film: Zizek! (2005) Follows the life of Public Intellectual Slavoj Zizek
as he travels across the globe (get from library);
Gramsci
·
Read Gramsci on The Organic
Intellectual (Bb)
Antonio Negri
Part II. Public Intellectuals and Lived Oppression
Week 4: 10/1
·
Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange
(HOO)
·
Judith Butler: Competing
Universalities; Dynamic Conclusions (Bb)
Week 5: 10/8
·
W.E.B. DuBois The
·
Lee Baker From Savage to Negro 1998. Chapter 5 on W.E.B.
Dubois (Bb)
·
Frantz Fanon Black
Skin White Masks(Bb)
·
Grant
Farred: What's My Name? Black Vernacular Intellectuals (Bb)
·
Peruse O. Patterson: Freedom
in the Making of Western Culture (Bb)
ASSIGNMENT: WRITE A REVIEW OF
THESE PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS BASED ON THE
Part III: Themes
and Working Concepts
FALL BREAK: 10/13-16
Week 6: 10/22
What is "the Public?"
·
Public(s): John Dewey: The Public and Its Problems (Bb) pp.
38-142 (peruse)
·
Peggy R. Sanday: Public Interest
Anthropology: A Model for Engaged Research http://www.sas.upenn.edu/~psanday/PIE.05.htm
(Bb)
·
Michael Warner: Publics and
Counterpublics, 2002, Public Culture (Bb)
WEEK
Democracy
·
West,
C (2005) Democracy Matters: Winning the
Fight Against Imperialism (selected chapters)
·
Nye,
J; Kamarack, E. (1999) Democracy.com
(Selected Chapters)
·
Hardt,
M; Negri, A. (2005) Multitude (Democracy section)]
Week 8: 11/5
Freedom; Interests; Peoplehood
·
Continue perusing Freedom in the Making
of Western Culture.
·
Stories of Peoplehood.
PART
IV—Themes: Exercising Freedom (Spaces for; and ways of)
WEEK 9: 11/12
Civil Society
·
Delli
Carpini, M (1996) “The Internet and an Informed
Citizenry”,
·
Putnam,
R. (2000) Bowling Alone: The Collapse and
Revival of American Community. (selected chapters);
·
Sirianni,
C; Friedland, L. (2001) Civic Innovation
in
Week 10: 11/19
The Public Sphere and Counter Publics
·
Habermas: Habermas and the Public Sphere,
ed. Craig Calhoun, (HOO):
(Peruse book: Read pp: 4-9; 73-98;
110-113; 117-118; 128-137; Chapters 15, 17, 18).
PART IV Action and Vision Spheres
Communication and
Media
Week 11: 11/26
Media
Journalism and Democracy
·
McChesney, R (1999) Rich Media Poor Democracy(Introduction) or Communication Revolution: Critical Junctures
and the Future of Media (2007)
·
Delli Carpini, M (2004) “News from Somewhere: Journalistic Frames
and the Debate about Public Journalism” in Framing
the News;
·
Jay
Rosen. What Journalists Are For. 1999(?).
(selected chapters);
Week 12: 12/3
·
Cleaver, H (1996) “The Electronic Fabric of Struggle”;
·
Klein, N (2002) No Logo: No
Space, No Choice, No Jobs (No Logo Section)
·
Hardt, M; Negri, A. (2005)
Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire (Multitude Section)
·
The Indy Media Movement