Readings in Cultural Theory: Syllabus
American Studies 110: UC Berkeley — Fall 2023
Professor Michael Mark Cohen
Introduction:
As an academic discipline, American Studies takes an interdisciplinary approach to the study of US culture in all its forms. From music to architecture, literature to advertising, American Studies has broken down the distinctions between art and politics, labor and leisure, fine arts and popular culture. Throughout its history, American Studies has pushed the boundaries of academic inquiry by placing questions of race, class, gender and sexuality, power and resistance into the center of our inquiry, pressing what was once the margins of American life into the center of this dynamic and radical field. Yet, as the founder of Cultural Studies Raymond Williams reminds us, culture is one of the most complex words in the English language, encompassing a range of meanings from the anthropological to the biological to the aesthetic. Therefore, in this course we will take up the question of culture and theories of culture within Cultural Studies and American Studies by reading both classical works and new directions in cultural theory.
INTRODUCTION
Week 1: August 23
Opening day: What is Culture and Why Study It?
PART 1: Foundational Works in Cultural Theory
Week 2: August 30
The Foundations of Cultural Studies
*Raymond Williams, “Culture is Ordinary” (1958)
“Capitalism” to “Culture,” Keywords (1976)
“Base and Superstructure in Marxist Cultural Theory” (1973)
*Stuart Hall, “Cultural Studies and its Theoretical Legacies” (1992)
*Michael Denning, “The Socioanalysis of Culture: Rethinking the Cultural Turn” (2004)
Reading Notes: Prioritize the first two, shorter Williams essays, and do your best with the third, which is more difficult and focused on Marxist theory (this will help for next week). The Hall piece is something of a personal history of the field of Cultural Studies and the Denning is a larger intellectual history of the “cultural turn.”
Week 3: September 6
Marxism and Representation
Karl Marx, Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859)
Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852)
Reading Notes: The Preface is short but theoretically dense, we will discuss it in detail in class. The 18th Brumaire is Marx’s history of how France slid into a dictatorship after the failed revolution of 1848. There is a lot of complicated French history here, but read it less for the detail than the larger argument about class, politics and revolution.
Week 4: September 13
Culture, Politics and Hegemony
Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks (International Publishers, 1971)
Reading Notes: For selections and order for reading see https://thedigradio.com/gramscinotebooksLinks to an external site.
This selection is made by Michael Denning and I suggest you start at the beginning of this list and get as far as you are able. At the very minimum read the following sections: “Brief Notes on Machiavelli’s Politics,” 125–133; “Some Preliminary Points of Reference,” 323–343; “The Formation of the Intellectuals,” (5–14).
Optional Readings:
*Stuart Hall, “Gramsci’s Relevance for the Study of Race and Ethnicity,” (1986)
*Michael Denning, “Everyone a Legislator,” (NLR May/June 2021)
Podcast: The DIG: Gramsci & Hegemony w/ Michael Denning Links to an external site.Links to an external site.
Week 5: September 20
Modernity and Culture
Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility (2008), selections.
Reading Notes: Again, read as much of this outstanding volume as you can, but focus on pages 19–165, 274–298, 323–341. At minimum read the following essays in this order: 1. The Work of Art, 8. Author as Producer, 9. Paris: Capital of the 19th Century, 28. A Little History of Photography.
Week 6: September 27
Art and Visual Culture
John Berger, Ways of Seeing (1972)
*Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1975)
You can watch the original BBC shows “Ways of Seeing” on Youtube
Or you can read a fully illustrated on-line version of the book here (maybe the best version available)!
Reading Notes: Berger’s book is a classic work of popular education in the cultural studies of art. It is highly readable and its mostly pictures. Or you can just watch the BBC videos on Youtube. Laura Mulvey’s essay is a landmark in feminist film criticism, perhaps marking the theoretical discovery of the “male gaze.” The essay can be difficult in its psychoanalytic commitments, but the point of “scopophilia” remains critical.
Week 7: October 4
Postmodernism and Periodization
*Frederic Jameson, “Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture” (1979)
“Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” (1991)
“Cognitive Mapping” (1988)
Reading Notes: Jameson’s writing style is very dense and his range of references knows few bounds, thus he is both lucid and very challenging to read. If you can work through them, these essays shed a great deal of light on the political significance of mass culture and historical periodization. At the minimum, try to read through “Reification and Utopia” — which ends with readings of Jaws and The Godfather. Then start the “Postmodernism” essay and get as far as you can. Jameson’s methods are succinctly set out in “Cognitive Mapping.”
PART 2: New Directions in Cultural Theory
Week 8: October 11
Race, Ethnicity, Nation
Stuart Hall, The Fateful Triangle (2017)
Reading Notes: This is a series of three public lectures offered by Stuart Hall near the end of his life and presents a clear articulation of his understanding of race and nation. Skip the many introductions and make sure to read through chapter 1, “Race-the Sliding Signifier.” Read the rest if you have time.
Week 9: October 18
History and Power
Michel Rolph-Trouillot, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (1995)
Reading Notes: This whole book is brilliant, like the others, but written in a much more engaging style. At a minimum, focus on Chapter 1, 3 and 4.
Week 10: October 25
Black Feminist Methods
*Saidiya Hartman, “Venus in Two Acts” (2008)
“The Belly of the World” (2016)
“The Anarchy of Colored Girls Assembled in a Riotous Manner” (2018)
Reading Notes: Hartman may be the singular star writing in the Humanities at the moment. These essays, each a methodological elaboration to accompany each of her books, are intellectually rigorous and morally searching. At a minimum read Venus in Two Acts.
PART 3: Contemporary Practices of Cultural Studies
Week 11: November 1
Sex and the Labor Theory of Culture
Heather Berg, Porn Work: Sex, Labor and Late Capitalism (2021)
Reading Notes: Start at the beginning and get as far as you can. I think you’ll want to keep reading.
Week 12: November 8
Doing Cultural Studies Now
Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion (2019)
Reading Notes: These essays all began their lives on the internet, published for a mass reading audience. This is a style of writing that all of us can recognize and reach for. Read as much as you can, but focus on “The I in Internet,” “Always be Optimizing,” and “The Story of a Generation in Seven Scams.”
Week 13: November 15
Discussion and Paper Workshop.
Notes: Bring your ideas and your texts for your paper to class and we will discuss them together to help everyone build ideas, sharpen arguments and get started writing.
Week 14: November 22 — No Class
Week 15: November 29
Last Day of Class
Students will give brief presentations about the chosen text for their paper
Final Paper is Due: Thu, Dec 14, 11:00am
