Academic Year:
2022/23
3354 - Bachelor's degree programme in Global Studies
23243 - Theories of Culture
Teaching Plan Information
Academic Course:
2022/23
Academic Center:
335 - Faculty of Humanities
Study:
3354 - Bachelor's degree programme in Global Studies
Subject:
23243 - Theories of Culture
Ambit:
---
Credits:
6.0
Course:
1
Teaching languages:
| Theory: | Group 1: English |
| Seminar: | Group 101: English |
| Group 102: English |
| Group 103: English |
| Group 104: English |
Teachers:
Attila Tomas Macsotay Bunt
Teaching Period:
Third quarter
Schedule:
Presentation
Prof. theory classes: Tomas Macsotay (tomas.macsotay@upf.edu)
Seminars: Dr. Claudia M. Paredes (claudiamaria.paredes@upf.edu)
The module proposes to situate culture as an idea and as a wider field of practices, some of which are allied to the familiar concept of “high culture” (literature, art, philosophy), while others overlap with day-to-day social arrangements (hierarchies and symbolic acts, domestic and public subjectivities, expressions of the self, emotions, sexuality). In a similar manner, we can make a distinction between cultural objects and aesthetic objects, and between theory of culture and aesthetic criticism. We will draw on a series of models of culture derived from Anthropology, Sociology, Theory of Literature, the Fine Arts, Feminism-Gender, History of Experience and Emotions, and Post-Colonial Studies. The ideological, social and political dimensions of culture will be taken into account, including the definition of concepts like globalization, alterity, subjectivity, difference, and subalternity within the perspective of Cultural Studies. Attention will also be paid to the importance of personal growth, subjectivity and education in processes of global transformation.
Associated skills
Ability for theoretical reflection and critical thought.
Methodology: capacity for Systematic Analysis and Research
Knowledge acquisition on key historical and theoretical matters
A capacity to present basic disciplinary models.
Introduction to an interdisciplinary perspective.
Capacity for argumentation and oral presentation skills
Learning outcomes
Reading academic text: critical understanding and interpretative imagination.
Theoretical definition of fundamental concepts of the BA in Global Studies.
Elementary capacity for the analysis of cultural dynamics.
Introduction to fundamental texts in the history of thought.
Ability to interlink cultural production and context.
Sustainable Development Goals
This module is in part intended to engage a gender and/or feminist perspective. The Syllabus incorporates women, racialized and LGBTQ+ authors; furthermore, the exposé presents feminism and allied critical discourses as an active participant in debates on the role and function of culture in society. In addition to a critical stance on gender construction, the module is concerned with fostering a critical understanding of hegemonic discourses as they name and address alterity, social condition, ethnicity and the frontiers and interstitial spaces between a so-called "Western" and "non-Western" cultural sphere. In that sense, and as an academic commitment to social well-being, it is a module that will be in part concerned with the role played by culture in the production of difference, but also in creating pathways of personal growth.
Contents
Throughout the module, we consult several chapters from: Antonio Monegal, Como el aire que respiramos. El sentido de la cultura (Acantilado, 2022)
Week 1
Reading: Terry Eagleton (“Versions of Culture”).
Week 2
Reading: Raymond Williams (“Keywords [Culture, Civilization, Humanity, Society...]. ”. Complementary reading: “Conclusion” to Culture and Society).
Mark R. Leary and Nicole R. Buttermore, “The Evolution of the Human Self: Tracing the Natural History of Self-Awareness” (2006)
Week 3
Reading: William H. Sewell, “The Concept(s) of Culture”
Peter Burke (“Concepts”, from What is Cultural History).
Week 4
Reading: Friedrich Schiller, “Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man”, 1794
Hannah Arendt, "The Crisis in Culture", Between Past and Future. Eight Exercises in Political Thought, 1962 (excerpts)
Week 5
Reading: Julia Kristeva, Black Sun. Depression and Melancolia, 1989
bell hooks, “theory as liberatory practice”
Week 6
Reading: Michael Thompson (“The filth in the way”).
Adorno and Horkheimer (“The Culture Industry”) and Simon During (“Culture high and low”).
Week 7
Reading: Victor W. Turner, “Betwixt and Between: The Liminal period in Rites de Passage.” Reader in comparative Religion. Edited by William A. Vogt and Evon Z. Lessa. New York : Harper & Row, 1979 p. 234-243.
Gernot Böhme, «Learning to Live with Atmospheres. A New Aesthetic Humanist Education», en Atmospheric Architectures. The Aesthetics of Felt Spaces. (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), pp. 111-22.
Week 8
Reading: Byung-Chul Han, The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2020
Michel Foucault, Fragments of History of Sexuality. Vol.1 The Will to Knowledge (Parts I and III), 1976
Week 9
Reading: Edward Said (Culture and Imperialism).
Judith Butler (“Performative acts and gender constitution…”).
Week 10
Reading: Ngugi wa Thiong’o (“The Language of African Literature”).
Teaching Methods
Plenary sessions will be devoted to the introduction and discussion of theoretical issues and of the readings. Seminars will focus on group discussion of specific assignments.
Depending on the evolution of the public health alarm due to the COVID19 classes will be held on line. If some face to face sessions were possible, your professor will inform you which kind of activities will be held.
Evaluation
Final Paper, or Final Exam: 50%
Class tasks: 20% (5+5+5+5)
Seminar exercises: 30% (10+10+10)
Plenary sessions: Reading and Participation
Students are expected to read the texts listed in this Syllabus, and to come to class well-prepared and ready to play an active and intelligent role in classroom activities.
Presenting the final exam is a condition for passing the course. Attendance to the seminars is compulsory, and students must complete seminary exercises to be graded.
Seminars
Objectives: 1) to consolidate knowledge related to the plenary sessions, 2) to broaden the topics associated with the plenary sessions, and 3) to develop critical skills in text analysis, analysis of cultural objects and cultural theories, and oral and written expression.
Form: 4 seminars, in alternate weeks, with 4 different topics, with 3 evaluations. There will be an exercise for each seminar session, to be completed in person at the end of the session, either a day before or a few days after.
day before or a few days after.
Attendance: compulsory for all seminars. With 8 groups, 3 seminars will be held in person.
Materials: all available in the global classroom from the first day of the course. Each student will find necessary readings and task sheets in his/her global classroom for each seminar session. The readings must be done ALWAYS in advance, as well as some of the practices - it is indicated in the global classroom and the teacher will point it out on the first day of the course.
Marking/Valuation: 30% of the final grade, which comes out of the average of the 3 practices delivered throughout the course. This takes into account the participation during the seminars, which is incorporated into the final grade of each of the practices. There are practices that cannot be carried out if you do not attend the session.
Recuperation: practices not submitted or not done within the deadline cannot be made over. There is no recovery in July of the grade of the seminars.
The seminar teacher will explain on the first day of class how it works and the evaluation criteria.
Class tasks (Plenary sessions)
Objectives: To develop critical skills in text analysis, analysis of cultural objects and cultural theories, and oral and written expression.
Form: Individual participation, group exercises and simple presentations.
Attendance: To prepare for the final exam, students must attend the lectures or consult recordinged sessions in their entirety.
Marking/Valuation: 20% of the final grade, out of the average of four tasks performed during the course.
Final Exam (June)
Form: Paper or exam, depending on the teacher.
Marking/Valuation: 50% of the final grade
Recuperation Exam (July)
Form: Paper or exam, depending on the teacher.
Marking/Valuation: 70% (it is not possible to recuperate the marking of the seminars).
Bibliography and information resources
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London, Verso.
Appiah, K. A. (2006) Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers. New York, Norton.
Arendt, Hannah (1962), Between Past and Future. Eight Exercises in Political Thought
Baudrillard, J. (1978). Cultura y simulacro. Barcelona, Kairós
bell hooks, “theory as liberatory practice”
Benjamin, W. (1968). Illuminations. New York, Harcourt.
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The Location of Culture. London, Routledge.
Bourdieu, P. (2012 [1979]). La distinción. Madrid, Taurus.
Bourdieu, P. (1995 [1992]). Las reglas del arte. Barcelona, Anagrama.
Böhme, Gernot (2020), «Learning to Live with Atmospheres. A New Aesthetic Humanist Education», en Atmospheric Architectures. The Aesthetics of Felt Spaces. (London: Bloomsbury, 2020), pp. 111-22.
Burke, P. (2015). What is the History of Knowledge? New York, Wiley.
Burke, P. (2004), What is Cultural History?
Butler, J. (1990). Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, New York.
de Certeau, M. (1984). The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, U of California P.
de Certeau, M. (1997). Culture in the Plural. Minneapolis, U of Minnesota P.
Eagleton, T. (2000). The Idea of Culture. Oxford, Blackwell.
Foucault, M. (1976 [1966]). Las palabras y las cosas. Una arqueología de las ciencias humanas. Madrid, Siglo XXI.
Foucault, M. (2005 [1976]). Historia de la sexualidad, 1. La voluntad de saber. Madrid, Siglo XXI.
Han, Byung-Chul (2020) The Disappearance of Rituals: A Topology of the Present. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2020
Hartman, G. (1997). The Fateful Question of Culture. New York, Columbia UP.
Jameson, F. (1991). Postmodernism or the cultural logic of late capitalism. London, Verso.
Klein, N. (2000). No Logo. London, Picador.
Kristeva, Julia (1989), Black Sun. Depression and Melancolia
Leary, Mark R. and Nicole R. Buttermore (2006), “The Evolution of the Human Self: Tracing the Natural History of Self-Awareness”
Negri, A. & Hardt, M. (2000). Empire. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard UP.
Rancière, J. (2009). El reparto de lo sensible. Estética y política. Santiago de Chile, LOM ediciones.
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. New York, Pantheon.
Sewell, William H., “The Concept(s) of Culture”
Schiller, Friedrich (1794), “Letters upon the Aesthetic Education of Man”, 1794
Spivak, G. C. (1990). The Post-colonial Critic. London, Routledge.
Thompson, M. (1979). Rubbish Theory. The Creation and Destruction of Value. Pluto Press.
Turner, Victor W. (1979), “Betwixt and Between: The Liminal period in Rites de Passage.” Reader in comparative Religion. Edited by William A. Vogt and Evon Z. Lessa. New York : Harper & Row, 1979 p. 234-243.
Williams, R. (1958). Culture and Society, 1780-1950. New York, Columbia UP.
Williams, R. (1976). Keywords. New York, Oxford UP.