| |
|
Spring 2002
This information effective
for Spring 2002.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.
Instructor: Juan Poblete
E-mail: jpoblete@cats.ucsc.edu
Office: 151 Merrill Faculty Annex
What has been the role of reading in the theoretical revisions which we normally encompass under the rubric of (Latin American) Cultural Studies? How has reading been a part of past political projects, and how could it be deployed in the future? What changes and contributions has brought about the Cultural Studies emphasis on key words such as production-reception and consumption? How has our perception of the process of social production and consumption of textual objects benefited from those theoretical developments? Although I do not plan to answer all these questions, I would like to use them as a theoretical framework to propose a historical-theoretical reconstruction of the place of reading and readers at some key moments in the history of culture in the West, and more specifically, in Latin America. The class will explore historical readers and reading practices in at least three different reading formations: colonial, national-popular, and transnational.
Objectives: The goals
of the class are 1) to historicize key concepts such as reading, readers, reception,
and consumption; 2) To propose a historically grounded concept of texts as social
constructs in the context of specific reading formations; 3) to develop a minimal
ethnography of a set of actually existing readers; and 4) to understand the
limits and possibilities of Latin American Cultural Studies.
Bibliography (available
at Literary Guillotine): The Class Reader (or course-pack) will be available
at UCSC Baytree Bookstore.
| Ethnography. Midterm paper: (8-10 pages) | 15% |
| Written reports (see below) | 20% |
| Class participation | 25% |
| Final paper (13-20 pages) | 30% |
The written reports (one every week) will be typewritten, double spaced, 2-3 pages of critical response to the readings. The mid-term paper will be an ethnography of actually existing readers and their consumption of written texts. The final paper will be a theoretical reflection based on the class readings and the ethnographic results of the mid-term paper.
Note: Students with disabilities, who may need accommodations, please see me as soon as possible during office hours, or make an appointment.
MARCH
Tuesday 26. Introduction.
The readers' work (how has it been conceptualized and imagined, and what is
involved in these images). The history of readings and readers. From the readers
to the spectators. Cultural consumption.
Thursday 28. Some
fundamental concepts. Genre. CR: Bennett, Tony. Outside Literature, London:
Routledge, 1990, chapter 4.
APRIL
Tuesday 2. Readers and reading formations. Chartier, Roger. "Labourers
and Voyagers: From the Text to the Reader"; Bennett, "Texts in History:
the determinations of readings and their texts"; Cortázar, "Continuity
of Parks"
Thursday 4. The history
of readers and reading. CR: Guglielmo Cavallo y Roger Chartier. Intro and chapters
by Grafton and Chartier. Borges: "Everything and Nothing," "Kafka
and his precursors"
Tuesday 9. CR: Guglielmo
Cavallo y Roger Chartier, chapters by Wittmann and Lyons. Borges: "Pierre
Menard author of Don Quixote"
Thursday 11. Gender:
Scheweickart, Patrocinio. "Reading Ourselves: Towards a Feminist Theory
of Reading," Kolodny, Annette. "Dancing through the minefield";
Cortázar (chapter 79 from Rayuela)
Tuesday 16. CR: Literacy:
CR: C. Kaestle: "The History of Literacy and the History of Readers";
Henry Giroux: "Reading Texts, Literacy and Textual Authority," Gordon
Brotherson: Image of the New World: The Aztec's Priest Speech.
Thursday 18. CR:
Serge Gruzinski, The Conquest of Mexico: "Christianization of the
imaginary." Walter Mignolo. "When Speaking was not Good Enough."
Monterroso, "The Eclipse"
Tuesday 23. CR:
The problem of reception and consumption in popular culture. CR: Jesús
Martín Barbero. Communication, culture and hegemony: from the media
to mediations.
Thursday 25. On the
historical relationship between folklore, popular and mass culture in Latin
America. Jesús Martín Barbero. Communication, culture and hegemony:
from the media to mediations. pp. Manuel Puig, Heartbreak Tango
Tuesday 30. CR: The
social production of meaning. CR: Jesús Martín Barbero, Communication,
culture and hegemony: from the media to mediations. pp. Manuel Puig, Heartbreak
Tango
MAY
Thursday 2. CR: Stuart Hall "Encoding/decoding" Michel de Certau:
"Reading as Poaching"
Tuesday 9. Donald
Pease, "Author"; Stanley Fish, "Is There a Text in this class";
Borges, "Borges and I"
Thursday 11. The
concept of "national-popular" and the consumption of literature and
other media. CR: David Forgacs, "National-Popular: Genealogy of a Concept,"
S. Hall. "Notes on Deconstructing the Popular." Carlos Monsivais:
Tuesday 16. Carlos
Monsivais:
Thursday 18. Nestor
Garcia Canclini. Consumers and Citizens
Tuesday 23. Nestor
Garcia Canclini. Consumers and Citizens
Thursday 25. CR: John Guillory: "The Ethical Practice of Modernity: The Example of Reading"