MSTU4016 Course Resources
Description and Requirements
Course Participants
Course Glossary
Suggestions and Feedback
Class Bibliography
Schedule: Fall 2008 & Spring 2009
September 3
Interrogating the Present I: Introduction
- Discussion Question
- Reading actively to form, share, and inform your views.
- Discussion leader:Robbie McClintock and Ruthie Palmer
Required Readings
- Ernest Hemingway, Indian Camp. This is a very short text that we will distribute and spend a portion of the class reading and interpreting together.
September 10
Interrogating the Present II: Globalization
- Discussion Question
- How do the views of Gray and Friedman converge and diverge? What in their views do you find particularly illuminating in forming your own ideas about current way of the world?
- Discussion leader: Amy
- Required Readings
-
- John Gray, "The World is Round," The New York Review of Books, Vol. 52, No. 13, August 11, 2005 Read
- Thomas Friedman, The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century (New York: Picador, 2007), Chapters 1, pp. 3-51 Read
- Manfred B. Steger, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), Chapters 1 & 2, 7 & 8, pp. 1-36, 113-135. Read ISBN: 019280359X
- Supplemental Reading
-
- Freeman Dyson, "Our Biotech Future," The New York Review of Books, Vol. 54, No. 12, July 19, 2007 Read
- W.J.Thomas Mitchell, "Work of Art in an Age of Cybernetic Reproduction," Modernism/modernity, Vol. 10, No. 3, Sept. 2003, pp. 481-500 Read from Project Muse
- For Future Reference
-
- Does Technology Drive History?: The Dilemma of Technological Determinism by Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx (Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1994)
- Some texts on globalization (forthcoming).
September 17
Interrogating the Present III: A Digtial Age?
- Discussion Question
- How do the views of Moglen and Lanier converge and diverge? What in their views do you find particularly illuminating in forming your own ideas about the effects of digital media on the way we think and communicate?
- Discussion leader: Ruthie
- Required Readings
-
- Eben Moglen, "The Dot Communist Manifesto"; Read
- Jaron Lanier, "Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism"; Read
- Supplemental Reading
-
- Cass Sunstein, Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), Ch.1-3, pp. 21-102. Read
- For Future Reference
-
- For more on intellectual property issues:
September 24
Interrogating the Past I: Oral Epic Identities
- Discussion Question
- How did Homer think deliberation about a course of action takes place? How can his understanding of deliberation inform your own?
- Discussion leader: Kyle
- Required Readings
-
- Homer, The Iliad, Richard Lattimore, trans. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961), Book 1, pp. 59-75. Read
- Supplemental Reading
-
- Hesiod, Theogony, pp. 53-82; Read
- Eric Havelock, Preface to Plato (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963), Chapters 2-4, pp. 20-86 Read
For Future Reference:
- Bibliographic supplement on oral epic poetry
-
October 1
Interrogating the Past II: From Formula to Concept
- Discussion Question
- How have techniques for defining abstract concepts developed in human experience and what made them possible? Were they historical creations or part of the inborn cognitive endowment of human beings? Did they come naturally, given some minimum of intelligence? Or did they depend on some necessary cultural inventions and if so what ones?
- Discussion leader: Kristine Rodriguez
- Required Readings
-
- Heraclitus, Fragments, Robin Waterfield, trans., The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) pp. 32-48. Read
- Protagoras, Fragments, Robin Waterfield, trans., The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and Sophists (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000) pp. 205-21. Read
- Supplemental Reading
-
- For Future Reference
-
- Bibliographic supplement on early Greek philosophy
October 8
Interrogating the Past III: Plato and Reasoned Identity
- Discussion Question
- Is preparing a person to lead an examined life a feasible educational objective? What claim on educational practice should it have?
- Discussion leader: TBA
- Required Readings
-
- Plato, Republic, Reeve, trans., Synopsis & Book VII. Read
- Supplemental Reading
-
- Plato, Apology, Grube, trans. Read
- Plato, Protagoras, Lombardo-Bell, trans. Read
- Eric Havelock, Preface to Plato (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1963), Chapters 1 & 11, pp. 3-19, 197-214. Read
- For Future Reference
-
- Bibliographic supplement on Socrates, Plato, and ancient Greek educational thought
October 15
Interrogating the Past IV: Virgil and Roman Civic Pedagogy
- Discussion Question
- Discussion leader: Lou
- Required Readings
-
- Virgil, The Aeneid, Allen Mandelbaum, trans. (New York: Bantam Dell, 2004) Books VI & VIII, pp. 131-160, 188-211. Read
October 22
Interrogating the Past V: The Art and Architecture of Iconographic Literacy
- Discussion Question
- Discussion leader: TBA
- Required Readings
-
- Victor Hugo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, anon. trans., (New York: Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004), Book V, pp. 159-182 Read
- Frances A. Yates, The Art of Memory (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1966), Chapters 1 and 4, pp. 1-26, 82-104. Read
- Supplemental Reading
-
October 29
Interrogating the Past VI: Print and Its Cognitive Effects
- Discussion Question
- Discussion leader: Lindsey Terwilliger
- Required Readings
-
- Elizabeth Eisenstein, "Some Conjectures about the Impact of Printing on Western Society and Thought: A Preliminary Report" in The Journal of Modern History, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Mar., 1968), pp. 1-56 Read
- Supplemental Reading
-
- For Future Reference
-
- Bibliographical supplement on print as an agent of cultural change.
November 5
Interrogating the Past VII: The Construction of Civic Imaginaries
- Discussion Question
- Discussion leader: Dino
- Required Readings
-
- Benedict Anderson, Imagined communities: reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (New York: Verso, 1991) pp. 1-46. Read.
- Supplemental Reading
-
- Charles Taylor, Modern Social Imaginaries (Durham: Duke University Press, 2004) pp. 23-30 and 155-173. Read
November 12
Interrogating the Media I: The Telegraph
- Discussion Question
- Discussion leader: Kristina Fell
- Required Readings
-
- James W. Carey, "Technology and Ideology: The Case of the Telegraph," Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society (New York: Routledge, 1989), pp. 201-230. Read
- Carey Clip 1: What interested you in the telegraph? Watch
- Carey Clip 2: The telegraph reconfigures culture Watch
- Carey Clip 3: Time and the telegraph Watch
- Supplemental Reading
-
- James R. Beniger, The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic Origins of the Information Society (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1986), Introduction, pp. 1-27 Read
November 19
Interrogating the Media II: Communication and Systemic Change, circa 1930
- Discussion Question
- Discussion leader: Tina
- Required Readings
-
- Ernest W. Burgess, "Communication," The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Jul. 1928), Read pp. 117-129; Vol. 34, No. 6 (May, 1929), Read pp. 1072-1080; and Vol. 35, No. 6 (May 1930), Read pp. 991-1001.
- Supplemental Reading
-
December 3
Interrogating the Media III: Communication and Systemic Change, circa 1965
- Discussion Question
- Discussion leader: Kyle
- Required Readings
-
- Marshall McLuhan, Understanding media: the extensions of man (Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press, [1964], 2003), Sections 1-3, pp. 17-60. Read
- Marshall McLuhan, Understanding media: the extensions of man, Section 31, Television, pp. 411-446. Read
- Supplemental Reading
-
December 10
Interrogating the Media IV: The Place of the Real in a World of the Virtual
- Discussion Question
- Discussion leader: Jeff
- Required Readings
-
- Richard Sennett, The Corrosion of Charaacter: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1998), pp. 15-31, 76-97. Read
- Supplemental Reading
-
December 17
Summary: Where are we?
- Discussion Question
- Discussion leader: TBA
- Required Readings
-
- Ronald J. Deibert. Parchment, Printing, and Hypermedia: Communication in World Order Transformation (New York: Columbia University Press, 1997) pp. 1-44. Electronic Reserve.
- Supplemental Reading
-
January 21
Re-engagement
Required Readings
- Calhoun, C., & Spivak, G. "Conceptual Foundations and Changing Realities"; Watch
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
January 28
What is the Information Society?
Required Readings
- Dyson, E., Gilder, G., Keyworth, G., & Toffler, A. "Cyberspace and the American Dream",pp.31-41; Read
- Castells, M. "An Introduction to the Information Age",pp.138-149; Read
- Castells, M. "The Information City, The New Economy and The Network Society",pp.150-164; Read
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
February 4
Thinking Collectivities
Required Readings
- Keen, Andrew "Cult of the Amateur", pg.11-34; [Read]
- Surowiecki, James, "Wisdom of Crowds", Listen, Read
- Lanier, J. "Digital Maoism: The Hazards of the New Online Collectivism"; Read
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
February 11
Democracy and Public Opinion
Required Readings
- Dewey, John, "The Public and its Problems", [Read]
- Dos Passos, John, "The Big Money"; [Read]
- "Metropolis", Directed by Fritz Lang; [Watch]
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
February 18
Required Readings
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
February 25
Required Readings
- Schumpter, Joseph; [Read]
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
March 4
Required Readings
- Mills, C. Wright, "The Power Elite"; [Read]
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
March 11
Required Readings
- Marcuse, Herbert, "One Dimensional Man"; [Read]
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
March 24
Required Readings
- Barthes, Rolland, "Mythologies"; [Read]
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
April 1
Required Readings
- Foucault, M., "Panopticism", pp.302-312; Read
- Bourdieu, Pierre, "Reproduction"; [Read]
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
April 8
Required Readings
- Habermas, J., "The Public Sphere", pp.350-365; Read
- Papacharissi, Z., "The Virtual Sphere", pp.379-392; Read
- "Network", Director Sidney Lumet, [Watch]
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
April 15
Contemporary Exploration I
Required Readings
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
April 22
Contemporary Exploration II
Required Readings
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
April 29
Contemporary Exploration III
Required Readings
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
May 6
Summary
Required Readings
Supplemental Readings
Questions and Discussion
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Fall Quick-look
| Session | Date | Texts
|
| --1-- | 9/3 | Hemingway
|
| --2-- | 9/10 | Gray, Friedman
|
| --3-- | 9/17 | Moglen, Lanier
|
| --4-- | 9/24 | Homer, Havelock
|
| --5-- | 10/1 | Heraclitus, Protagoras
|
| --6-- | 10/8 | Plato
|
| --7-- | 10/15 | Vergil
|
| --8-- | 10/22 | Hugo, Yates
|
| --9-- | 10/29 | Eisenstein, Johns
Paper 1
|
| --10-- | 11/5 | Anderson (Imaginaries)
|
| --11-- | 11/12 | Carey (1890)
|
| --12-- | 11/19 | Burgess (1930)
|
| --13-- | 12/3 | McLuhan (1965)
|
| --14-- | 12/10 | Honesty and Truth
Paper 2
|
| --15-- | 12/17 | The medium the message?
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Intersession
Reflect for Pleasure and Profit
Spring Quick-look
| Session | Date | Texts
|
| 16 | 1/21 | Calhoun
|
| 17 | 1/28 | Harvey
|
| 18 | 2/4 | Appadurai, Collier, Stern, Sachs
|
| 19 | 2/11 | Dyson, Castells, Surowiecki, Lanier
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| 20 | 2/18 | Dewey, (movie:Metropolis)
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| 21 | 2/25 | Benjamin
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| 22 | 3/4 | Polanyi
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| 23 | 3/11 | Mills
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| 24 | 3/25 | Marcuse
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| 25 | 4/1 | Barthes
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| 26 | 4/8 | Foucault, Bourdieu
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| 27 | 4/15 | Habermas, Papacharissi, (Movie: Network)
|
| 28 | 4/22 | Contemporary Exploration I
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| 29 | 4/29 | Contemporary Exploration II
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| 30 | 5/6 | Summary
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