Dusan Bjelic
Lucinda Cole
Department of Criminology
Department of English
1 Chamberlain Avenue
415 LB Hall
Office hours: M 5-7
p.m.; F 9:30-11:30 a.m.
Office hours: TR 11-2 Phone 780-4759
Phone 780-4093
dbjelic@maine.rr.com
lucinda@usm.maine.edu
RATIONALE: This course addresses the issues of Culture, Interculturality, Multiculturalism and Transculturality in the contemporary societies of the United States and Eastern Europe. It focuses on two issues: the rise of the nation in Eastern European societies, and cultural pluralism in American society. While in the United States, a nationalistic paradigm has often existed in productive tension with a multicultural one, in Eastern Europe, culturalism has lead to nationalistic and often mono-cultural societies.
MAJOR COURSE OBJECTIVES: At
the end of the course, students will be able to:
- demonstrate understanding
of various cultural models
- articulate the main
features of the two prevalent cultural models today
- compare and contrast
various cultural models
- use post-colonial
perspectives in cultural analysis
WITHDRAWAL AND DROP: These matters are entirely in your hands. We will be available for advice. Merely not attending class does not constitute a withdrawal. It is your responsibility to be aware of deadlines and to drop officially through the Registrar's Office.
INCOMPLETE AND MAKE UP POLICY: Incompletes should be considered only under the most exceptional and documented of circumstances. If you miss the exam for a legitimate reason a make-up will be offered. If, for legitimate reasons, you miss the final exam and have a passing grade, you will be issued an Incomplete, which you have one year to make up. If you fail to do this within one year, the INC will automatically be changed to an F. Under no circumstances will this deadline be extended. If you miss two exams, for whatever reason, the second "miss" will be recorded with a grade of 0. If any ambiguities still exist on these matters, please see us for further clarification.
CLASS ATTENDANCE: Class attendance and participation will be recorded and are part of your grade (10%)
GRADING POLICY:
Grade A: Student
must be able to demonstrate an understanding of the main concepts presented,
to elaborate their relationship to one another, and to be able
to
formulate a comparative or critical analysis of the material.
Grade B: Student
must be able to demonstrate an understanding of the main concepts and
to elaborate their relationship to one another.
Grade C: Student
must be able to demonstrate an understanding of the main concepts.
Grade D: Student
must show some interest in the subject and make some attempt at understanding
the material presented.
PAPER STYLE: The take-home exam and the group project should be typed, double-spaced and with a one-inch margin on either side. Papers having egregious grammatical and/or syntactic errors will not be accepted. (See below).
ACADEMIC SUPPORT INFORMATION: If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, please make an appointment with us as soon as possible. At any point in the semester, if you encounter difficulty with the course or feel you could be performing at a higher level, schedule an office visit. Students experience difficulty in courses for a variety of reasons. For problems with writing skills or time management, make an appointment to see a student tutor at the Academic Support Center, 242 Luther Bonney (780-4470). Help is also available through the Counseling Center, 106 Payson Smith (780-4050) and the Office of Disabled Student Services 237 Luther Bonney (780-4706).
Grade:
In-class exam ___________________________________________________________35%
Take-home exam ________________________________________________________35%
Book review
___________________________________________________________20%
Attendance
___________________________________________________________10%
Total:
_______________________________________________________________100%
Texts:
1. Course packet
2. Malcolm X, The
Autobiography of Malcolm X
3. Articles on reserve
4. Internet
Books for the review. Choose one:
Mahatma Gandhi, Autobiography
Dubravka Ugresic, Culture
of Lies; Antipolitical Essays
Noam Chomsky, New
Military Humanism. The Lesson from Kosovo
Christofer Simpson,
The
Splended Blond Beast-Money, Law, and Genocide
Robert Hayden, Blueprint
for the House Divided
Jonathan Marx, Human
Biodiversity: Genes, Race, and History
Russel Thornton, American
Indian Holocaust and Survival
Maria Todorova, Imagining
the Balkans
WORKING SYLLABUS
September 8
INTRODUCTION
a. What
is modernity/identity?
b.Nationalism
as a challenge to modernity
c.Two
approaches to nation
Film: Voices from
the Grave
Readings:
Jean Baudrillard, “Modernity,”
Canadian
Journal of Political and Social Theory, III, (3). pp. 63-72. (packet)
Roger Brubaker, “Citizenship
and Nationhood in France and Germany,” Cambridge: Harvard University
Press, 1992, pp. 1-21. (packet)
.__________________________________________________________________________
September 15
CONSTITUTIONAL NATIONALISM
a.
Ethnic conflicts in Yugoslavia
b. “Ethnic cleansing” and “constitutional nationalism”
Film: Before the
Rain
Readings:
Robert Hayden, “Constitutional
Nationalism and the Logic of the Wars in Yugoslavia,” in Ethnicity in
Postcommunism, Belgrade, Yugoslavia: Institute of Social Sciences /Forum
for Ethnic Relations/International Network Europe and the Balkans, 1996,
pp.79-96.(packet);
“Making sense of Yugoslavia:
a brief history of disintegration and its genesis”, http://www.melty.com/words/writings/yugo.htlm
._________________________________________________________________________________
September 22
IDENTITIES THROUGH
EXCLUSION
Continuation of film:
Before
the Rain
Reading:
Xaviar Bougarel,
“Good Neighbourlines and Crime Among Friends in Connection with the War
in Bosnia-Herzegovina,” in Ethnicity in Postcommunism. (packet)
___________________________________________________________________________
September 29
THE CASE OF THE ROMA
Film: The Time of
the Gypsies
Readings:
Hugh Poulton, The
Balkans, Minorities and States in Conflict, London: Minority Rights
Publications, 1994, pp. 1-4; 87-98; 207-228. (packet)
Slawomir Kapralski,
“Identity Building and the Holocaust-Roma Political Nationalism,” in Nationalities
Papers, Vol. 25, No. 2, June 1997, pp. 269-284.(packet)
Ian Hancock, “The Consequences
of Anti-Gipsy Racism in Europe,” The Belgrade Circle, http://www.usm.maine.edu/~bcj
___________________________________________________________________________________
October 6
MODERNITY, RAPE, AND
NATIONALISM: TWO VIEWS
Finish class discussion
of The Time of the Gypsies
Readings:
Robert Hayden, “Rape
and Rape Avoidance in Ethno-National Conflicts: Sexual Violence in Liminalized
States,” American Anthropologist 102 pp.27-41 (on reserve)
Catherine MacKinnon,
“Turning Rape Into Pornography: Postmodern Genocide,” Ms. July/August
1993. (on reserve)
______________________________________________________________________
October 13
In-class exam
_______________________________________________________________________
October 20
REPRESENTATION AND
IDENTITY
a.Representation
and power
b. Monoculturalism
c. Postcolonialism
Film: Said
On Orientalism
Readings:
Edward Said, pp. 31-73
of Orientalism (packet).
Maria Todorova, from
Imagining
the Balkans (packet)
Slavenka Drakulic,
pp. 6-13 of Café Europa: Life After Communism (on reserve)
Articles on internet:
“Unforgiven”:http://208.5.176.145/news/cov8%5F24%5F00.html
“Tales of Two Accidents”
http://208.5.176.145/news/city%5f8%5f24%5f00.html; “In their face—because
of their race?”: http://208.5.176.145/news/city%5F7%5F27%500.html
_____________________________________________________________________________
October 27
EDUCATION AND IDENTITY
: The US and the Former Yugoslavia
a. Assimilation and nation
b. Curriculum as cultural politics
Readings:
The Autobiography
of Malcolm X, Chapters 1-9.
Dubravka Ugresic,
pp. 3-19 of The Culture of Lies (on reserve).
Laura Secor,
“The Serb Purge,” http://www.linguafranca.com/9810/fn.htlm
Laura Secor,
“Rage Against the Regime. Serbian Students Fight Milosevic,”
http://www.linguafranca.com/print/0009/otpor..htlm
http://www.otpor.net
_______________________________________________________________________________
November 3
ESSENTIALISM AND ANTI-ESSENTIALISM
I
a.
Modernity and the desire for “authentic” identity
b. Essentialism and narrative
c. Identity politics
Readings:
The Autobiography
of Malcolm X, Chapters 10-19
Michael Eric Dyson,
"Essentialism and the Complexities of Racial Identity" from
Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader. Ed. By David Goldberg (packet)
Shelby Steele, "Malcolm
X" from Signs of Life In the USA: Readings on Popular Culture for Writers
(Bedford, 1997) (on reserve)
_________________________________________________________________________________
November 10
ESSENTIALISM AND ANTI-ESSENTIALISM
II: Example
Readings:
Review Dyson, above.
Film and Discussion
__________________________________________________________________________________
November 17
ESSENTIALISM AND ANTI-ESSENTIALISM
III
a. Four
models of multiculturalism
b. The
history of ethnic studies
Film: Multicultural
Prism: Voices from the Field
Readings:
Peter McLaren, "White
Terror and Oppositional Agency: Towards a Critical
Multiculturalism" from
Multiculturalism:
A Critical Reader [packet].
Ramon Gutierrez, "Ethnic
Studies" from Multiculturalism: A Critical Reader (packet)
_________________________________________________________________________________
December 1
WHITENESS
a. The construction
of whiteness
b. Whiteness and pedagogy
Readings:
Richard Dyer, “The
Matter of Whiteness” in
White (packet)
Henry E. Giroux, “Insurgent
Multiculturalism and the Promise of Pedagogy” in Multiculturalism:A
Critical Reader (packet)
____________________________________________________________________________________
December 8
PERFORMING IDENTITIES
Film: Clips from Legends
and Paris Is Burning
Readings:
Dubravka Ugresic, pp.
66-85 of The Culture of Lies (on reserve)
Rene Gremaux, “Woman
Becomes Man in the Balkans” from Third Sex/ Third Gender (Zone
1994) (on reseve)
________________________________________________________________________________
December 15
a.
Presentation of books and reviews
b. Distribution of take-home exam