Spring 2008
Instructor: Yun Peng Office hours: TH 4:00-6:00 & by
appointment
CSCL 3979 (section 2) Office: 364 Nicholson Hall
TH 6:20-8:50 Email: peng0025@umn.edu
Nicholson 345
http://blog.lib.umn.edu/peng0025/springpluralism/
Issues in Cultural Pluralism
Cultural pluralism is a much debated term. For some people, it
describes the current state of affairs in the United States. As such,
it is either celebrated as America’s unique contribution to the world,
or warned against as a dangerous phenomenon, capable of dividing
American society and leading to “tribalism.” Yet others contest the
suggestion that American society is already as inclusive and
pluralistic as the term makes us think. For some, cultural pluralism is
an unfinished business, yet the ideal itself is valuable. Others,
however, see something more sinister: the nice-sounding words, they
argue, are covering up social issues and conflicts that cannot be
resolved or reconciled within the current social structure and
political framework.
This is where we begin. In this class we do not strive to reach a
definite conclusion about what cultural pluralism “is,” as much as to
understand what issues are at stake in this necessarily incoherent
notion. We learn about the historical events and movements that have
led up to the present phase of multiculturalism; we look into classical
political theories to gain a better understanding of the terms
underlying the contemporary cultural debates. We ask: Is pluralism
compatible with representational democracy? Are liberty and equality in
harmony or in tension? How should we understand “difference”—race,
gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, etc? Are differences more a matter
of personal identity or are there underlying social, structural causes?
Is it possible to truly see from an other’s perspective? If so, how can
this capacity be cultivated? Does pluralism lead us down the path of
relativism? Finally, we take cultural pluralism into the global context
and look at its link with imperialism and the global spread of
capitalism.
Course materials
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities.
J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians.
Michel Foucault, "Society Must Be Defended": Lectures at the College de
France, 1975-1976.
Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog.
Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992.
A course reader is available at Alpha Print in Dinkytown (1407 4th St.
SE, 612-379-8535).
Schedule
i. The paradox of the “all”
Week one (1/24) Introduction
Naomi Klein, “Disaster Capitalism” (handout)
Week two (1/31)
Two Declarations and the notion of man
Thomas Jefferson et al, The Declaration of
Independence
Thomas Jefferson, “A Declaration by the
Representatives of the United States of America, in
General Congress,” “Notes on Virginia: Query XIV” and
“Notes on Virginia: Query XVIII”
Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog
Week three (2/7) Suzan-Lori Parks, Topdog/Underdog (continued)
Short paper #1 due
ii. The political “we”
Week four (2/14)
How the political “we” is formed—theories of the origin
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (Chapter 13, “Of the
Naturall Condition of Mankind, as Concerning Their
Felicity, and Misery,” Chapter 14, Of the First and
Second Naturall Lawes, and of Contracts” and Chapter
21, “The Liberty of Subjects”
John Locke, “Of Property”
Week five (2/21)
Another theory of the origin
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (Book 1,
2)
Week six (2/28)
Power: a critique of Hobbes
Michel Foucault, “Society Must Be Defended” (excerpt)
Week seven(3/6)
What does it mean to sign the contract?
Monique Wittig, “On the Social Contract”
iii. Self, other: the logic and history of cultural
identities
Week eight (3/13)
The logic of self and other
Monique Wittig, “Homo Sum”
Richard Dyer, "The Matter of Whiteness"
Harlon Dalton, "Failing to See"
bell hooks, "Representations of Whiteness in the
Black Imagination"
Short paper #2 due
Spring break
Week nine (3/27)
The history of self and other
Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (excerpts)
Week ten (4/3)
Anderson (continued)
iv. Violence, war, power
Week eleven (4/10)
“Those people were some kind of solution”
J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians
Week twelve (4/17)
Waiting for the Barbarians (continued)
Susan Maslan, “The Anti-Human: Man and Citizen before
the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the
Citizen” (Project Muse)
Week thirteen (4/24)
Two versions of “violence”
Samuel Weber, “Wartime”
Short paper #3 due
v. How many multiculturalisms?
Week fourteen (5/1)
Capitalism loves diversity!
Richard Appelbaum, “Multiculturalism and Flexibility”
Marc Shell, “Language Wars”
Week fifteen (5/8)
Twilight
Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Wrap up
Final paper due at 3 PM on May 16 in my mailbox at 364 Nicholson
Hall
Expectations and policies
Articles marked “Project Muse” in parenthesis can be accessed online through
the university library portal: go to library homepageindexes“Project Muse”
linklog in with your ID & passwordProject Muse homepage“Journals” tab“The
South Atlantic Quarterly”Volume 103, Issue 2/3download & print.
•Attendance: You are expected to attend all class meetings. Three
absences will bring your COURSE GRADE down by half a letter. From the
fourth one on, each additional absence will bring your grade down by
one letter. Arriving late for more than ten minutes, sleeping,
chatting, or playing electronic games in class will be treated as
absence. Missing a substantial amount of classes may result in an
automatic F for the course.
•Class participation: I expect you to read all assigned texts with
care, take notes and come to class with informed thoughts to contribute
to class discussion. Active participation in class is encouraged and
required. Disagreements are welcome provided they are supported by
thoughtful reasoning and presented in a manner respectful of others’
positions. Listening carefully and working with others in groups are
also essential aspects of participation.
•Assignments: You are expected to complete and turn in all assignments
on time. Unexcused late assignments will be marked down half a letter
grade for each day they are late.
•Plagiarism is a serious offense with serious consequences. It is
unacceptable and will result in an F for the course. In addition,
university policy requires that the instructor report such incidents to
the Academic Integrity Office. If you are not sure what constitutes
plagiarism, please consult this website:
http://gervaseprograms.georgetown.edu/hc/plagiarism.html. Please take
this seriously.
Assignments
¶ Three short papers
Your paper should be 2-3 pages in length (500-750 words). Please mark
the word count at the end of the paper. The topics will be defined and
handed out in advance.
¶ Two class journals
In this assignment, you are asked to be the official note-taker for two
weeks.
1. Your journal should follow this template:
A. Themes of the week (about 1 page). This part should be a
succinct summary of the major issues covered in class in the
given week. Note that you are asked to provide a distilled and
digested version, not a blow by blow account. Think about these
questions: What were the major themes and threads? What issues
were at stake? What were the main questions that we were trying
to ask and answer? And how did the arguments go? Please note that
by summary is meant narrative summary and not bullet points.
B. Discussion (about 2 pages). In essence, this part is like a
short paper. Here you should offer your own thoughts and
reflections on the subject discussed. What make sense and how?
What don’t and why? Remember, as with the short papers, I am
looking for intelligent, well-argued analysis, not your opinion
as such. A simple way to tell the difference is to see whether or
not your discussion is informed by what we read and discuss in
this class. In other words, you must demonstrate your familiarity
with the readings by engaging with their arguments.
2. Minimum length: 3 pages (about 750 words). Due in class on the
Thursday of the following week.
3. Attendance rule: you must attend the class session on which you
write your journal.
4. In addition to submitting a hardcopy it in class, please send me a
copy of your journal via email. I will post it on the class Blog with
your name suppressed.
¶ Be a designated speaker for one class session
A designated speaker is someone who will be called upon to speak when
no one else volunteers. You must be prepare to discuss the texts and
offer your analysis on issues throughout an entire class session. This
assignment constitutes half of your participation grade (5% of course
grade).
¶ A five-page final paper due on May 16, 2008
Grading
Attendance: 15%; class participation: 10%; three short papers: 30%; two
class journals: 20%; final paper: 25%.
Grading follows the CLA guidelines. C indicates work that meets the
course requirements in every way. B and A are honors grades given for
original work beyond the course requirements, with A indicating
outstanding achievement.
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A note on writing assignments
1. Make the exercises useful to yourself. Start writing while you are
reading: take good notes; pay special attention to paragraphs that seem
both important and difficult; write down your thoughts and
interpretations. Use the ideas generated in reading and in class as the
seed for your paper.
2. Be specific. In-depth analysis of a single paragraph, a particular
theme or question is much better than sweeping generalizations, which
should be avoided at all cost. Similarly, it is much more useful to ask
thoughtful questions than to draw superficial conclusions.
3. What I want to see in the paper is your thoughts, by which I mean
intelligent, well-argued engagement with the material. Here are things
I consider when I grade your paper: How well do you understand the
reading? How insightful is your reading? Is it able to address the
complexity of the issue or the text? Does it do justice to the subtlety
of the author’s argument? Have you offered a reading that is refreshing
and thought-provoking, or have you simply reiterated the more obvious
points? Have you really engaged with the text or only lightly touched
the surface? How well is your arguments articulated? How good is your
writing? How relevant is it to the themes of this class?
4. This is how I grade: you get “6” for handing in a paper that cannot
be considered complete (for example, it is obvious that you have not
done the reading or have completely misunderstood the text), “7” for
simply completing the exercise, “7.5” if the paper satisfies the
requirements but can do better, “8.5” if you have made insightful
observations or raised interesting questions, “9.5” if the paper is
excellent and “10” if it is truly exceptional. At the end of the
semester, you may receive bonus points if 1) you have being making
steady, substantial progress throughout the semester; or 2) your papers
have been consistently good; or 3) one or more of your papers have
contributed significantly to class discussion.
5. Grading scale for journals is similar to the one for short papers.
Your grade depends on how well you cover the threads of discussion.
Your ability to condense, distill and organize is crucial, so are
accurate understanding and insightful reflections.