Re-Imagined Communities
Schedule
Week 1
Week 2
Reading
Writing
-
Blog Posting 1
Blogging will be key to the success in this course. For those of you who have never blogged before, no worries. This is not a technically difficult process. It’s more like sending an email than anything else. Pedagogically, however, it serves a number of purposes.
First, blogging allows the members of the class a chance to critically reflect on the readings and our discussions in a public way. Rather than having a private conversation with the instructor through reflection papers, blogging allows the whole class to participate in an ongoing open conversation about the key themes, questions, and problems raised by our materials.
Second, and in a closely related point, blogging encourages vibrant discussion in the classroom. Since every student must critically engage the material before the class meets, the pumps are primed for thoughtful conversation about significant issues when we come together in person.
Finally, blogging leaves an archive of the trajectory of the course–the things in which we are interested and the problems with which we struggle throughout the semester.
Please post a reading reflection of 300-500 words by 5:00 on the Sunday before our class. Some things to consider in your postings include: How does this reading deal with the distribution of power in American society? What frameworks does it offer us for understanding the distribution of power? What do you think is the most interesting part of this reading? Why? What criticisms do you have of the author’s approach? Her use of sources? Has the author overlooked something in her analysis? What will you continue to look for as you read more?
Please comment on at least one other student’s posting by noon on the day of our class meeting.
We will continue this practice of blogging through the semester, and your grade will be determined both by an evaluation of your individual postings and the quality of your engagement with other students through commenting.
Week 3
Reading
-
McAlister, Epic Encounters: Culture Media and U.S. Interests in the Middle East 1945-2000.
Intro – Chapter 3.
Writing
-
Blog Posting 2
Week 4
Reading
-
Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena.
Prologue – Chapter 3.
Writing
-
Blog Posting 3
Week 5
Reading
-
Borstelmann, The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena.
Chapter 4 to the End.
Writing
-
The Roots of Nations and Hegemony, a Problem Assessment
In this paper, you will work to find and critical gap in the logic of either Anderson or Gramsci. Once you have identified that gap and clearly outlined it for your reader, you will work to logically bridge that gap with your own formulation. A successful paper will provide a way forward that makes either theory more useful than it is in its current iteration. One example of this kind of work is the critique and reformulation that Melani McAlister made of Edward Said’s “Orientalism.” McAlister introduced his theory, clearly identified the problems, and provided her own work-around for those problems.
Length: 3-4 pages.
Week 6
Reading
-
Fisher. Fishkin, “Crossroads of Cultures: The Transnational Turn in American Studies–Presidential Address to the American Studies Association November 12 2004.”
-
M. Ngai, “Transnationalism and the Transformation of the Other: Response to the Presidential Address.”
-
Briggs and Gladys McCormick and J. T. Way, “Transnationalism: A Category of Analysis.”
-
Schaeffer-Grabiel, “Flexible Technologies of Subjectivity and Mobility across the Americas.”
(Pick one).
-
Schaeffer-Grabiel, “Planet-Love.com: Cyberbrides in the Americas and the Transnational Routes of U.S. Masculinity.”
(Pick one).
Writing
-
Blog Posting 4
Week 7
Reading
-
Rodriguez, Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez.
Writing
-
Blog Posting 5
Week 8 — Spring Break
Week 9
Reading
-
Levitt, The Transnational Villagers.
Part I.
Writing
-
Blog Posting 6
Week 10
Reading
-
Levitt, The Transnational Villagers.
Part II and III.
Writing
-
Annotated Bibliography
Collect citations for the 8-10 most influential secondary sources in the fields in which your project is situation. Add a note to each citation that includes 1) a summary of the argument; 2) a sense of the place of the source in the larger field of literature; and 3) a statement of how your project interfaces with the source.
Week 11
Reading
Writing
-
Blog Posting 7
Week 12
Reading
-
McAlister, Epic Encounters: Culture Media and U.S. Interests in the Middle East 1945-2000.
Chapter 4 to the End.
Writing
-
Blog Posting 8
Week 13
Groupwork
-
Project Proposal Workshopping
Week 14
Reading
-
Duggan, The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism Cultural Politics and the Attack on Democracy.
Writing
-
Post/Trans/Nationalism: A Critique
Length: 3-4 Pages In this critical essay, you will evaluate the theories of nationalism, post-nationalism, and trans-national that we’ve been discussing for the last few weeks. You may draw upon and comment on any of the reading thus far. What is useful about these theories? What is problematic? For which issues do they account well? For which issues do they account poorly? Is one theory more convincing than another? If so why? How might you revise any or all of these theories so that they would be more useful for your work?
Week 15
Writing
-
Blog Posting 9
Presentation
-
Project Proposal Presentations
Bibliography
Monographs
McAlister, Melani. Epic Encounters: Culture Media and U.S. Interests in the Middle East 1945-2000. University of California Press, 2001.
Borstelmann, Thomas. The Cold War and the Color Line: American Race Relations in the Global Arena. Harvard University Press, 2003.
Rodriguez, Richard. Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez. Dial Press Trade Paperback, 2004.
Levitt, Peggy. The Transnational Villagers. University of California Press, 2001.
Duggan, Lisa. The Twilight of Equality?: Neoliberalism Cultural Politics and the Attack on Democracy. Beacon Press, 2004.
Appadurai, Arjun. Modernity At Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. Univ Of Minnesota Press, 1996.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism New Edition. Verso, 2006.
Articles
Schaeffer-Grabiel, Felicity. “Flexible Technologies of Subjectivity and Mobility across the Americas.” American Quarterly 58, no. (2006): 891–914.
Schaeffer-Grabiel, Felicity. “Planet-Love.com: Cyberbrides in the Americas and the Transnational Routes of U.S. Masculinity.” Signs 31, no. (2006): 331–356.
Yu, Henry. “Los Angeles and American Studies in a Pacific World of Migrations.” American Quarterly 56, no. (2004): 531–543.
Fisher. Fishkin, Shelley. “Crossroads of Cultures: The Transnational Turn in American Studies–Presidential Address to the American Studies Association November 12 2004.” American Quarterly 57, no. (2005): 17–57.
Buell, Frederick. “Nationalist Postnationalism: Globalist Discourse in Contemporary American Culture.” American Quarterly 50, no. (1998): 548–591.
Briggs and Gladys McCormick and J. T. Way, Laura. “Transnationalism: A Category of Analysis.” American Quarterly 60, no. (2008): 625–648.
M. Ngai, Mae. “Transnationalism and the Transformation of the Other: Response to the Presidential Address.” American Quarterly 57, no. (2005): 59–65.
J. Jackson Lears, T.. “The Concept of Cultural Hegemony: Problems and Possibilities.” The American Historical Review 90, no. (1985): 567–593.
Projects
Blogging
Blogging will be key to the success in this course. For those of you who have never blogged before, no worries. This is not a technically difficult process. It’s more like sending an email than anything else. Pedagogically, however, it serves a number of purposes.
First, blogging allows the members of the class a chance to critically reflect on the readings and our discussions in a public way. Rather than having a private conversation with the instructor through reflection papers, blogging allows the whole class to participate in an ongoing open conversation about the key themes, questions, and problems raised by our materials.
Second, and in a closely related point, blogging encourages vibrant discussion in the classroom. Since every student must critically engage the material before the class meets, the pumps are primed for thoughtful conversation about significant issues when we come together in person.
Finally, blogging leaves an archive of the trajectory of the course–the things in which we are interested and the problems with which we struggle throughout the semester.
To encourage these goals, our blogging will follow a two step process.
- Initial posting: Each week you will offer an opening post that will serve as the basis of our conversation for the week. These posts are due by 5:00 the Sunday before the class meeting.
- Response postings: By 12:00 on the day of class, you will comment on and respond to at least one other initial post. This process will begin our critical discussion before we enter the classroom.
Some things to consider in your postings include: How does this reading deal with the distribution of power in American society? What frameworks does it offer us for understanding the distribution of power? What do you think is the most interesting part of this reading? Why? What criticisms do you have of the author’s approach? Her use of sources? Has the author overlooked something in her analysis? What will you continue to look for as you read more?
You will be graded both on your Initial postings and on the quality of your participation as a commenter and responder.
Project Proposal
Length: 8-10 Pages
In this assignment, you will create a proposal for a project of your choosing that in some way relates to the discussion we’ve been having about nationalism and American Studies after 1945. The sections of the proposal will include an Abstract, Background, Goals and Objectives, Design and Methodology, Potential Significance, and a Review of Key Literature.
Abstract: 100 word overview of your project.
Background: This should provide a brief overview of the research, placing it in the context of previous research in the field, identifying deficiencies in understanding that logically complitment the objectives.
Goals and Objectives: This should explain the outcomes of the project.
Design and Methodology: This should explain the means for fulfilling the outcomes of the project, including the major organizational scheme.
Potential Significance of the Research This should answer the “So What?” question. What new important knowledge will be obtained; what substantive questions will be answered; what in the larger context will be the contribution to the field?
Review of Key Literature This is an annotated bibliography that presents the major related works in the field. Annotations should include a summary of the work and it’s findings, as well as evaluation of the relevance of that work for the project. Annotations should be no longer than 200 words.