Professor: Martha E. Gimenez
Office: Ketchum 205A
Office Hours: T 10:00-12:00 and by appointment
Telephone: 492-7080
E-Mail address: martha.gimenez@colorado.edu
Students are encouraged to ask questions using email. Questions and answers will be posted. All students are REQUIRED to join the class electronic network. Additional or substitute reading assignments, important deadlines, reminders, information and general discussion will be posted daily: READ THE COURSE EMAIL EVERYDAY TO KEEP INFORMED.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
What is postmodernism? Is it a totally new phenomenon or, as Jameson argues, "the cultural logic of late capitalism"? We will examine the historical conditions that gave rise to postmodern thought, some of its challenges to the social sciences' taken for granted theoretical and methodological assumptions, and its political implications for the oppressed. We will also examine some of the main criticisms of the postmodern stand on science, the subject, power and social change.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Your final grade will based upon the following:
These SIX papers will be due on
January 27
February 10 & 24
March 10 & 27
April 7& 21.
On the 21st, you must bring, in addition to your paper, a folder with the other five papers. I evaluate these papers without grading them individually. I write comments stating, for example, that you what you wrote needs rethinking, or lacks organization, or that it was well argued; I ask questions, suggest additional readings, ask you to rewrite, etc. When papers are insightful, well written, I write only one word: excellent! When papers are weak in content and organization, they require extensive feedback. I often mark them with an S (=satisfactory), an S+ (well done!) or an S- (you could do better). What matters, when I examine these papers together, is not only whether they deserved S, excellent, or any other overall assessment, but the nature of the comments I wrote and the way you may or may not had used them to improve your work. I end up re-reading all of them again to attain a basis for the grade, especially if I originally wrote few comments.
What I look for in these papers is your thinking, your ability to engage with the readings and take a concept or a theoretical insight and push it in a direction that matters to you, either because it is related to your work, or because it simply delights you and forces you to think in new and interesting ways.
To rely on secondary sources or simply paraphrase the text is not an adequate way to fulfill this course requirement.
If you find that this way of grading is too uncertain and you would rather have a grade each time, I will give you a grade and your final grade for this requirement will be the average of those grades. My preference, to evaluate the papers together at the end of the semester, might not be of your liking; if that is the case, let me know.
Whatever your choice, it does not influence your overall grade, so don't choose what you think I would like you to choose, but what you really prefer.
A final essay whose length and topic you are REQUIRED to consult with me no later than February 24.
GRADING POLICY
A low grade or a critical comment does not reflect an asssessment of you, as a person; it is an assessment of the work. To teach means to educate. The word education has the Latin root duc that means to lead forth. The role of the teacher is to point the way, to create the conditions for learning and to let students know when their work needs to be improved. I would be failing as a teacher if I were to overlook problems in your work, either in its form or its content.
If you have any questions about your performance in the class, about your work or any other course related issue, don't hesitate to make an appointment; that's what office hours are for.
I will use blind grading. Students will identify their papers with an ID of their choice and will reveal their name, by email, after the papers have been graded and returned.
High grades (A, A+) are not an entitlement: they have to be earned.
Grading will be allocated as follows:
Weekly email contributions to class discussions, class participation and class presentations: 30 percent.
Biweekly essays: 30 percent.
Final Essay: 40 percent.
The final essay is due May 10 at 1 pm.
These are firm deadlines. Late papers will be returned without comments.
IMPORTANT:
Please read this syllabus carefully; if you find the course requirements, grading policy or anything else unclear, let me know.
On January 27 all students are required to send me an email statement ratifying that they understand the course requirements and grading policies.
REQUIRED READINGS
Books
- Jean Baudrillard, THE CONSUMER SOCIETY. Myths and Structures. Sage, 1996. (B)
- Steven Best and Douglas Kellner, THE POSTMODERN TURN. The Guilford Press, 1997. (BK)
- Terry Eagleton, THE ILLUSIONS OF POSTMODERNISM. Blackwell, 1996.(E)
- David Harvey, THE CONDITION OF POSTMODERNITY. Blackwell, 1995. (H)
- Linda Nicholson and Steven Seidman, eds., SOCIAL POSTMODERNISM. Beyond identity politics. Cambridge University Press, 1999.(selected chapters) (NS)
- Paul Rabinow, ed., THE FOUCAULT READER. Pantheon Books, 1984. (selected chapters)(R)
- Ellen Meiksins Wood and John Bellamy Foster, IN DEFENSE OF HISTORY. Marxism and the Postmodern Agenda. Monthly Review Press, 1997. (selected chapters) (WF).
Book Chapters
- Jean Baudrillard, "Simulacra and Simulations." pp. 168-187 in Mark Poster, ed., JEAN BAUDRILLARD: Selected Writings. Stanford University Press, 2001. (OR)
- Sandra Bartky, "Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal Power." pp. 25-45 in Rose Weitz, ed., THE POLITICS OF WOMEN'S BODIES. Oxford University Press, 1998. (OR)
- Epstein, Barbara. "Why Post-Structuralism is a Dead End for Progressive Thought." pp. 83-119. SOCIALIST REVIEW, 95/2. (OR)
- Jean-Francois Lyotard: The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (selected statements). pp. 435-450 in James Farganis, ed., Readings in Social Theory. McGraw-Hill, 2004. (OR)
- Immanuel Wallerstein, "A Comment on Epistemology: What is Africa?" pp. 127-129 in I. Wallerstein, UNTHINKING SOCIAL SCIENCE. Polity Press, 1991. (OR)
- ________, "Does India Exist?" pp. 130-134 in I. Wallerstein, op. cit. (OR)
- ________, "The Inventions of Time-Space Realities: Towards an Understanding of Our Historical Systems." pp. 135-148 in I. Wallerstein op. cit. ((OR)
IMPORTANT: OR means On Reserve at the Department's office.
ONLINE RESOURCES: There is a great deal of relevant sources online. Please explore the links in the course home page as well as the required links under specific chapters.
RECOMMENDED OPTIONAL READINGS
- Ann Brooks, POSTFEMINISMS. Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms. Routledge, 1997.
- Lawrence Cahoone, From MODERNISM to POSTMODERNISM. An Anthology. Blackwell, 199 6.
- A. Callinicos, AGAINST POSTMODERNISM. A Marxist Critique. Polity Press, 1989.(OR)
- Verena Andermatt Conley, ECOPOLITICS. The Environment in Poststructuralist Thought. Routledge, 1997.
- Norman K. Denzin, IMAGES OF POSTMODERN SOCIETY. Social Theory and Contemporary Cinema. Sage, 1992.
- Donna J. Haraway, SIMIANS, CYBORGS, AND WOMEN. The Reinvention of Nature. Routledge, 1991.
- Frederic Jameson, POSTMODERNISM or The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Duke University Press, 1999.
- Charles Lemert, POSTMODERNISM IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK. Blackwell, 1997
- Pauline Marie Rosenau, POST-MODERNISM and the SOCIAL SCIENCES. Insights, Inroads and Intrusions. Princeton University Press. 1992.
- Steven Seidman, ed. THE POSTMODERN TURN. New Perspectives on Social Theory. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
- Steven Seidman & David G. Wagner, POSTMODERNISM & SOCIAL THEORY. The Debate Over General Theory. Blackwell, 1992.
- Immanuel Wallerstein, UNTHINKING SOCIAL SCIENCE. Polity Press, 1991.
SCHEDULED READINGS
Weeks 1-2
Best and Kellner, ch. 1, The Time of the Posts; ch. 2, Paths
to the Postmodern: Kierkegaard, Marx and Nieztche.
Wood, What is the Postmodern Agenda? (WF)
Harvey, Part I - The Passage from Modernity to Postmodernity in Contemporary
Culture
Weeks 3-4
Harvey, Part II. The Political-Economic Transformation of Late Twentieth
Century Capitalism
Harvey, Part III. The Experience of Space and Time.
Immanuel Wallerstein, A Comment on Epistemology: What is Africa? Does India Exist? The Inventions of TimeSpace Realities: Towards an Understanding of Our
Historical Systems.(OR)
Week 5
Best and Kellner, ch. 5, Entropy, Chaos, and Organism in Postmodern Science.
Meera Nanda, Against Social De(construction) of Science: Cautionary Tales from
the Third World (WF)
Weeks 6-7
Foucault, Truth and Power (R).
Foucault, What
is an Author? (R).
Foucault, Madness and Civilization; Disciplines and Sciences of the Individual;
Bio-Power; Sex and Truth.(R).
Bartky, "Foucault, Femininity, and the Modernization of Patriarchal
Power." (OR)
Weeks 8-9
Best and Kellner, ch. 3, From the Society of the Spectacle to the Realm of
Simulation: Debord, Baudrillard, and Postmodernity
Jean Baudrillard, "Simulacra and Simulations." pp. 168-187 in Mark
Poster, ed., JEAN BAUDRILLARD: Selected Writings. Stanford University Press, 2001. (OR)
Jean Baudrillard, The Consumer Society.
Week 10
SPRING BREAK
Week 11
L. Nicholson, Interpreting Gender (NS)
C. T. Mohanty, Feminist encounters; locating the politics of experience (NS)
I. M. Young, Gender as Seriality: thinking about women as a social collective
(NS)
Barbara Epstein, Why Post-Structuralism is a Dead End for Progressive Thought.
(OR)
Carol A. Stabile, Postmodernism, Feminism and Marx: Notes from the Abyss (WF)
Nancy Fraser, Politics, culture and the public sphere: towards a postmodern
conception(NS)
Week 12
Aijaz Ahmad, Culture, Nationalism and the role of Intellectuals (WF)
Ali Rattansi, Just Framing: Ethnicities and Racisms in a "Postmodern"
Framework. (NS)
Kenan Malik, The Mirror of Race: Postmodernism and the Celebration of
Difference (WF)
David McNally, Language, History, anc Class Struggle (WF)
Francis Mulhern, The Politics of Cultural Studies (WF)
Week 13
Foster, In Defense of History. (WF)
Eagleton, The Illusions of Postmodernism
Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity
Weeks 14-15
REVIEW
MAY 5 - LAST DAY OF CLASSES
FINAL ESSAY DUE MAY 10 at 1:00 pm
IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Disability Policy
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit to me a letter from Disability Services (DS) early in the semester so that your needs may be addressed. DS determines accommodations based on documented disabilities (303-492-8671, Willard 322, www.colorado.edu/sacs/disabilityservices)
Religious Holidays Policy
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to reasonably and fairly deal with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. In this class, a class missed to observe a religious holiday will not be counted as an absence. If you have to miss an exam because of a religious holiday, please notify me two weeks in advance, so that we identify an alternative date for fulfilling that course requirement. See full details at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/fac_relig.html
Appropriate Classroom Behavior Policy
Students and faculty each have responsibility for maintaining an appropriate learning environment. Students who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Faculty have the professional responsibility to treat all students with understanding, dignity and respect, to guide classroom discussion and to set reasonable limits on the manner in which they and their students express opinions. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with differences of race, culture, religion, politics, sexual orientation, gender variance, and nationalities. Class rosters are provided to the instructor with the student's legal name. I will gladly honor your request to address you by an alternate name or gender pronoun. Please advise me of this preference early in the semester so that I may make appropriate changes to my records. See polices at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/classbehavior.html and at http://www.colorado.edu/studentaffairs/judicialaffairs/code.html#student_code
Academic Integrity Policy
All students of the University of Colorado at Boulder are responsible for knowing and adhering to the academic integrity policy of this institution. Violations of this policy may include: cheating, plagiarism, aid of academic dishonesty, fabrication, lying, bribery, and threatening behavior. All incidents of academic misconduct shall be reported to the Honor Code Council (honor@colorado.edu; 303-725-2273). Students who are found to be in violation of the academic integrity policy will be subject to both academic sanctions from the faculty member and non-academic sanctions (including but not limited to university probation, suspension, or expulsion). Other information on the Honor Code can be found at http://www.colorado.edu/policies/honor.html and at http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/
Plagiarism Policy
"Plagiarism (Portrayal of another's work or ideas as one's own), Cheating (Using unauthorized notes or study aids, allowing another party to do one's work/exam and turning in that work/exam as one's own; submitting the same or similar papers in more than one course without permission from the course instructors)" and other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Please see additional information about academic dishonesty in http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/Code1.html and learn about the new Student Honor Code System in http://www.colorado.edu/academics/honorcode/Home.html
Sexual Harassment Policy
The University of Colorado at Boulder policy on Discrimination and Harassment (http://www.colorado.edu/policies/discrimination.html, the University of Colorado policy on Sexual Harassment and the University of Colorado policy on Amorous Relationships applies to all students, staff and faculty. Any student, staff or faculty member who believes s/he has been the subject of discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status should contact the Office of Discrimination and Harassment (ODH) at 303-492-2127 or the Office of Judicial Affairs at 303-492-5550. Information about the ODH and the campus resources available to assist individuals regarding discrimination or harassment can be obtained at http://www.colorado.edu/odh