REPRESENTATION: KNOWLEDGE AND POWER
Theories and Practices of Representation
in Western Culture
Spring 2002
Reid
Office: Stevenson 215
438-7894/jhreid@ilstu.edu
Homepage: http://lilt.ilstu.edu/jhreid/
Class homepage: http://lilt.ilstu.edu/jhreid/Rep.htm
Office Hours: M/W 10-12, by apt., or just knock
GOALS/OBJECTIVES
REPRESENTATION: KNOWLEDGE AND POWER builds an awareness that
the real world, the self, and the actions that we know are products
of how we use signs to construct representations of our world, our self, and
our actions. We use representations to construct
knowledge and to exercise power.
The course will provide a vocabulary with which to describe and discuss diverse ways in which humanity, over the course of history, has constructed representations of the world, self, and history and history and has used representations to do what it wants. The course will also provide a methodology for interpreting the social, political, and ethical issues raised by practices of representing world, self, and history.
We will focus on the philosophical and cultural theories of representation and on practices of representation in art, photography, and literature.
REPRESENTATION: KNOWLEDGE AND POWER encourages students to
SCHEDULE
AN INTRODUCTION TO REPRESENTATION
January 15 Theories of "Representation."
Representation as:
1) an objective presentation of the real world or of a limited point of view on
the real world.
2) a subjective expression of the inner reality of the person doing the representing.
3) a linguistic construct that constructs reality by means of signs, that is neither
totally objective or subjective, and that uses signs to wield power.
4) a product of one's culture (expressing a culture's views of reality and its
desires).
I IS REPRESENTATION AN OBJECTIVE PRESENTATION OF EXTERIOR REALITY?
YOU WILL NEED ADOBE ACROBAT READING ON A COMPUTER TO DOWNLOAD SOME
OF THESE FILES!! YOU CAN DOWNLOAD ADOBE ACROBAT READER FREE.
Jan. 17 Aristotle, Text: "On
the Soul" Critical Reading Guide (CRG): On the Soul, Aristotle
(This is the only reading text that you do not have to copy and bring to
class. This time, you need only read the
summary of the text at the beginning of the Critical Reading Guide (CRG).
Always copy the CRG, answer the questions thoughtfully based on the summary, and
bring it to class).
Jan. 22 Realism in the Novel: Zola's
Masterpiece. CRG: The
Masterpiece. Realist Techniques I
(Always copy the text and the CRG, complete the following, and bring to class)
Jan. 24 Zola Continued. Some Realist Paintings.
Jan. 29 Photography and realism
Jan. 31 Descartes,
Discourse on Method. (copy and read
part IV) CRG: Discourse on
Method.
Feb. 5 Descartes continued.
Feb. 7 Roger and Me (View at Media Services,
Milner, 6th floor, before coming to class). CRG: Roger and
Me. Film Vocabulary
(See in particular "Point(s) to Media Literacy" and "Who's Who on a Film
Set"). Realist Techniques II
Feb. 12 Roger and Me continued. (Class summary of Plato's Cave.). MAKE
APPOINTMENT WITH ME BETWEEN NOW AND FEBRUARY 22 TO DISCUSS YOUR TERM
PAPER.
Feb. 14 Pascal:
"Man's Disproportion" (copy and
bring to class). [Optional reading: Pascal's
Pensees (in their entirety)] CRG: Thoughts.
Feb. 19 Pascal continued;
II IS REPRESENTATION A SUBJECTIVE PROJECTION OF THE REPRESENTER'S INNER REALITY,
SELF, UNIQUE WAY OF SEEING THE WORLD? DOES IT REPRESENT NO REALITY AT ALL?
Feb. 21 Wordsworth, Elegiac
Stanzas; "A
Slumber..." CRG: "Elegiac
Stanzas".
Confessions,
Rousseau (Copy all of these texts and bring to class)
Feb. 26 Wordsworth continued,
Some Delacroix and expressionist paintings, phots and romantic music.
Feb. 28 Plato, Read Plato's Cave: Republic Book VII and see Plato's Cave: Illustration; CRG: Plato's Cave; Also copy and read On painting and representation (from The Republic).
Mar. 1 noon PROSPECTUS FOR TERM PAPER DUE
Prospectus
Guidelines
March 5 Midterm
III BEYOND SUBJECT AND OBJECT: IS OUR CONSCIOUSNESS OF OUTER AND INNER REALITY A
PRODUCT OF LANGUAGE? IS CONSCIOUS REPRESENTATION A MEANS OF EXERCISING
POWER?
Mar. 7 Consciousness and reality as linguistic constructs.
Text: "On Truth and Lies
in an Extra-Moral Sense," Friedrich Nietzsche (RESTRICTED) (copy and
bring to class). This is the first of a number of restricted files that
you will need to copy. You will be asked to fill in
the userid and password that you will find at the top of the syllabus I handed out in
class (not the on-line syllabus). CRG: "On Truth and Lies in a
Nonmoral Sense". [Optional: "The
Perspectives of Nietzsche"]
Spring Break
Mar. 19 Nietzsche continued. [Optional reading: Derrida, Representation as infinitely
receding goal of language and/or
pure a language game. See Writing and Difference on reserve]
Mar. 21 Unreliable first-person narration; Maupassant,
The Horla (Restricted). CRG:
"The Horla" I.
Mar. 26 The Horla continued. CRG:
"The Horla" II.
IV IS OUR CONSCIOUSNESS AN UNCONSCIOUS PRODUCT OF CULTURAL DISCOURSES AND A
PAWN OF CULTURAL POWER?
Mar. 28 The Horla completed; Representation
as Social Power: The Dominant Discourse
and Counter-Discourses within a Social Class
Struggle. The Maids, Jean Genet.
CRG: The Maids I
Mar. 29 FIRST DRAFT OF TERM PAPER DUE
Apr. 2 Does the Dominant Discourse co-opt (disempower)
the Counter-Discourse for its own ends? Does the
Counter-Discourse
appropriate the
Dominant Discourse for its own ends (empower itself)? The Maids continued. CRG: The
Maids II Representation
as Reading (copy and bring to class)
Apr. 4 The Maids continued.
Apr. 9 The Maids completed. Rereading Romantic paintings within a cultural
context, Delacroix.
Apr. 11 Black Discourse: countering
co-optation by White Discourse and psychological empowerment, "Representing Whiteness in the Black
Imagination," bel hooks. (Restricted) (copy and
bring to class). CRG: "Representing Whiteness in the Black
Imagination".
Apr. 16 hooks continued;
Apr. 18 Globalization and Cultural Discourses: Meera Nanda,
"The Science Wars in India." Cultural Uniqueness
and/or Rational Universality as empowerment or disempowerment. (Restricted, see instructions May 20) (copy and
bring to class). CRG: "The Science Wars in
India".
Critical Thinking Model of
Representation as Power (Copy and bring to class))
V. IS OUR CONCIOUSNESS A PRODUCT OF THE WORLD MARKET?
Apr. 23 Nanda continued; Representation, Consciousness, and Power in a World Seemingly Dominated by the Power of the Market. "Consuming Images," Bill Moyers, video on 6th floor Milner. CRG: "Consuming Images".
Apr. 25 Moyers continued.
Apr. 30 Perhaps "Marie
Gillespie, "You can't beat the feeling: Coca-Cola and utopia."
and "Trinidad."; "Linking
production and consumption: The case of Coca-Cola." (restricted)
CRG: Coca-Cola articles
May 1 Review Summary
May 2 FINAL DRAFT INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS DUE
May 6, Monday, 3:10 P.M. FINAL EXAM Description
REQUIRED TEXTS
The Maids, Jean Genet;
Numerous texts to be copied off of web and brought to class: See hyperlinks in on-line
syllabus.
OTHER READINGS
handouts (H).
reserve materials (R)
ON RESERVE
At Reserve Desk, Milner floor 2.
Derrida, Jacques. Writing and Difference
At Media Resources Center, Milner floor 6.
Blow-up (film)
Consuming Images (video)
Roger and Me (film)
EVALUATION
1. Term Paper (prospectus and 2 drafts graded). 30%
2. Midterm Exam. 15%
3. Final Exam. 25%
4. Classroom Preparation (Critical Reading Guides). 20%
5. Participation. 10%
COMPUTER AND PRINTER ACCESS
It is your responsibility to copy assigned materials from the class web site and
to complete the Critical Reading Guides before coming to the class for which
they are assigned. Do not wait to the last minute to copy the reading
materials on-line, since you may have difficulty copying them from your own
computer. Copy them off a university computer in a laboratory if
necessary. Try copying texts right after the previous class in the Foreign Language Computer Labs STV 227B and 233A.
TERM PAPER
Each student will complete a 10- to 12-page term paper on a general disciplinary mode of
representation (sociological, scientific, media, non-western, etc.), on a
theory of representation, or on a literary, artistic, media, or
a marketing practice of representation that is of
interest to you. The goal of the project is to:
1. focus in on a particular theory and/or practice of representation
within one's area of interest (a theoretician of history, science, literature etc., the
work of an individual artist, writer, historian, scientist, etc., or one's own creative
work);
2. interpret the theory or practice in terms of the
five major groups of representation that we will study in class;
3. discuss its logical and/or cultural presuppositions;
4. foreground its strengths and weaknesses.
Students should make an appointment with me to discuss possible projects and turn in a prospectus and two drafts of the paper. See the syllabus for deadlines. All three will be graded.
CRITICAL READING GUIDES
Critical Reading Guides, with three or four questions on the reading, can be
found on the on-line syllabus. Copy,
complete, and bring them to the class for which they are assigned. You may make
additions or emendations during class in a different color ink for 80% credit. Those absent are responsible for turning the
guides in on time. Late
sheets will be accepted, but the grade will be a maximum of 80%.
EXAMS
The midterm exam will cover all material read and discussed in class during the first half
of the semester. The final exam will cover all material read and discussed during the
entire semester.
Both exams will be constituted by essays demanding that students describe, illustrate, and
compare the five modes of representation discussed during the course.
ATTENDANCE
Absences will receive a 0 (out of 5) for class participation. Remember that the exams will
be based on class notes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY (Books should be all in our library)
PERSPECTIVAL VS. NON-PERSPECTIVAL
Gombrich, G. H. "The Conquest of Reality." The Story of Art. New York:
Oxford UP, 1966.
Gombrich, G. H. "Ambiguities of the Third Dimension" and "The Analysis of
Vision in Art." Art and Illusion. London: Phaidon, 1972.
Hochberg, Julian. "The Representation of Things and People," Art, Perception,
and Reality. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1970. 47-94.
Wölfflin, Heinrich. Principles of High Art. New York: Dover, 1950.
REPRESENTATION AS MIRROR OF EXTERIOR REALITY
Anonymous. The Life of Lazarillo of Tormes. in Two Spanish
picaresque novels. translated by Michael Alpert. Harmondsworth:
Penguin, 1969.
Aristotle. On the Soul. Grinnell: Peripatetic Press, 1981.
Auerbach, Eric. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature.
Trans. Willard R. Trask. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1953).
Descartes, René. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy.
Indianapolis: Hackett, 1980.
Foucault, Michel. The Order of Things. New York: Vintage, 1983.
Maupassant, Guy de.Maupassant, Guy de. "The Horla." Complete Short Stories.
---. "The Novel". Preface to Pierre and John. New York:
Collier, 1902.
White, Hayden. Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe.
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1973.
Zola, Emile. The Experimental Novel. New York: Cassell, 1893.
REPRESENTATION AS MIRROR OF INNER REALITY.
Abrams, Myer. The Mirror and the Lamp. New York: Oxford UP, 1953.
Auerbach, Eric. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature.
Trans. Willard R. Trask. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1953).
Augustine. Confessions. Franklin Center: Franklin Library, 1976.
Brooks, Peter. The Melodramatic Imagination. New York: Columbia UP, 1985.
Descartes, René. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy.
Indianapolis: Hackett, 1980.
Plato. Dialogues. New Haven: Yale UP, 1984.
Terdiman, Richard. The Dialectics of Isolation. New Haven: Yale UP, 1976.
JAPANESE REPRESENTATION:
Hume, Nancy G. Ed. Japanese Aesthetics and Culture: A Reader. Albany: SUNY UP,
1995.
Kuratani, Kojin. Origins of Modern Japanese Literature. Durham: Duke UP, 1993.
Miner, Earl. An Introduction to Japanese Court Poetry. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1968.
Pollack, David. Reading against Culture. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1992.
Rimer, J. Thomas and Yamazaki Masakazu. Trans. On the Art of the No Drama: The Major
Treatises of Zeami. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1984.
Tyler, Royall. Ed. Trans. Japanese No Dramas. New York: Penguin, 1992.
Ueda, Makoto. Literary and Art Theories in Japan. Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese
Studies, 1991.
Wei-Hsun Fu, Charles. Ed. Japan in Traditional and Postmodern Perspectives. Albany:
SUNY UP, 1995.
LANGUAGE AND REPRESENTATION:
Booth, Wayne. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: Chicago UP, 1983.
James, Henry. "A London life"; "The Patagonia"; "The
Liar"; "Mrs. Temperly." Plainview: Books for Libraries, 1976.
Nietzsche, Friedrich. "On Truth and Lies in an Nonmoral Sense." Philosophy
and Truth. Trans. Daniel Breazeale. New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1979. 79-97.
Pascal, Blaise. Pensées. Baltimore: Penguin, 1986.
Rorty, Richard. Language and the Mirror of Nature. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1979.
CULTURE AND REPRESENTATION:
During, Simon. Ed. The Cultural Studies Reader. London: Routledge, 1993.
Gates, Jr., Henry Louis. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-American Literary
Criticism. New York: Oxford UP, 1988.
Genet, Jean. The Maids and Deathwatch: Two Plays by Jean Genet. New York: Grove,
1962.
Gramsci, Antonio. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. eds. and
trans. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1971.
Grossberg, Lawrence, Cary Nelson, Paula Treichler. Cultural Studies. London:
Routledge, 1992.
bel hooks. Black Looks: race and representation.
Boston: South End, 1992.
Marx, Karl and Frederick Engels. The German Ideology. London: Lawrence and
Wishart,
1965.
Nanda, Meera. "The Science Wars in India." Dissent. Winter
(1997): 78-83.
Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Knopf, 1993.
---. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978.
THE WORLD MARKET:
Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism: or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham:
Duke UP, 1991.