HNRS 121-004,
READING CULTURAL SIGNS
Mark Jacobs
Fall 2005
Robinson B309
703/993-1434; mjacobs@gmu.edu
Office Hours: Tues. and Thurs. 3:00-4:00, and by appt.
Course Description
You are about to engage on one of life's great
adventures, serious study in the company of your peers. As individuals--but even more so, as fellow
citizens--you will have the opportunity to reflect in an informed and dialogic
manner on the paired questions:
"What is a good life?" "What is a good community and
society?" It is especially
important in today's world to understand what culture is, and how it works, in
wrestling with these questions.
This course contrasts celebrity and civic engagement
as cultural forms. It complements the
work you will be doing in HNRS 110 in several respects, since it turns out that
standards of good research are the same standards required for responsible
civic discourse. We will be analyzing a
variety of cultural objects, refracted through a variety of media. In doing so, we will also be exploring the
obstacles and possibilities for identifying shared concerns and enlightening
ourselves by appreciating the divergent intellectual and moral positions of
others.
Course Requirements and
Grading
HNRS 121 is a writing-intensive course, in partial
fulfillment of the university composition requirement. Each successive text we read will prepare
you to write a brief (2-3 page) paper, based on
analysis of primary evidence. The papers
will themselves help prepare you to engage in small "peer group discussions"
and whole-class discussions about an expanding range of issues. You will also be required to participate in a
series of web-based class discussions, using WebCT. The final paper will be a bit longer--3-5
pages--and will ask you to reflect on the limits and possibilities of civic
dialogue in an age of celebrity.
To earn a "C" or "C+" on a paper,
you must produce prose that is technically
correct--without errors of syntax, grammar, diction, punctuation, or
spelling. To earn a "B-",
"B", or "B+", you must also present a properly organized argument:
chains of claims and subclaims must be cogent,
and you must support appropriately qualified claims with warranted reasons
supported by relevant reliable evidence.
To earn an "A-" or an "A," you must also properly frame your argument, by
crafting an introduction and conclusion that not only state your most general
claims, but also communicate the dialogic significance of your research
problem. You communicate that by
demonstrating the costs of ignorance and disrupting some of your reader's
assumptions.
Because this is a course about discussion, it is
imperative that you attend all classes.
I will administer brief in-class writing exercises about the assigned
texts as an additional basis for small-group and whole-class discussion; I will grade some
of these writing exercises as spot quizzes, and they will enter into your grade
for class participation. (By the nature
of a spot quiz, I will not allow any make-ups.)
Attendance is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for good
participation. I will judge your
participation by the conscientiousness of your preparation and the seriousness
of your attention to others, as well as by the thoughtfulness of your own
comments.
Participation will count for 35% of your final
grade. Each of the first three papers
will count 10%, the final paper will count 20%, and the quality of your
participation in the WebCT discussion boards will
count the remaining 15%. In order to
receive a passing grade in the course, you must complete all assignments.
All work is subject to the Honor
Code (see the University Catalog), and students in the Honors Program are
expected to be role models in practicing the Honor Code for the rest of the
university.
Required
Texts
Clifford
Geertz, The
Interpretation of Cultures
Barry
Schwartz, Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory
Joshua Gamson, Claims to Fame
Course Schedule (Please be prepared for in-class writing exercises on days in which
readings are assigned.)
8/30. Introduction
I.
THEORY AND METHOD
9/1. Thick Description. Read Geertz, ch. 1.
9/6. Religion. Read ch.
4.
9/8. Ideology. Read ch.
8.
9/13. NO CLASS (Professor at scholarly conference)
9/15. The Balinese Cockfight. Read ch.
15.
9/20. The Research Problem and Its
Significance. Read Booth et al.,
pp. xi-xiii,26-31,37-74, 222-40.
9/22. Claims, Evidence, and Warrants. Read pp. 111-81, 208-21.
9/27. First paper (3 pp.) due at
the beginning of class. Provide a thick description of an instance of
deep play in contemporary American culture—for example, the Presidential
campaign, the Swift Boat Veterans’ political ads, the 9/11 Commission, the Abu Ghraib investigation,
the Kobe trial, a reality TV show, the Super Bowl, etc. In what senses is it symbolic, religious, or ideological? Of what is it both a “model of” and a “model for”? What does it mean?
What is its social ground? In what senses is it a
9/29. Before class, join the discussion on the WebCT discussion board for our section. The class will be devoted to discussion of
your papers. (9/30: Last day to drop without Dean’s permission)
10/4. NO CLASS (Rosh Hashannah)
II. CIVIC CULTURE
10/11. MAKE-UP CLASS. Paradoxes about Collective Memory. Read Schwartz, Introduction and ch. 1.
10/13. NO CLASS (Yom Kippur)
10/18. Limits of Promoting
Reputation. Read
ch. 2.
10/20. The Progressive
10/25. Man of the People? Read ch.
4.
10/27. The Variegated
11/1. Refining the Research
Problem and Sub-problems. Read. ch. 7 and
Conclusion.
11/3. Second paper (3 pp.) due
at the beginning of class.
Analyze as cultural objects icons of
11/8. Before class, join the discussion on the WebCT discussion board for our section. The class will be devoted to discussion of
your papers.
III. CELEBRITY CULTURE
11/10. The Celebrity Text. Read Josh Gamson,
Intro., Part One.
11/15. The Production of
Celebrity. Read chs. 3,4.
11/17. The Consumption of
Celebrity. Read chs. 5,6.
11/22. Political Celebrity and
the Problem of Authenticity. Read
chs. 7,8, Conclusion.
Also: Select a particular celebrity currently in
the public eye. Browse the web to
identify sites of discussion boards and chat rooms, concerning that
celebrity. Be prepared to share those
websites in class. What do you find puzzling about those web discussions and
chats?
11/24. NO CLASS--Thanksgiving holiday.
11/29. Third paper (3 pp.) due at
the beginning of class. Analyze
as a cultural object a conversation on a discussion board, chat room, etc.
about some celebrity. What is the civic significance of this
conversation? The class will be devoted
to peer group discussion.
12/1. Before class, join the discussion on the WebCT discussion board for our section. The class will be devoted to discussion of
your papers.
12/6. Final paper (3-5 pp.) due
at the beginning of class.
Reflect on the
blurring of civic culture and celebrity culture in (post-)modern society. Using the methods of cultural analysis
developed in this course, analyze instances of civic
issues turning into issues of celebrity, and of celebrities becoming the focus
of civic dialogue. How does the blurring
of civic and celebrity culture create limits and possibilities for deliberating
civic issues? The class will be devoted
to peer group discussion.
12/8. Before class, join the discussion on the WebCT discussion board for our section. The class will be devoted to discussion of
your papers.