Happy weekend,
everyone!
Well, classes
started for me this week. Since that’s the main reason I’m in London, I should
probably say something about it, don’t you think? So, below I’ll provide an
initial glimpse into each of the modules (courses) I’m taking. No other updates in this post—I'll create a separate post for that stuff in a bit.
In the meantime:
“Cultural
Politics: Power and Social Change” (Thursdays; 9:00 AM-12:00 PM GMT): This
module is one of the ones I was required to take—it’s the equivalent of a
first-year, post-introductory course. Co-taught by SM and DS,
“[t]he aim of
this module is to introduce key ways of understanding power and the
technologies through which it is expressed and distributed, and then to put
these theoretical ideas into practice by analyzing contemporary instances of
cultural politics.
Our interest
throughout will be with the question of cultural change, and the possibilities
for resistance.
How does change
take place and what is the role of technologies in social change? Who has power
in our cultures and how does it work?
At the end of
the module you will be expected to have an understanding of the different ways
in which key theorists in Cultural Studies have understood power and its
origins, and be able to undertake different kinds of analysis of cultural
politics.” ~ module guide (a.k.a. syllabus).
As I noted
above, it’s fairly similar to a first-year course, and there are the obligatory
readings form Gramsci, Althusser, Foucault (YAY!), and Marx...
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| I love Michel Foucault! |
______
Now, let me
digress (read: rant) for just a moment about that reading list:
I loathe—positively
detest; hate; venomously dislike; would rather have a root-canal—reading Marx!
Don’t get me wrong; I don’t have a problem per se with what he’s saying. I just
hate READING his work (well, the English translations at least).
In some ways,
Marx is almost like Tolkien, in that he takes four or five pages to spit out an
idea that could have been said in one very short, very concise blurb. And,
what’s worse, whereas Tolkien was at least describing ostensibly epic
scenery—something to spark the imagination—over those many, many pages, Marx
goes on-and-on about labor and value and commodity. Since such matters are
already something I’m not overly interested in analyzing personally, the
excessive page-counts that are part-and-parcel of Marx-related readings does
not make me like him any more. (NB: I'm not saying the issues Marx raises aren't important issues to be explored—they're just beyond my ability to analyze.)
And, finally, I
just have to say that, personally, the readings during the first two or three
weeks of Cultural Studies-related classes are always my least favorite. Why?
C’mon, surely you’ve guessed by now—it’s because they’re always related to
Marx! As much as I love and respect my CS instructors, I think there’s a
stipulation in the contracts they sign—both in the US and the UK,
apparently—that they must all devote the first few weeks to my German foe. (Not
that I wish to see him eliminated from the curriculum altogether, of
course—it’s just that, if I had my druthers, someone more exciting, like
Foucault, would come first.)
Alas, it appears I've taken a page from one of his manuscripts, and written too much. Let me put it this way: this is what my brain feels like after reading Marx...
End rant…
______
My second class:
“Culture, Power
and Resistance in the Twenty-First Century” (Thursdays; 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM GMT):
This is the only class I’m taking that wasn’t required by Columbia’s agreement
with UEL. Taught by JG and DS,
“[i]n this
module we will look at some of the most important trends and processes which
are shaping the world today, and useful ways of understanding them.
In particular we
will pay attention to new forms of power, as well as asking what radical
culture and politics might look like in the postmodern age of global
neoliberal hegemony.
In many ways the
current era is one which problematizes older ideas about where political
divisions lie: the old conflicts between capitalism and socialism, between
liberalism and conservatism, between traditionalism and modernism have been
replaced by a complex set of antagonism which are still unfamiliar in many
ways.
Here we will try
to get a sense of just what is at stake in these momentous shifts. We will pay
particular attention to the effects of the neoliberal program on global—and
particularly British—society and culture, and at the potential for resistance
to this program in the years to come.” ~ module guide
 |
It all sounds
very interesting. From what I gather, this is the equivalent of something
between Columbia’s “Methods of Inquiry” and “Capstone” classes. While there is
a heavy focus on neoliberalism in this class, there also seems to be a focus on
gender-issues (e.g., one of the prompts for our final work is “Has
neoliberalism impacted men and women differently?")—this fact should help
immensely with my Women & Gender Studies minor.
_____
Please pardon
the interruption as I offer-up another side-note:
It appears that
the only graded assignments for our classes over here are two papers in each
class—one that is the equivalent of a midterm essay, and the other a final
essay. No weekly reading checks, no tests—just two papers. (Which is both
exciting and a bit scary.)
End interruption.
______
Now we come to
the final class:
“Realism,
Fantasy & Utopia” (Fridays; 9:00 AM-12:00 PM GMT): This is the other
required class I’m taking—and I’m glad I am! It sounds fascinating! Also taught
by DS,
“[t]he aim of
this module is to provide an introduction to concepts of realism and test them
against what are generally thought of as 'unreality' or 'fantasy'.
We will be
questioning what counts as 'truth' and 'knowledge' and exploring the role of
utopian fictions in cultural critique.
The main
objective of the module is to encourage and enable students to develop a critical understanding of the political
interests underscoring historical and contemporary debates about the ‘representation
of the real’ in diverse social and cultural practices.” ~ module guide
Sounds like fun,
doesn’t it?
Based on the
first session of each module alone, I think this will wind up being my
favorite. As a sample: DS started off by showing us this three-minute video:
"The Cave: An Adaptation of Plato's Allegory in Clay"
After watching
the above, DS split us into groups of two and posed the following questions:
1) What kinds of thoughts will the prisoners
be having about the one how has ‘seen the light’?
2) How will they react to him after he has failed
to convince them of his experiences?
Suffice to say,
it lead to some interesting and thought-provoking discussion.
(If you're interested, my response was
that, according to the parable as it was told, the prisoners were incapable of
truly seeing or hearing their friend, so they wouldn’t have had a reaction—he
was no more than a continuation of the shadowy tapestry they see
day-in-and-out. But, if they, in fact, COULD understand what he was saying,
then they would either have resented his taunting them with images of an outside
world they would never see, or they would have simply ignored him because they
couldn’t possibly grasp what he was describing anyway.)
What do you
think, dear readers? Comment away….
Other topics to
be covered during the module (both separately and together): feminism, gender,
and sci-fi. Hellz yeah!
 |
| One of my favorite villains ever! And Patrick Stewart. Yummy! |
Well, that’s the
scoop with my modules. I’ll be back in a bit with another update—one about
the non-academic stuff.
Oh, oh, oh! But,
before I go, another culture shock moment: they don’t use (American-sized) printing
paper at UEL. Nope, it’s all 11.7 x 8.3 in. Somewhat problematic in terms of my
organizational methods—how the heck is that gonna fit nicely in my notebook?
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