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IDS CONCENTRATION IN LESBIAN/GAY/QUEER STUDIES | |||||||||||||||||||
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SPRING 2005 ART 76040 [66072] - Topics in Contemporary Art: Issues of Identity in Contemporary Art GC: M: 6:30 - 8:30pm, 3 credits, Rm. 3421 Prof. Anna Chave Explores what is at stake, and for whom, in the decision--by the artist, as well as by the critic or historian--to enunciate, or not, a distinct subject position, especially as marked by gender, sexuality, and/or 'race' and ethnicity. Addresses problems surrounding essentialism and the stereotype. Organized on a case study basis, and taught as a colloquium, rather than as a traditional lecture course. Auditors are permitted. ART 86040 [66078] - Seminar: Selected Topics in Contemporary Art: Modern and Contemporary Memorials: Artistic Strategies and Audience Response GC: W: 9:30-11:30am, 3 credits, Rm. 3421 Prof. Harriet Senie This course will consider the history of modern and contemporary memorials since WWII in terms of commissioning methods and intentions, built solutions (both works by artists and entire museums), and audience response (including spontaneous memorials and issues of controversy). There will be meetings with directors of public art programs who commission memorials. Students will observe actual memorials in the city, engage their immediate audience, and analyze the range of responses. Throughout the course we will be considering the way memory is framed and experienced. Auditors permitted (up to 5) but will be required to do some work. ENG. 70700 [66101] - Representations of Religious/Racial Difference in Middle English Texts GC: W: 11:45am – 1:45pm 2/4 credits Rm. TBA Prof. Steven Kruger This course is intended as a survey of medieval English literature, providing students with a sense of the wide range of genres and texts that characterized literature written in Britain from ca. 1100 – ca. 1500. The majority of texts will be read in the original Middle English (but students need not have any prior experience with Middle English); we may also read some Welsh, Irish, Anglo-Norman (French), and Latin texts in translation. One subject taken up in many of these texts is religion and the differences among religious traditions – Christianity, Christian heresies (“Lollardy”), “paganism,” Islam, Judaism – and we will particularly focus on works in which this subject is central. We will also consider whether religious difference as represented in medieval texts shares anything with more modern constructions of racial difference. Texts read for the course may include John Gower’s Confessio Amantis (in part), William Langland’s Piers Plowman (in part), Cleanness, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Corpus Christi drama, the Croxton Play of the Sacrament, Lollard and anti-Lollard polemic, Middle English romances like The Siege of Jerusalem and Sir Gowther, Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur (in part), Anglo-Norman romances, Latin texts depicting disputations between Christians and Jews, poems by Scottish authors like Dunbar, Henryson, Douglas, and Lindsay. Students will be expected to do at least one in-class presentation and write a final essay for the course.
We will begin with an examination of anti-Semitism in Marlowe’s
Jew of Malta and Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.
We will then discuss racism in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus
and Othello which will lead us to a discussion of
colonialism and sexual difference in Shakespeare’s Tempest
and in Behn’s Oronoko. We will try to decide whether these
works are inherently anti-Semitic, racist, and colonialist. We will
point out similarities and differences between anti-Semitism,
racism, and colonialism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
and today and we will discuss how we might teach these works in
undergraduate courses. As a coda we will read Coetzee’s Foe. ENGL 85500 [66135] - Readings in
Afro-American Literary and Cultural Theory In this course we will ask whether the now
well established idea that Black American literary theory and Black
American cultural theory are distinct (because they are among the
only American intellectual traditions built upon the need to prove
the innate humanity of a people) continues to be a useful point of
departure for contemporary students. In particular, we will pay
attention to how the rather significant challenges posed by feminism
and queer theory, cultural studies, postmodern theory and
psychoanalysis have forced many Afro-Americanists to rethink some of
their most sacrosanct notions regarding what does and does not
compose Afro-American literature and culture. The readings will be
chosen from a selection of key texts published over the last two
decades. In every case the focus will be on the rather
self-conscious manner in which Afro-Americanists have approached
theory and criticism. That is to say, we will examine in detail the
mechanisms utilized by scholars to announce and maintain
Afro-American specificity even as their efforts become increasingly
complex and abstract. Among the authors whom we will examine are
Hazel Carby, Paul Gilroy, Stuart Hall, Brent Edwards, Robert
Reid-Pharr, Fred Moten, Samuel Delany, Claudia Tate, Hortense
Spillers, Houston Baker, Anthony Appiah, Manthia Diawara and Toni
Morrison. Students will write a series of short papers and prepare
annotated bibliographies in consultation with the instructor.
IDS 81610 [66622] -
Fashioning the Self in Social and
Cultural Spaces
Scholarship in the emerging fields of fashion and dress studies has
contributed to the re-conceptualization of the relationship between
the public and private selves, as well as between public and private
spaces within modern and post-modern discourses. In this way the
very notions of “personal” and “public” are redefined in a
non-dichotomous and non-hierarchical relationship, opening spaces
for new explorations into psychic life, dreams, fantasy and their
conscious and unconscious manifestations through dress in visual and
cultural spaces. This leads to one of the central themes of the
course: namely, the critical analysis of issues pertaining to
identity formation (national/transnational), the presentation of the
self, the politics of the self’s performances and its interrelations
with race, the body, gender and class. Drawing on a wide range of
sources including critical theory, photography, film, video, art
design, pop music and literature, this course aims at giving a
thorough understanding of fashion as a form of communication and as
an industry. The course will pay a great deal of attention to the
impact of fashion on economies and societies in both the East and
West. The class will feature several internationally renowned guest
speakers from the CUNY community and outside. Our class sessions will usually combine primary sources (saints’ lives, plays, sermons, treatises, and other medieval texts, as well as visual material) with secondary sources and contemporary theory. Among our topics will be Gods in Human Form; Gendering the Other; Artisanal and Outlaw Masculinities; Saintly Masculinities; and The Paternal Requirement. Students will write frequent response papers, review one book for the class, and write an interdisciplinary research paper of 20-25 pages. Books will be available at the Labyrinth Bookshop at the Graduate Center. P SC 72901 [66130] - American Electoral Politics GC: W: 4:15 - 6:15pm, 3 credits, Rm. TBA Prof. Frances Fox Piven This course will examine the interplay between the distinctive American party system, the issues and cleavages which emerge at different periods in American politics, and the changing shape of the American electorate, as well as shifting patterns of electoral alignment. We will begin by considering some of the main perspectives which purport to explain the behavior of voters, the role of parties, and the origins of electoral systems. Then we will turn to a review of long term shifts that have occurred in the United States in the scale of voter participation, in the class, racial and gender skew of the electorate, and in the cleavages which organize the electorate, paying particular attention to the character of the party system that developed after the Civil War, and its persisting impact on national electoral politics. Lastly, we will turn to developments in American electoral politics in the past two decades, including the evidence of recent realignment or dealignment, and changes in the character of the American parties. Finally, we will consider the prospects for a democratic reinvigoration of electoral politics in the United States. P SC 82503 [66118] - Social Welfare Policy GC: T: 4:15 – 6:15pm, 4 credits, Rm. TBA Prof. Janet Gornick This course will examine social welfare policy in the United States, in both historical and cross-national perspective. The course will begin with an overview of the development of social welfare policy in the U.S. We will focus on three important historical periods: the Progressive Era; the New Deal; and the War on Poverty. We will end the first section with a review of developments in the tumultuous 1990s. Second, we will survey selected areas of social policy provision, such as anti-poverty policy; health policy; employment-related social policy; social policy for the elderly; and/or work-family reconciliation policies. In each of these policy areas, we will assess current provisions and evaluate contemporary debates, integrating political and economic perspectives. In the final section of the course, we will assess selected
social policy lessons from Europe, where provisions are typically
much more extensive than they are in the U.S. We will close by
analyzing the question of "American exceptionalism" in social
policy, and will assess a range of institutional, ideological, and
demographic explanations. GC: T: 6:30-8:30pm, Rm. TBA Prof. Juan Battle and Prof. Nick Freudenberg This course will examine
methods such as ethnography, GIS, survey research, narratives,
participatory research; techniques such as multilevel modeling,
hierarchical analysis, content analysis; concepts such as scale,
place, level of organization, urban sprawl, urban penalty;
theories/models such as ecological/systems. The course will also
include discussion of ethical issues, confidentiality and IRB
procedures, and the values and costs of community-based
participatory research. Among the methodologies
explored will be: case reports, clinical trials, environmental
sampling, ethnography, GIS and mapping, land use assessments,
quantitative risk assessment, observational studies, policy
analysis, public opinion polling, In addition to the weekly readings, students will be expected to
produce a proposal (about 15 pages) that incorporates more than one
methodology and incorporates literature/perspective from more than
one discipline. GC: T: 2-4 pm, 3 credits, Rm. TBA Prof. Hester Eisenstein This course will consider some approaches to feminism in the contemporary context. We will pay attention to the relation of the current streams of the women’s movement to the Western political tradition; and to the issues of race, class, sexuality, nation, religion, and imperialism that have been raised in recent years. What is the significance of global feminism? Can the historic conflicts between white women and women of color be healed within a multicultural women’s movement? Are the varieties of contemporary feminism still a radical force for change? Readings will include: Hester Eisenstein, Contemporary Feminist Thought Zillah Eisenstein, Against Empire: Feminisms, Racism and ‘the’ West Nancy Holmstrom, ed., The Socialist Feminist Project: A Contemporary Reader in Theory and Politics Joy James, Shadowboxing: Representations of Black Feminist Politics Fatima Mernissi, Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, Ecofeminism: Reconnecting a Divided World Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity Linda Nicholson, ed., Feminism/Postmodernism Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract Alisa Solomon and Martin Duberman, eds., Queer Ideas: The Kessler Lectures in Lesbian and Gay Studies SOC 86800 [66239] – Sociology of Bodies
Course Requirements: All students are required to attend class meetings and take part actively in class discussions. Written work will require students to analyze and synthesize material. Seminar participants must also be prepared to discuss the readings each week, and be willing to present the material at least once during the semester. All assignments will be expected to be turned in on time; late assignments will only be accepted by prior arrangement with the professor. Written Work to be handed in will include a brief weekly critique of the readings and one 20 page paper to be turned in at the end of the semester. Academic Integrity: I hope it goes without saying that the sources from which one derives one’s ideas, statements, terms and data must be fully and specifically acknowledged in the appropriate form. Please see me if you have any questions or concerns regarding this. Violations of academic integrity may result in failing the course and disciplinary actions from the University. Required Readings: Books: The Body and Social Theory. 2nd Edition. Chris Shilling. The Consuming Body. Pasi Falk. The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. Michel Foucault. Medical Power and Social Knowledge. Bryan S. Turner, Colin Sampson Vital Signs: Feminist Reconfigurations of the Bio/logical Body. Margrit Shildrick and Janet Price. Ain’t I a Beauty Queen? Black Women, Beauty and the Politics of Race. Maxine Leeds Craig. The Veil Unveiled: The Hijab in Modern Culture. Faegheh Shirazi Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia. Aiwa Ong and Michael Peletz. Cyberspace/Cyberbodies/Cyberpunk: Cultures of Technological Embodiment. Edited by Mike Featherstone and Roger Burrows. Course packet of articles: Arthur Frank (1991) “For a Sociology of the Body: An Analytic Review,” from The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory, ed. Featherstone, Hepworth, and Turner. Elizabeth Grosz (1997). “Inscriptions and Body Maps: Representations and the Corporeal,” in Space, Gender, Knowledge: Feminist Readings, ed. McDowell and Sharp. Patricia Hill Collins (2004) “Get Your Freak On: Sex, Babies, and Images of Black Femininity,” and “Booty Call: Sex, Violence, and Images of Black Masculinity” in Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender, and the New Racism. Victoria Pitts (2003) “Subversive Bodies, Invented Selves: Theorizing Body Politics” from In the Flesh: The Cultural Politics of Body Modification. Chela Sandoval (2000). “New Sciences: Cyborg Feminism and the Methodology of the Oppressed,” from The Cybercultures Reader, ed. Bell and Kennedy Valerie Steele (1996) Selection from Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power. Bryan Turner (1991) “Recent Developments in the Theory of the Body,” from The Body…. Course Segments & Corresponding Reading Assignments: I. Tracing the Body in Classical and Contemporary Social Theory. Shilling, The Body and Social Theory Turner, “Recent Developments in the Theory of the Body” Frank, “For a Sociology of the Body: An Analytic Review” Grosz, “Inscriptions and Body Maps: Representations and the Corporeal” II. Postmodernity, Consumer Culture and The Body Falk, The Consuming Body Steele, Selection from Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power Pitts, “Subversive Bodies, Invented Selves: Theorizing Body Politics” III. Medical Bodies Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception Turner and Sampson, Medical Power and Social Knowledge Shildrick and Price, Vital Signs: Feminist Reconfigurations of the Bio/logical Body IV. Bodies and Racial & Ethnic Politics Leeds Craig, Ain’t I a Beauty Queen? Black Women, Beauty and the Politics of Race Hill Collins, chapters from Black Sexual Politics Shirazi, The Veil Unveiled: The Hijab in Modern Culture Ong & Peletz, Bewitching Women, Pious Men: Gender and Body Politics in Southeast Asia V. Technobodies Featherstone and Burrows, Cyberspace/Cyberbodies/Cyberpunk Sandoval, New Sciences: Cyborg Feminism & the Methodology of the Oppressed THEA 86100 [66044] - History of American Theatre: The Theatre and Performances of the Harlem Renaissance, 1916-1932 GC: T: 4:15 - 6:15pm, Rm. TBA Prof. James Hatch We will read plays written and produced by Blacks and by Whites and discuss key articles and essays published in the period and after. This class will examine the racial, social, and economic issues that created one of the most exciting periods of American theatre. In addition to weekly reading assignments, one written report will be assigned. Topics to be addressed: How were folk themes and black culture exploited? Why was black performance popular and with whom? The White man’s Harlem Renaissance: what was it? How and why did Whites promote the theatre of Blacks? What were the influences of the black middle class? In black plays of protest, what were the issues at stake? How did the plays attack white racism as well as racism within the black community? How did Africa become an issue of homeland pride? What were the relationships of satire and comedy to class? Who were the key black writers, producers, actors? What theatre groups were formed and what were their philosophies? Why was the Harlem Renaissance a national phenomenon named for one small community? What were its influences in white America and in Europe? You will have a choice for final projects: 1. An original research paper that could be published. 2. An oral history with a black performer(s), an annotated transcription of the issues &nvolved. (Subject requires instructor’s approval). 3. Reading and photocopying of articles and reviews in a black newspaper and journal of the period with a written evaluation (Subject requires instructor’s approval) The final product of #s 2 and 3 must be a research paper Texts: Black Theatre USA, The Early Period 1847-1938, Vol. I, Hatch and Shine, Free Press (paper). Choose one: either Lost Plays of the Harlem Renaissance, 1920-1940, Hatch and Hamalian, Wayne State (paper), or The Roots of African American Drama, Hamalian and Hatch, Wayne State (paper). WSCP 80802 [66706] - Contemporary Feminist Thought GC: W: 4:15-6:15pm, Rm. TBA Prof. Susan Farrell An introduction to themes, issues, and conflicts in current feminist theories. This course will address differences and conflicts within feminism today covering issues such as the conception of power, the body, performances of genders and sexualities, and the development of feminist religions and spiritualities. The course takes an interdisciplinary and transnational approach using Judith Lorber’s Gender Inequality: Feminist Theories and Politics ( 2nd ed., Roxbury 2001) as our basic text. Finally, we’ll explore the future of gender in feminist science fiction.
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The Graduate Center . City University of New York . Room 7.115 . 365 Fifth Avenue . New York, NY 10016 . 212.817.1955 . clags@gc.cuny.edu |
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