AJ27086 Topics in American Culture: Cultural Politics and Political Cultures of the United States

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2019
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Fri 9:00–10:40 G31
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 6 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/6, only registered: 0/6
Course objectives
This course examines various events and episodes in the interaction between culture and politics in America. Topics include the origins and emergence of distinctive regional cultures; the political orientations and conflicts associated with these; neoclassical influences on the American Founding; the “Lost Cause” and other mythologies of the American South; shifts and transfers of cultural authority among various cultural “capitals” (Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas); ethnic cultures, their artistic expressions and their influences on the mainstream; attempts to define and mark distinctions between “highbrow,” “lowbrow” and “middlebrow” cultural styles; challenges to prevailing cultural authority in the works of various artists and artistic movements; and the conflicts and “moral panics” brought on by the rise of popular and mass media (the “penny press,” movies, advertising, television, rock music, the internet, etc.).
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to distinguish and explain the differing political cultures of the United States. They will be able to identify and describe key developments in America's cultural politics from the Founding to the present day. They will be able to explain terms and concepts related to cultural politics and apply these in essays and in subsequent course work and thesis writing.
Syllabus
  • (NOTE: Subject to revision during the term; the assigned readings and viewings for any given week might still be incomplete or uncertain until 2 weeks before that date.)
  • WEEK 1 (27 Sept.): Course Introduction: Culture, Politics, and "Cultural Politics"
  • WEEK 2 (4 Oct.): The Search for a National Culture
  • Read: Woodard, The Real U.S. Map; Freneau, The Rising Glory of America; Whitman, Democratic Vistas, excerpts posted
  • WEEK 3 (11 Oct.): Southern and Appalachian Cultures
  • Read: Cobb, Away Down South, excerpts posted; Goetzmann, Beyond the Revolution, chapter 12; Harkin, Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon, introduction
  • WEEK 4 (18 Oct.): Racial Archetypes and Stereotypes
  • Read: Bogle, Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks, chapter 1; Robinson, Regimes of Race, chapter 3
  • WEEK 5 (25 Oct.): Cultural Hierarchies (1)
  • View: Singin' in the Rain; The Music Man
  • WEEK 6: READING WEEK: NO CLASS MEETING
  • Week 7 (8 Nov.): Cultural Hierarchies (2)
  • Read: Levine, Highbrow/Lowbrow, excerpts posted; Scruton, “A Fine Line Between Art and Kitsch”; Macdonald, “Masscult and Midcult,” excerpts posted; Postman, “The Medium is the Metaphor”
  • Week 8 (15 Nov.): Identity Groups and Cultural Styles
  • Read: Censoring Racial Ridicule, excerpt posted; Finkelstein, Jewish Comedy Stars, excerpts posted; Leibovitz, “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”; Mailer, “The White Negro,” excerpts posted; Ford, “Hip Sensibility in an Age of Mass Counterculture,” excerpts posted; VOX, “What is Camp?”; Frum, “Halloween and gay culture”
  • Week 9 (22 Nov.): Objections from Left and Right
  • Read: Doherty, “Homosexuality, Anticommunism, and Television,” excerpt posted; Hochschild, “When Dissent Became Treason,” excerpts posted; Wilson, “Betrayal of the Future,” excerpts posted; Wolin, “Site of Catastrophe,” excerpts posted
  • Week 10 (29 Nov.): NO CLASS MEETING
  • Week 11 (6 December): Utopianism and the Counterculture
  • Read: Berman, A Tale of Two Utopias, excerpts posted; Regarding music (1); Sirius, Counterculture Through the Ages, excerpts posted
  • View: Hair (film or Gypsywood production)
  • Week 12 (13 December): Moral Panics and Culture Wars
  • Read: Regarding movies; Regarding music (2); Regarding smartphones; Regarding “culture wars”; Regarding Trump; Regarding “#MeToo”; “Far Right Doxxing ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’”
Teaching methods
Lectures, class discussions and presentations, readings, film/video viewings.
Assessment methods
to be announced
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
General note: This course is NOT designated for Erasmus students! List of courses offerd by the Department of English and American studies for Erasmsus students is available at http://www.phil.muni.cz/wkaa/ under "Information for Erasmus students".
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