Social Movements and Culture in the United States
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Social Movements and Culture in the United States |
Flag Bleeding, quilt by Faith Ringgold
Instructor: T.V. Reed
Fall 2002, TuTh 12:1:15 in CUE 416
Office Hours: Th 2-4, Fr 10-12
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course will use a focus on social movements to chart major changes in United
States as a set of socio-cultural formations from 1865 to the present. We will
examine several major social movements — Populism, the labor movement,
civil rights/ethnic nationalist movements, women's movements, gay/lesbian/queer
movements, anti-AIDS activism, environmental justice, and the movement against
corporate globalization— as indices of major forces changing US cultures.
The concept of "culture" will be used in three broad, interrelated
ways in the course. First, we will examine social movements as sub- or counter-cultures
to the then dominant structures in the country. Second, we will look at the
production of cultural texts (literature, painting, music, film etc.) in and
around social movements. Third, and most broadly, we will examine how the modes
of expression and the values generated by resistance movements have reshaped
the broad contours of US culture (in the sense of “whole way of life”).
The study of social movements takes place in a number of disciplinary and interdisciplinary
locations, as well as through activist memoirs, journalistic accounts and other
non-academic sources. The majority of work done within academic disciplines
has tended to slight “culture” as a force within and around social
movements. Particularly in sociology, the discipline that has most systematically
examined social movements, the research bias has until recently leaned toward
more empirically measurable elements of movements to the neglect of cultural
factors. Beginning the late 1980s and proceeding apace during the 1990s, however,
this has begun to change with increasing numbers of scholars looking at the
cultural dimensions of movements. But this work still remains relatively underdeveloped,
and thus the individual and collective work we do in this course can make important
contributions to further defining, refining and developing the cultural study
of social movements. In particular, I hope we can find more adequate ways to
link political economies to cultural economies, in mutually illuminating ways.
WEB RESOURCE: A major online resource for this course is the Social Movements
and Culture
www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/smc/smcframe.html
Web site created by the instructor. Please familiarize yourself with the site
and its resources, including the bibliography, glossary, online articles and
links to hundreds of historical and current movement sites.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Available at the Bookie (Student Book Corporation):
Buechler, Steven & F. Kurt Cylke. Social Movements: Perspectives and
Issues
Burns, Stewart. Social Movements of the 1960s
Denning, Michael. The Cultural Front: The Laboring of US Culture
Smith and Warrior. Like a Hurricane: The American Indian Movement
VanDeBurg. William. New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American
Culture
Available at Cougar Copies in the CUB (Compton Union Building):
Reed, T.V. “Social Movements, Cultural Studies and the Arts of Change”
(book manuscript)
Course Reader, Parts I and II. A photocopied course reader.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Class participation: This graduate seminar will be mainly discussion, thus it
is assumed that all members of the class will contribute actively to class conversations.
[Approx. 20%]
Facilitation and Annotated Bibliography: Each of you will be called upon at
least once in the semester to facilitate a class discussion along with one other
student. This will include study questions prepared in advance and e-mailed
to the class, and a brief (max 5 minute) presentation by each facilitator bringing
theoretical questions to bear on aspects of the movement under study.
Each facilitator will also prepare a bibliography on the movement under discussion.
The bibliography will be copied and presented with summary comments to the class
in the session prior to our discussion of the movement that is the subject of
the bibliography. The bibliography should be selective rather than exhaustive,
consisting of approximately ten books and articles you judge to be the best
available materials on the movement in question, particularly with regard to
the cultural dimensions (broadly conceived) of the movement. [Approx. 25%]
Webliography: 1) Choose one of the web sites on the instructor’s “Social
Movements & Cultures” project [http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/smc/smcframe.html],
2) survey the site, trying all the links, 3) note any broken links and update
them if you can find where they have moved, 4), annotate the existing links
that don’t have annotations, and 5) add at least 5 new annotated links.
As an alternative, you may suggest and help create an additional site for a
type of movement not presently covered by the project. [Approx. 15%] DUE
Sept. 10
Research project: The seminar research paper topic is an open one, designed
to allow seminar members maximum freedom in pursuing research most relevant
to their thesis/dissertation or related academic interests. I presume that most
students will work on a particular movement, or a particular issue in the cultural
analysis of movements. But others may wish to examine broader questions about,
for example, the impact of a movement on the larger course of U.S. society and
culture, while still others may use course topics somewhat more tangentially
as an entry point for further examining some aspect of topic about which they
are writing a thesis. Creative alternatives to the written paper will also be
welcome. [Approx. 40%] DUE Dec. 19th
COURSE SCHEDULE AND READINGS
WEEK 1 — Tu Aug 27: Introductions; Course overview
Th Aug 29: Social Movement Theory, Part 1
READING: Buechler & Cylke, Social Movements, #29
Reed, “On the Cultural Study of Social Movements” (handout)
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WEEK 2 – Tu Sept 3: Social Movement Theory, Part 2
READING Course Reader, Swidler; Young(2)
Buechler & Cylke. Social Movements, #13, #16, #17Th Sept 5: Populism and
the Concept of Movement Culture
READING: Course Reader: McMath (two chps); Goodwyn (two chps); Online: Edwards,
“Recent Literature on American Populism” www2.h-net.msu.edu/~shgape/bibs/populism.hmtl
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WEEK 3 — Tu Sept 10: The Cultural Front & the Laboring of American
Culture
READING: Denning, Cultural Front, Parts I & II
Th Sept 12: The Cultural Font in the Arts
READING: Denning, Cultural Front, Part III (choose one ch), plus ch 12 and conclusion;
Course Reader: Lipsitz
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WEEK4 — Tu Sept 17: Civil Rights
READING: Course Reader: Payne; Burns, Social Movements of the 1960s, 1-45
Th Sept 19: The Sounds of Civil Rights, A Music Festival
READING: Reed ch1; Buechler & Cylke, Social Movements, #24
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WEEK 5 —Tu Sept 24: Rise of Black Power
READING: Burns, Social Movements of the 1960s, 45-52; 152-162
Van DeBurg, New Day in Babylon, 1-191
Th Sept 26: Black Power Culture
READING: Van DeBurg, New Day in Babylon, 192-308
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WEEK 6 — Tu Oct 1: The Drama of the Black Panthers
READING: Reed ch2; Course Reader: Jones & Jeffries; Singh
Th Oct 3: Chicano/a Movimiento
READING: Course Reader: Munoz; Garcia (two chps)
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WEEK 7 — Tu Oct 8: Chicano/a Movimiento; Chicanisma
READING: Course Reader: Chabram; Online: Chicana feminism [www.chicanas.com/]
Th Oct 10: The Chicana/o Mural Movement
READING: Reed ch3; Course Reader: Gaspar de Alba
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WEEK 8 — Tu Oct 15: Native American/Indian Movements
READING: Warrior & Smith, Like a Hurricane, 1-126
Th Oct 17: American Indian Movement
READING: Warrior & Smith, Like a Hurricane, 127-280
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WEEK 9 — Tu Oct 22: Hollywood FrAIMs Radicalism
READING: Reed ch4
Th Oct 24: Student Movements, Counter Cultures & Cultural Formations
READING: Reed, ch5; Burns, Social Movements of the 1960s, 98-101, 168-176; Course
Reader: Hall
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WEEK 10 — Tu Oct 29: Second Wave Women's Movement
READING: Burns, Social Movements of the 1960s, 116-151;Course Reader: Taylor
& Whittier; Young(4); Buechler & Cylke, Social Movements, #13, # 26
Th Oct 31: Third Wave(s)
Course Reader II: Walker; Garrison
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WEEK 11 — Tu Nov 5: Women's Poetry Movements
READING: Course Reader: Whitehead (two chapters)
Th Nov 7: A Feminist Poetry Festival (b.y.o. poems)
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WEEK 12 — Tu Nov 12: Gay/Lesbian Liberation Movement
READING: Buechler & Cylke, Social Movements, #31; Course Reader II: Vaid;
Seidman;
Th Nov 14: Queering the Nation
READING: Course Reader II: Patton; Berlant; Hennessey; Vaid
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WEEK 13 — Tu Nov 19: Anti-AIDS Activism
READING: Course Reader II: Treichler; Patton
Th Nov 21: (Very) Graphic Arts in AIDS Activism
READING: Reed ch8; Course Reader II: Ralston & Crimp
Thanksgiving Break
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WEEK 14 — Tu Dec 3: Environmental Justice Movement
READING: Course Reader II: Darnvosky; Gottlieb; Peña
Th Dec 5: Environmental Justice Ecocriticism
READING: Reed ch6; Course Reader II: Adamson; Geldicks
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WEEK 15 — Tu Dec 10: Battle of Seattle and Globalization from Below
READING: Reed ch9; Course Reader II: Brecher (two chps); O’Connor;
Burns, Social Movements of the 1960s, 177-188
Th Dec 12: Activist New Media and Globalization
READING: Course Reader II, Ackerman; Noguiera
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Finals Week: Presentation of Projects in Progress
** Research Paper due: Dec. 19, by 4:30pm in Professor's office