Thomas Rickert                                                                                                    Office: Heav 303B

English 626 (Spring 2007)                                                                                   Office Phone: 494-3719

Postmodernism.Rhetoric.Composition                                                              Office Hours: Tue 10:30-12; Thur 5:00-6:00

Email: <trickert@purdue.edu>                                                                          English Office Phone: 494-3740

 

 

Postmodernism.Rhetoric.Composition

 

Required Texts:

Cosmopolis—Stephen Toulmin

Basic Writings (2nd Ed., Revised and Expanded)—Martin Heidegger

The Foucault Reader—Michel Foucault

The Postmodern Condition-Jean-François Lyotard
Changing the Subject in English Class: Discourse and the Constructions of Desire—Marshall W. Alcorn

 

Course Packet at CopyMat

 

Recommended:

The Routledge Companion to Postmodernism—Sims, ed.

The Condition of PostmodernityHarvey

Postmodern Theory—Best and Kellner

Postmodernism, Or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism—Jameson

Postmodern GeographySoja

Three Steps on the Ladder of WritingCixous

Rhetoric, Poetics, and CulturesBerlin

Rereading the SophistsJarratt

Negation, Subjectivity, and the History of Rhetoric—Vitanza

Rhetoric in an Anti-foundational World—Bernard-Donals and Glejzer, eds.

How We Became PosthumanHayles

Applied Grammatology—Ulmer

Scandalous Knowledge—Smith

Modest WitnessHaraway

The Internet GalaxyCastells

 

Recommended background:

Phenomenology of Mind—Hegel

Course in General Linguistics—de Sassure

Being and Time; Poetry, Langauge, and Throught; & On the Way to Language—Heidegger

Beyond Good and Evil, Twilight of the Idols, & Genealogy of Morals—Nietzsche

Dialectic of EnlightenmentHorkheimer and Adorno

Truth and MethodGadamer

EcritsLacan (esp. “Subversion of the Subject”)

The Second Sex—de Beauvoir

Introduction to the Reading of HegelAlexandre Kojève

Visions of ExcessBataille

Speculum of the Other WomanIrigaray

Philosophy and the Mirror of NatureRorty

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions—Kuhn

Tractatus Logico Philosophicus—Wittgenstein

Orientalism—Said

Introduction to Of Grammatology (Derrida)—Spivak

Learning from Las VegasVenturi et al

Structural Anthropology—Levi-Strauss

 

Objectives:

What is postmodernism? This is not an easy question to answer. First, we need to ascertain what we are talking about, or, more precisely, what sort of referent we have in mind for the term: an architectural movement? the time period following modernism (which already begs the question of what modernism is)? various aesthetic techniques common to contemporary literature and pop culture? late capitalism? post-Fordist, flexible labor practices? the media age? the informatization of the Western world? theory inclusive of but extending beyond poststructuralism? All these and more have been included in definitions of postmodernism. And, whatever question we pick, we will find that in focusing on one we tend to distort or obscure other aspects. Additionally, postmodernism and its definitions, characteristics, and theories are unstable at best. Ultimately, we have to say that the question concerning postmodernism is far from settled, and given the ubiquity of the term (if not of "post"-ing itself), the sense of fait accompli that surrounds it combined with its nebulous (at best) meaning is grounds for many to dismiss it as useless, deceptive, or worse. Nevertheless, its common usage and the extensive body of discourse surrounding give it weight and sticking power. Postmodernism as a term is here to stay, even if we often mean many, different things when we use the term. So perhaps we can sum it up this way: postmodernism presents new aesthetics, from architecture to literature to music to art; transformations in political economy and business practices; new approaches in science; the emergence of media and the informatization of knowledge and life; reconceptualizations of philosophical notions of epistemology, groundings, and transcendence; reconfigurations of what language is and how it functions; and, lastly and perhaps obviously, a rejection or at least a reworking of modernism. It has also been affiliated with a resurgence of rhetoric. Composition, that dappled discipline, has also been characterized as being postmodern.

 

The course will start with a brief look back at Modernism, and then dip into Heidegger, a Modernist philosopher (or proto-postmodernist—categorization is a tricky game) who has been hugely influential on postmodern thought, arguably even more so than Nietzsche. Next, we will move on to some early postmodern texts. We will cover many of the key debates and terms (metanarratives! écriture féminine! anti-foundationalism! performativity!), look at some of postmodernism's usual suspects (Lyotard! Foucault! Derrida! Haraway! Butler!), consider further developments and reactions, and conclude with work that is promising for charting out future directions (Hardt and Negri! Taylor! Collins!). The last few weeks also address two themes generating lots of interest and scholarship these days, complexity and place.

 

While I do want us to read a fair share of primary texts, we will also examine how rhetoric and composition has utilized, resisted, or negotiated postmodern theory. Reactions to postmodernism in the field have ranged from dismay, caution, and dire predictions of doom to grudging respect, hope, and Dionysian dances on the grave of Modernity. Hopefully, you will find a place—or places—to occupy for yourself, and then, in your writing, find ways to convey something of this blue buzzing complexity. Additionally, I want to mention that postmodernism is often concerned with style. Several of the authors we will read make style an essential element in the "work" of the text—Derrida, Cixous, Haraway, Vitanza, and Davis come to mind—but insofar as postmodernism has affinities with rhetoric, style in general is an issue. In your papers, it may be profitable for you to examine the role of style, if not experiment with style in your writing.

 

Many of the texts we read will be difficult. People like Heidegger, Derrida, and Butler, for instance, are notoriously dense writers. And, I might mention, sometimes challenging of your worldview and beliefs. Still, I expect you to spend time with the material and work through it. While such theoretical work can be difficult, and oftentimes frustratingly abstract, it is also rewarding. We find that our approach to our work and scholarship is inevitably entangled with theoretical frameworks. In reading theoretical work, we come to see our own frameworks more clearly, just as we are exposed to new ones. This is productive on any number of levels, and if you are willing to dig in, you will also find that such work is particularly useful for invention and insight.

 

 

Assignments:

In-Class Papers: Four one-page papers (legal size, single-spaced), to be read aloud in class on the due date. Because our classis so large, we are going to have a rotating reading schedule; Group petit a can read on paper day one; group petit b can read on paper day two; and so forth. Please do make copies for everyone, to be distributed at the start of class. The first half to three-quarters of the paper will be a summary of the previous weeks' readings; the remaining will be an amalgam of a) a discussion of these readings, highlighting a central issue or concern, which should also include b) a consideration of how the readings have changed, challenged, or further developed our conceptions of writing, rhetoric, pedagogy, and/or education. In other words, it is not enough simply to develop a working understanding of the various postmodern theories we read; instead, you need to develop connections to a larger contextual understanding of the theories and issues involved. This further means that I am interested in more than matters of simple agreement or disagreement with the texts. As Derrida remarks, if things were simple, word would have gotten round.

 

These papers will take time to write. That is one reason that there is so little reading the week of paper day. Furthermore, this kind of summary is challenging—and rewarding. It allows you to develop your understanding of often difficult texts as the course progresses, and encourages you to build on, extend, or otherwise revise previous understandings. All of you will come to the texts with various levels of familiarity—from little or none to fairly extensive. I consider this something positive, for it provides many, differing entryways into the readings. Regardless of one's familiarity or lack of it with the material, I do expect the papers to show real effort in grappling with the texts and the issues. That is one of the reasons for all of us to hear the papers and to share them with each other. I think of the paper presentations as being the most important days of the course because that is where the most learning occurs.

 

Journal Review: A second assignment will be a lit review in a 10-12 minute class presentation (hopefully with handout) of one of the many theory-oriented journals (print and online) that exist; you will be concerned specifically with how postmodernism is dealt with in the journal. Some journals have a specific orientation, some are more broadly conceived; some are specifically about postmodernism or pomo culture, others only include essays that deal with postmodernism as one issue among many. I have tended to favor journals associated with rhetoric and composition, but not exclusively so.

               

I don't expect you to read deeply from the articles. Examining titles, reference matter, and topics, and skimming to obtain a general overview, with a few specifics, will suffice. Listing key, interesting, or oft-cited articles will be useful as well, and you will probably want to look at such articles more closely. You will also need to look at the editors, the editorial board, statements of journal purpose, school affiliations, oft-published scholars, etc. The goal here is to facilitate knowledge of what is out there for yourself and your fellow graduate students.

 

Because of the size of the class, I it may be useful to have some (or all) of you work on this assignment in pairs.

 

Final Paper: This course requires a final summation paper; it asks you to present your understanding of what postmodernism is, conflicted and partial as that answer may be. You could highlight key themes, focus on contested issues, assess continuing problems, and/or chart the impact of postmodernism on rhetoric and composition. There are also your own research interests to consider; how might they be brought in? Please limit yourself to 5-6 pages. This means you will need to be fairly selective in what you chose to examine. Note: keep in mind that the Preliminary Exam includes a question on postmodernism. You might consider the final paper as part of your preparations for it. This paper, unlike the in-class papers, should be typed and double-spaced.

 

Weekly Posts: Lastly, this course requires weekly posts to the course bulletin board; look for the course title, English 626, in the main index, located here:

 

http://www.unconcealment.org/trickertbb

 

You will need to make "one" post a week. There are a variety of ways you can fulfill this commitment. First, your post should address the reading(s) for the coming class, taking a concept, issue, conflict, theme, etc. and exploring it. Length should be a minimum of one developed paragraph. Although I would prefer you to remain focused on that week's readings, it may be useful to address texts from previous weeks. A second possibility is a response to someone else's post. It is preferable that you address a post concurrent with that week's readings, but again it may be useful to return to older posts and re-visit an issue. Only one post a week is required, but further postings beyond the minimum are of course quite welcome—especially responses to others. I add that the goal of this assignment is to foster sustained intellectual inquiry and exchange, and I will expect you to treat others with respect, regardless of the possible level of disagreement. Please visit the site several times a week so that you stay current with the discussions. Also, make sure your name is on your posts.

 

*The bulletin board is phpBB, is a web-based forum that allows a user to post, edit, and reply to messages. It also lets someone use HTML and images. The forum can be accessed via a web browser (Firefox, Netscape, Internet Explorer, etc.) at the site I give above. Before someone can post, s/he will initially have to register as a "User" and log-in each time thereafter. Please use an ID name suitable enough for me to identify you as the poster.

 

Late Work: Papers to be read aloud will not be excused. If you miss the due date, you will be docked a letter grade (unless I excuse your absence beforehand) and required to read your work the following week.

 

Assessment:

Your grade will be determined on a 100 point scale. The percentages break down like this (the remaining .004 % is on me):

 

Papers (4)                               16.666% each

Final paper                              16.666%

Weekly Posts/Presentation     16.666%

 

All assignments are required to complete the course. This includes a total of 15 posts to the course website.

 

Attendance:

Although I will give brief lectures regularly, this class is not a lecture course; accordingly, your attendance and participation is crucial not only for you personally, but for everyone in the class. I will expect you not to miss class. However, if a problem does arise that requires your absence, please discuss the matter with me beforehand to see if arrangements can be made.

 

Disability:

If you have a disability that requires special accommodations, please see me privately within the first week of class.

 

Planned Scenic Route:

 

Week 1 (1/11): Introductions and Modernism Redux

Kant-"An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?"

Nietzsche-"On Truth and Lies in an Extramoral Sense"

                Harvey-"Modernity and Modernism"

 

Optional: Gray-"Enlightenment’s Wake"

 

Week 2 (1/18): Oh, the Humanity

                Toulmin-Cosmopolis

 

Week 3 (1/25): On the Way to Martin

                "Letter on Humanism"

                "Building, Dwelling, Thinking"

                "The Way to Language"

                "The Question Concerning Technology"

                                - from Basic Writings: Martin Heidegger

                C.Taylor-"Heidegger, Language, and Ecology"

Optional: Heidegger-"What Calls for Thinking?" (esp. 369-83)

 

Week 4 (2/1): Paper #1

Deleuze and Guattari-"Rhizome"

 

Week 5 (2/8): PoMo's Greatest Hits—The Poststructuralist Years

Harvey-"Postmodernism"

        Derrida-"Signature Event Context"

        Cixous-"Laugh of the Medusa"

        Barthes-"Death of the Author"

Haraway-"Situated Knowledges"

Rorty-"The Contingency of Language"

Foucault-"What is an Author?" (from The Foucault Reader)

Optional: Baudrillard-"After the Orgy"

                Derridean wedding vows

                "The Copycat Syndrome"—from Slate

 

Week 6 (2/15): Power, Power Everywhere…

        "What is Enlightenment?"

        "The Body of the Condemned"

        "Docile Bodies"

        "The Means of Correct Training"

        "Panopticism"

        "Complete and Austere Institutions"

        "Space, Knowledge, and Power"

        "Right of Death and Power over Life"

        "We 'Other Victorians'"

        "Politics and Ethics: An Interview"

                - from The Foucault Reader

        Muckelbauer-"Through Foucault’s Resistance"

        Blair and Cooper-"The Humanist Turn in Foucault's Rhetoric of Inquiry"

               Optional: Foucault-"Truth and Power"

                        YouTube—debate between Foucault and Chomsky

 

Week 7 (2/22): PoMo's Self-Realization

Lyotard- The Postmodern Condition (Intro, Chs. 1-2; 9-12; 14; Appendix—Jameson's forward highly recommended)

Jameson-Postmodernism (excerpts from Introduction and Ch.1)

Ijessling-"Who Is Actually Speaking Whenever Something Is Said?"

Vitanza-"Three Countertheses"

Faigley-"The Ethical Subject" (from Fragments of Rationality)

 

Week 8 (3/1): Paper #2

Roundtable-"Octalog: The Politics of Historiography"

 

Week 9 (3/8): The Rhet of Comp

        Worsham-"The Question Concerning Invention"

Biesecker-"Rethinking the Rhetorical Situation from Within the Thematic of Différance"

Davis-"'Addicted to Love'; Or, Toward an Inessential Solidarity"

Hawhee-"Kairotic Encounters"

Ballif-"What Is It That the Audience Wants?"

Vivian-"The Threshold of the Self"

 

Week 10 (3/15): Spring Break!

               The Comp of Rhet

Faigley-"Introduction" + "In the Turbulence of Theory" (from Fragments of Rationality)

Sirc-"Never Mind the Tagmemics, Here's the Sex Pistols"

Ulmer-Heuretics (excerpts-Pt. 1))

Halden-Sullivan-"The Phenomenology of Process"

Porter and Sullivan-"Postmodern Mapping and Methodological Interfaces"

Brooke-"Forgetting to be (Post)Human: Media and Memory in a Kairotic Age"

 

Week 11 (3/22): The Power of Control, the Control of Power, and (Gendered) You

                Althusser-"Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses"

                Butler-Bodies That Matter (excerpts)

                Rose-"Control" (from Powers of Freedom)

                Hardt and Negri-"Postmodernism" (from Empire)

               Optional: Deleuze-"Postscript on Control Societies"

                       

Week 12 (3/29): The Shrink

        Berlin-"Poststructuralism, Cultural Studies, and the Composition Classroom"

                Alcorn-Changing the Subject in English Class

 

Week 13 (4/5): Paper #3

                Collins-Interaction Ritual Chains (excerpts-Ch.2)

 

Week 14 (4/12): Empires and Dance

M.Taylor-"Critical Emergency" (from The Moment of Complexity)

Johnston-"Network Theory and Life on the Internet"

Lanham-"Operating Systems, Attention Structures, and the Edge of Chaos"

Liu-The Laws of Cool (excerpts-Chs. 5-7)

Cilliers-"Complexity and Postmodernism"

 

Week 15 (4/19): Space is the Place

Casey-"The Hidden History of Place"

Heidegger-Ontology: The Hermeneutics of Facticity (excerpts-Ch.3)

Amin and Thrift-Cities (excerpts-Intro and Ch.2)

Edbauer-"From Rhetorical Situation to Rhetorical Ecologies"

Reynolds-"Learning to Dwell"

Rickert-"In the House of Doing: Rhetoric and the Kairos of Ambience"

 

Week 16 (4/26): Paper #4

Hassan-"From Postmodernism to Postmodernity: The Local/Global Context"