Class Information
Instructor: Shershow, Scott
Time: W 3:10-6:00
Location: 248 Voorhies
Description
CRI 200a
An introduction to the basic currents of critical theory in the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on Marxism, feminism and deconstruction. Rather than use an anthology, we'll read closely a relatively small number of books, essays and extended extracts, each of which represents a crucial reference point for contemporary thought.
Tentative reading list:
Nietzsche, selections from The Gay Science and Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Heidegger, “The Word of Nietzsche: God is Dead”
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, from The German Ideology, and other selections.
Sigmund Freud, from The Interpretation of Dreams.
Ferdinand De Saussure, Course In General Linguistics.
Louis Althusser, “Marx’s Immense Theoretical Revolution,” from Reading Capital.
Claude Levi-Strauss, "Overture" to The Raw and the Cooked.
Jacques Derrida, “Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences."
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Volume 1.
Frederic Jameson,"On Interpretation," from The Political Unconscious.
Simon de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, chapter one.
Janet Halley, from Split Decisions: How and Why to Take a Break from Feminism.
Nahum Chandler, "Of Exorbitance: The Problem of the Negro as a Problem for Thought."
Jacques Derrida, “Force of Law: The 'Mystical Foundations of Authority.'"
Grading
Evaluation will be based on class participation, weekly ungraded response papers, and a concluding term paper, in which students can, if they wish, bring their own research interests to bear on the course readings.
Texts
Electronic reserves