Szociológia | Kisebbségpolitika » Prof. Madina Tlostanova - From Multiculturalism to Trans Culturalism, Globalization through Culture, Politics and Literature

Source: http://www.doksinet Instructor: Prof. Madina Tlostanova From multiculturalism to trans-culturalism: globalization through culture, politics and literature. Goals: The seminar is meant for senior students and requires their preliminary acquaintance with the basic historical, ideological, cultural social-political conditions defining the complex process of globalization. The seminar aims to critically define the contradictory ways in which globalization influences culture and politics, with a specific emphasis on cultural multiplicity and difference as realized in various discourses multiculturalism, post-nationalism, transculturality, etc. The course regards cultural and ideological “institutes” as closely connected with and developing parallel to all transformations of Western “modernity”, from its imperial-colonial side to the emergence, growth and decline of nation-states, from liberalism to neo-liberalism, from civilizational discourses to the tyranny of the market

and corporate culture. An important part is devoted to the critical analysis of such widely spread concepts of cultural globalization as “deterritorialization”, “hybridity”, “transculturation”, “epistemic creolization” “multilingualism”, “commercialization”, “Americanization”, “canonical counterdiscourse”, etc. as well as to the concrete manifestations of globalization in various political ideologies, cultural and literary discourses from multiculturalism to postcolonial discourse, from sweat shop sublime to transcultural aesthetics. A specific emphasis in the course is put on the so called alternative non-western critical theories of globalization and on the analysis of epistemic models they offer, such as “critical cosmopolitanism”, “coloniality of power”, “trans modernity”, “border thinking”, etc. Some attention is paid to the interconnection between Western postmodernism, postcolonial discourse and critical global studies, as well as

to the definition of the new transcultural subjectivity and aesthetics of globalization that in many cases supercedes the model of national/world culture as it existed before. Finally, one of the minor emphasis is on postsoviet cultural imaginary seen through the lens of globalization. Tasks and Evaluations: Readings for the seminar include several theoretical and fictional texts from all over the world (the USA, Great Britain, Latin America, Caribbean, Russia, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Turkey, etc. – see specific reading assignments for each class) The classes will be held in English. During the course 45 students per meeting will be responsible for the discussion related to the specific theme of the particular class. They will prepare short statements (1 page) framing the discussion and distribute it to the rest of the class beforehand. The course consists of 11 two-hour meetings in which lectures will be combined and intertwined with problembased discussions. Normally they

will be onetwo texts offered for discussions for each class, coming from various western, non-western and in-between sources. The students will have to write one final paper For the last class the students will be required to turn in a 5 pp. abstract of the paper they propose to do for the final course requirement, explaining what texts and what theoretical approaches they will use, and anticipating conclusions. Conference will be held at the last class to discuss the feasibility and approach using peer critiques to aid in writing the final versions (20-25 pp., due at the end of the semester; 70% of grade) The evaluation of students performance will be as follows: Leading the discussion 15 % General class participation 15 % Final paper – 70% Source: http://www.doksinet The seminar will include the following topics : Meeting 1: Various models and cultural dimensions of globalization. (mode: introductory lecture) Meeting 2 : Possibilities and prospects of various alter-globalist

theories. (mode lecture and discussion) Reading: Dussel E. World System and Trans-Modernity // Nepantla 32, 2002, P 221-244 Meeting 3: Transformation of the national in globalization: trans(post)nationalization of the global cultural and political process. Redefinition of world/national culture and literature. (mode lecture and discussion) Reading: 1. Huntington S “Deconstructing America The Rise of Subnational Identities” Hegemony and Multiculturalism. 10th international conference Academy de la Latinite RJ, 2004, Pp. 243-269 2. Bhabha H The Location of Culture London: Routledge “DissemiNation: Time, Narrative and the Margins of the Modern Nation”. Pp 139-170 Meeting 4: Language and globalization: the communicative dimension. Cultural translation and untranslatability. The concept of “double translation” (mode lecture and discussion) Reading: 1. Mignolo WD, Freya Schiwy 2003 “Transculturation and the Colonial Difference: Double Translation”. Translation and

Ethnography The Anthropological Challenge of Intercultural Understanding. Ed Tullio Maranhao and Bernhard Streck Tuscon: The University of Arizona Press. 329 2. Ashcroft B Post-Colonial Transformation L & NY 2001 pp 56-81 Meeting 5: Commercialization of the production and consuming of cultural products in globalization. Exoticism as marketable goods (mode lecture and discussion) Reading: 1. Huggan G The Post-Colonial Exotic Marketing the Margins L & NY, 2001 pp 1-34, 105-124. 2. Ashcroft B Post-Colonial Transformation L & NY 2001 pp 206226 Meeting 6: Parallels, intersections, contradictions, untranslatability between various alternative theories of modernity: otherness, synthesis, deterritorialization, cultural multiplicity and opaqueness, etc. (mode lecture and discussion) Reading: Sylvia Marcos. “The Borders Within: The Indigenous Women’s Movements and Feminism in Mexico”. Dialogue and Difference Feminisms Challenge Globalization NY: Palgrave McMillan, 2005, pp.

81-112 Optional reading: Judith Halberstam “An introduction to Female Masculinity” Female Masculinity. Duke Univ. Press, 1998 pp 1-44 Meeting 7: Globalization or Americanization ? American multiculturalism as a neoliberal model of cultural multiplicity. Other multiculturalisms (mode lecture and discussion) Reading: Source: http://www.doksinet Berger P. L, Huntington S P 2002 Many Globalizations Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World. NY: Oxford University Press Pp 323-358 Optional reading: Smith N. 2003 “Geographical Solicitude, Vital Anomaly” American Empire Roosevelt’s Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization. Berkeley & Los-Angeles & London : Univ of California Press. Pp 454-462 Meeting 8: Imperial-colonial dimension of cultural globalization. Advantages and limitations of postcolonial discourse in the study of globalization processes. (mode lecture and discussion) 1. During S1998 “Postcolonialism and Globalization: A Dialectical Relation after all

?” Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 1, No1 3147 2. Mignolo W, Tlostanova M “The Logic of Coloniality and The Limits of Postcoloniality” (forthcoming) Meeting 9: Globalization and aesthetics: from Kantian aesthetics of the beautiful and sublime to the “sweat-shop sublime” and trans-cultural aesthetics. Trans-cultural Aesthetics in action - discussion of fictional texts (mode lecture and discussion). Each student can chose just one fictional text out of the three. Reading: 1. Robbins B 2002 “The Sweatshop Sublime” PMLA January, Volume 117 Number 1 8497. 2. JM Coetzee Disgrace (any edition) 3. Paul Theroux Kowloon Tong (any edition) 4. Volos A 2001 Hurramabad Glas New Russian Writing Contemporary Russian Literature in English Translation. Vol 26 Printed at the “Novosti” Publishing House, Moscow. Meeting 10: Transculturation as a new epistemic and aesthetic model. Post-soviet culture and globalization (mode lecture and discussion) 1. Tkhagapsoyev K “On the Way to Mirage:

Russian Metamorphoses of Liberalism and the Problem of their Interpretation” (forthcoming). 2. Kaplinski J1998 “From Harem to Brothel Artists in the Post-Communist World” Krasnogruda. No 8, Sejny Stockholm Pp 162164 Meeting 11: Concluding remarks and a general conference discussing the projects for final papers