Wednesday Office Hours

I reserved our room, 125, from 1pm to 3pm.

I'll be around from 11 to 1pm as well (except for a half hour somewhere for lunch), but we'll have to meet outside if anyone comes then.

I think the weather's going to warm (and rain free!) for a few days, so it should work.

Surveillance Camera Art

Surveillance Camera Players
Eyes of Laura

Mid-Term

COGN 150: Poetry, Performance, and Protest
Professor: Bill Marsh
Mid-Term Questions

Respond to THREE of the following questions. For each one, write one page in response (typed, double-spaced, so about 300-350 words per response). If your answer goes a little long, that’s okay, but try to keep it to the specified word limit. The questions are designed for short, focused answers.

Please indicate the QUESTION NUMBER at the top of each page.

Please USE YOUR OWN WORDS and avoid quoting (too much) from the readings. I’m more interested in getting your understanding--your language, your “metaphors”--than a reiteration of the text.

When finished, please use this exam sheet as a cover sheet and staple all pages together. Hand in on Friday, February 18th.

Note: In preparation for final papers, I’ll be GRADING TOUGH on these (for your own good :). Please take the necessary time to plan and execute your answers. As with final papers, grades will be based on content (the journey), organization (the container), and language clarity (bricks and mortar).

* * *

1. What’s the difference between the “transmission” and “ritual” views of communication as described in Carey? Give an example or two (from class or elsewhere) to help clarify your answer.

2. In his essay “The Poet,” Emerson writes: “Thought makes everything fit for use” (packet p. 51). Discuss this quote in relation to Emerson’s broader points about language, experience, and poetry? If appropriate, give an example or two to help clarify your answer.

3. What does Vološinov mean by “interindividual significance” (packet p. 61) and how might this concept be useful for a study of poetry as communication activity? Feel free to use an example or two (from other readings or from class examples) to clarify your answer.

4. Silliman writes (in “The Political Economy of Poetry”): “Context determines the actual, real-life consumption of the literary product, without which communication of a message (formal, substantive, ideological) cannot occur” (packet p. 65). Discuss this statement in relation to the “Slam Nation” segments we watched in class (be sure to say something about context, communication, and consumption in your answer).

5. In “The Rejection of Closure,” Hejinian argues that the “open text...resists reduction and commodification” (packet p. 80). First, what does she mean by “reduction and commodification”? And second, what do you see as the political potential of this kind of literary (poetic) resistance?

6. In what ways does David Antin’s talk poem “a private occasion in a public place” defamiliarize poetry, the poetry reading, and the poet as traditionally understood? You should begin your answer with a brief definition of “defamiliarization,” and then be specific about the different ways in which Antin’s piece is an example of Shklovsky’s concept.

7. How do we “live by” metaphors? In writing your answer, focus on one aspect (perhaps even one passage) of Lakoff and Johnson’s study that you found particularly important, stirring, troubling, or inspiring. In other words, you don’t have to summarize the whole book. Instead, pick off a relevant piece, chew it up, digest it, and then feed it back in words that make sense to you.

News Transcripts

[metaphor + interpellation]

Copyright 2005 Cable News Network
All Rights Reserved.
CNN DAYBREAK 5:00 AM EST
January 21, 2005 Friday
TRANSCRIPT: 012103CN.V73
SECTION: NEWS; International
LENGTH: 3461 words
HEADLINE: President Bush's Inaugural Speech and Protests Against His Inauguration; Terror Threat Focused on City of Boston
BYLINE: Carol Costello, Chad Myers, Kathleen Koch, Deborah Feyerick, Shannon Perrine
GUESTS: 1st Lt. Christopher Cunningham

BODY:

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Straight ahead, holy day blast in Baghdad. A car bomb kills worshipers celebrating one of Islam's most important holidays. Plus, Bush's big push. The president gears up for his controversial plan to overhaul Social Security....

It is Friday, January 21.You are watching DAYBREAK. And good morning to you. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.

Now in the news, .... [...]

And just in case you missed getting a look at the inaugural festivities, we have Kathleen Koch to wrap up some of the pomp and circumstance for you.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Capitol basked in a golden glow, as did those gathered for a second time to see George W. Bush sworn in as president.

WILLIAM REHNQUIST, CHIEF JUSTICE, UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT: Will you raise your right hand, Mr. President?

KOCH: Chief Justice William Rehnquist, in his first public appearance since cancer surgery, administered the oath of office.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... do solemnly swear.

KOCH: Also on hand, the president's parents, Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, Bush family members, friends and political foes.

In his inaugural speech, Mr. Bush used the word freedom 27 times when laying out his vision of America's mission.

BUSH: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands.

KOCH: Iraq and Afghanistan were never mentioned, but President Bush made clear his commitment to their future.

BUSH: Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill and would be dishonorable to abandon.

KOCH: The president pledged to heal the divisions between the political parties. He made only passing reference to second term priorities like Social Security reform.

Security was unprecedented on this, the first inaugural since 9/11. Mr. Bush described the attacks' formative impact on his presidency.

BUSH: My most solemn duty is to protect this nation and its people from further attacks and emerging threats. Some have unwisely chosen to test America's resolve and have found it firm.

KOCH: A handful of protesters trying to disrupt the speech managed to get within earshot. Still, the president appeared to clearly enjoy his second inaugural.

Inside, he reflected on the occasion.

BUSH: It reminds us that we serve a cause larger than ourself. We have one country, one constitution and one future that binds us.

KOCH: Then it was off for the traditional parade. There were protesters, but they were outnumbered by supporters. The president and the first lady even briefly left their limousine to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House.

COSTELLO: Kathleen Koch reporting. [...]

* * *

Copyright 2005 Fox News Network, LLC.
Fox News Network
SHOW: FOX HANNITY & CO 9:31 PM EST
January 21, 2005 Friday
TRANSCRIPT: 012103cb.253
SECTION: NEWS; Domestic
LENGTH: 2857 words
HEADLINE: Panel Discusses Protests During Inauguration Day
BYLINE: Sean Hannity; Alan Colmes
GUESTS: Shahid Buttar, Rich Lowry

HANNITY: As we continue on "Hannity & Colmes," I'm Sean Hannity.

Now also coming up tonight, this weekend is the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Now you're going to hear from Dr. Martin Luther King's niece about why she is pushing to overturn the decision.

But first, yesterday's presidential inauguration brought along both cheers and jeers. Protesters packed the protest site along Pennsylvania Avenue to greet President Bush with boos, signs proclaiming the worst president ever.

Police say at least 10 people were arrested during the ceremonies. They even threw a snowball at the vice president's car. But were they effective?

Joining us now from Washington is one of the organizers of yesterday's protest, from the Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency, Shahid Buttar. And also joining us, the editor of National Review, is FOX News contributor Rich Lowry is with us.

All right, Shahid, let me ask you a question. You know, when you yell "racist," "sexist," "anti-gay," "Bush and Cheney go away." Explain to the audience, besides making yourselves look silly, what does that do?

SHAHID BUTTAR, GUERRILLA POETRY INSURGENCY: Well, you may pick a better example. So, for instance, the chant I tend to prefer is "Health care not warfare."

HANNITY: Yes, but, "He's not my president"?

BUTTAR: Or "education not occupation," ideas that actually get means across and thoughts across. We try to educate people.

HANNITY: Yes. But the ones I heard the most, "He's not my presi-dent," "racist," "sexist," "anti-gay," et cetera. I mean, it's sort of the same thing. But I mean, it goes on, and the chanting goes on and on for hours. I'm asking, what impact do you think you're having by doing that?

BUTTAR: Well, let's break it down. There are several constituencies upon which an action might have an impact. And two that I think are often ignored would be the future historical record...

HANNITY: Yes.

BUTTAR: ... laying a foundation for what America actually thought about the swing in current events today and this president's agenda. And then secondly, the international community, and really demonstrating to peoples abroad that Americans as a people can remain good in spite of whatever acts our administration...

(CROSSTALK)

HANNITY: Hey, listen, I think it shows the world that we'll allow anybody to speak no matter how silly they look.

BUTTAR: And that's one thing in which we can all find common ground, I think.

HANNITY: What is the Guerrilla Protest -- oh, I'm sorry, Poetry Insurgency?

BUTTAR: Poetry Insurgency. Yes, we're hip-hop M.C.'s and spoken-word artists and drummers. And we convey our ideas in music. We're musicians committed to peace and justice, and we express that con-viction musically.

HANNITY: And what about the D.C. Anarchist Resistance? And there was some people that got into trouble. There was some people that had to be pepper sprayed.

BUTTAR: There were also a lot of people who didn't need to be pepper sprayed who were.

HANNITY: Well, in your view.

But they wanted to, and they said before this whole thing started, they said, "There's nothing left to salvage in this empire that is the U.S. government. It's time to bring the government down. This January 20th, let's bring anarchy to the streets of D.C. Make resistance visible." Do you support the call for violence like that?

BUTTAR: Well, let me just aggregate that. First, I don't think there is a call for violence in that statement, but even if there were, I would not support it. I do work as an organizer with people with a variety of tactics and convictions.

HANNITY: Let me just correct one thing. This is important. They say, "There's nothing left to salvage in the empire that is the U.S. govern-ment. It's time to bring it down. Bring anarchy to the streets of D.C."

BUTTAR: You may be mischaracterizing...

HANNITY: That is a call for violence. And if you want to be a peaceful protester -- no, it really is.

BUTTAR: It's not. Anarchy doesn't mean violence.

HANNITY: To bring it down means by force.

BUTTAR: Anarchy means a lack of central control. And I think the idea behind the anarchist vision of the world -- and I'll just put out there at the outset it's not one I share -- but the vision is that people will have come to a point culturally that we can regulate ourselves, that people won't abuse each other the way we have historically.

COLMES: Shahid, it's Alan. And Rich Lowry, welcome back to our program.

RICH LOWRY, NATIONAL REVIEW: Hi, Alan.

COLMES: Let me get you in here, Rich.

Protesters, people who oppose the Bush administration, and those who showed up in D.C. come in many different stripes. They don't all agree. The progressive movement is multifaceted. What's your issue with people protesting or speaking up or doing what happened in Washington yesterday?

LOWRY: Well, Alan, I don't have any problem with people speaking up as a general matter. I mean, that's what makes this country great. But the fact is, Alan, there was a lot of goonish behavior yesterday, where you had some protesters -- obviously, not all -- but some throwing rocks, hurling vulgarity and profanity at people who just showed up...

COLMES: Yes, those people were wrong. But by and large...

LOWRY: ... to attend the parade with their families. You had people, protesters deliberately trying to keep people from getting to the parade route so they could enjoy this great civic pageant. And I think an honorable liberal such as yourself, Alan, would deplore that kind of activity.

COLMES: I do deplore that. But here is the game that you play, very effectively. You do take the most extreme...

LOWRY: Well, thank you. At least I play my games effectively, Alan. That's a compliment. Thank you.
[...]

Writing Experiments

Take a poem (someone else's or your own) and translate it "English to English" by substituting word for word, phrase for phrase, line for line, or "free" translation as response to each phrase or sentence. Or translate the poem into another literary style or a different diction, for example into a slang or vernacular. Try a variant of this using the "Babel" engine or other web-based translations engines, such as Free Translation.com.

General cut ups: Write a poem composed entirely of phrases lifted from other sources. Use one source for a poem and then many; try different types of sources: literary, historical, magazines, advertisements, manuals, dictionaries, instructions, travelogues, etc.

Cento: Write a collage made up of full lines of selected source poems.

Serial sentences: Select one sentence each from a variety of different books or other sources. Add sentences of your own composition. Combine into one paragraph, reordering to produce the most interesting results.

"Mad libs." Take a poem (or other source text) and put blanks in place of three or four words in each line, noting the part of speech under each blank. Fill in the blanks being sure not to recall the original context.

Alphabet poems: Make up a poem of 26 words so that each word begins with the next letter of the alphabet. Write another alphabet poem but scramble the letter order.

Collaboration: Write poems with one or more other people, alternating words, lines, or stanzas, writing simultaneously and collaging, rewriting, editing, supplementing the previous version. This can be done in person or via email.

Write a poem in which you try to transcribe as accurately as you can your thoughts while you are writing. Don't edit anything out. Write as fast as you can without planning what you are going to say.

Autopilot: Trying as hard as you can not to think or consider what you are writing, write as much as you can as fast you can without any editing or concern for syntax, grammar, narrative, or logic.

Write a poem with each line filling in the blanks of "I used to be _____ but now I am ______." ("I used to write poems, but now I just do experiments"; "I used to make sense, but now I just make poems.")

Write a poem consisting entirely of overheard conversation.

Nonliterary forms: Write a poem in the form of an index, a table of contents, a resume, an advertisement for an imaginary or real product, an instruction manual, a travel guide, a quiz or examination, etc.

Write a poem without mentioning any objects.

Backwards: Reverse or alter the line sequence of a poem of your own or someone else's. Next, reverse the word order. Rather than reverse, scramble.

Write an autobiographical poem without using any pronouns.

Attention: Write down everything you hear for one hour.

"Pits": Write the worst possible poem you can imagine.

Write poems that conform to various numeric patterns for number of words in a line or sentence, number of lines in a stanza or paragraph, number of stanzas or paragraphs in a work. Alternately, count letters or syllables. Use complex numeric series or simpler fixed-number patterns.

Write a poem just when you are on the verge of falling asleep. Write a line a day as you are falling asleep or waking up.

Write a poem consisting of favorite words or phrases collected over a few days; pick your favorite words from a particular book.

Write a poem consisting entirely of a list of "things", either homogenous or heterogeneous (common lists include shopping lists, things to do, lists of flowers or rocks, lists of colors, inventory lists, lists of names, ...).

Transcription: Tape a phone or live conversation between yourself and a friend. Make a poem composed entirely of transcribed parts.

MORE EXPERIMENTS: Click here!

A Line from My Life

"A blare of sound, a roar of life, a vast array of human hives, reveling in education."

From My Life, by Lyn Hejinian, the author of two of this week's readings. She mentions this poem/book somewhere in the essay on "open" texts.

Anyway, I figured this sentence was rather appropriate for the course.

Student Poetry/Art Journal

Some of you may be interested in submitting:

The _name_ undergraduate poetry/art magazine (out of SUNY Buffalo) is accepting submissions until March 1, 2005. _name_ seeks innovative new work in a variety of styles. A poetry prize will be awarded. Art may include line art, photography, film stills, painting, etc.

See website for details and a link for submissions.

Good luck!

Poetry/Performance Videos and DVDs

*Note: Except where noted, all videos/DVDs available at UCSD Film and Video Library (downstairs SSH).

Art in the Struggle for Freedom (2000, 28 mins)
Documentary about poetry and poster art during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-37. (poetry and political action, literacy, high/low art)

Blast Theory: Selected Works 1994-2000 (2000, 23 mins)
Short segments of longer videos and videotaped performances, including “Kidnap” (about staged kidnappings of willing subjects) and “Choreograph Cop” (appropriated film footage set to music). (interactivity, surveillance, narrative, violence in popular culture)

Fear and the Muse: The Story of Anna Akhmatova (1991, 60 mins)
Documentary about celebrated Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, who lived and wrote poetry in the early 20th century during the Russian Revolution and under Stalin. (art and political action, artists as agents of propaganda, socialist realism)

Gang of Souls (1990, 60 minutes) [*available at Ken Video in Kensington]
“Objective” documentary featuring William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, and other stars of the American Beat Generation. (poetry and Sixties counter-culture, poetic method and inspiration, poetry communities)

John Cage: From Zero (2004, n/a)
Four discrete films based on the work of composer John Cage, including “19 Questions” in which Cage uses chance operations to determine the length (in seconds) of his answers. (music and composition, human-machine interaction, voice and image)

Laurie Anderson: Collected Videos (1990, 60 mins)
Representative works (music/video) from one of the stars of postmodern performance art, featuring “Language is a virus” (based on the famous line by William Burroughs) and “O Superman.” (voice, representation, gender, technology and the body, gesture)

Living Language, The (1989, 60 mins)
Bill Moyers documentary featuring James Autry and Quincy Troupe (former UCSD professor), their poetry, and their respective community arts initiatives. (oral tradition, community organizing)

Slam Nation (1998, 90 mins) [*available at Ken Video in Kensington]
Film chronicling the journey of four New York slam performers to the national slam contest in Portland, Oregon. (spoken word, performance, audience response)

Take a Picture with a Real Indian (2001, 12 mins)
Video recording of performance piece featuring James Luna, who introduces himself as a “real Indian” and invites audience members to pose with him for photgraphs. (representation, consumer culture, audience response)

Towers Open Fire and Other Films (1989, 40 mins) [*available at Ken Video in Kensington]
Four films from the early 1960s featuring William S. Burroughs, Ian Sommerville, Brion Gysin, and Antony Balch, with original scripts by Burroughs. (voice and textuality, outlaw culture, production and method (cut-up), noise and nonsense, psychedelica)

Poetry and Poetics Resources

Short and incomplete list of poetry anthologies and collections of essays on poetics and new media that may be of interest to Communication students.

Allen and Butterick, Eds. (1982). The Postmoderns. [anthology of mid and late 20th century North American poetry]

Amato, Joe (1997). Bookend. [part poetry, part essay on poetry, printing, publishing, new media]

Antin, David (1984). what it means to be avant-garde. [collection of “talk poems,” poetics]

Bernstein, Charles (1986). Content’s Dream. [essays on poetry, poetics, and performance]

Bierhorst, John, Ed. (1984). The Sacred Path: Spells, Prayers and Power Songs of the American Indians. [in English translation]

Codrescu, Andrei, Ed. (1987). Up Late: American Poetry Since 1970. [anthology of American poetry from the last decades of the 20th century]

Hejinian, Lyn (2000). The Language of Inquiry. [essays on poetry and poetic realism in the Russian Formalist tradition]

Hofer, Jen, Ed. (2003). Sin puertas visibles: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Mexican Women. [one of the first collections featuring Mexican women poets translated in English]

Hoover, Paul, Ed. (1994). Postmodern American Poetry. [anthology of mid and late 20th century avant-garde poetry]

Manovich, Lev (2001). The Language of New Media. [history and theory of new media]

Messerli, Douglas, Ed. (1994). From the Other Side of the Century: A New American Poetry 1960-1990. [comprehensive anthology of North American Poetry in the last half of the 20th century]

O’Sullivan, Maggie, Ed. (1996). out of everywhere: linguistically innovative poetry by women in North American and the U.K. [introduction to experimental / innovative poetic forms]

Polkinhorn and Weiss, Eds. (2002). Across the Line / Al Otro Lado: The Poetry of Baja California. [new anthology of poetry by Baja California writers]

Rich, Adrien (1986). Blood, Bread, and Poetry. [selected essays on poetry, politics, and gender representation in academia]

Rothenberg and Joris, Eds. (1995, 1998). Poems for the Millennium, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 [comprehensive anthology of 19th and 20th century poetry from around the world, with useful commentaries]

Rothenberg, Jerome, Ed. (1968). Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia, and Oceania. [much celebrated collection (and history) of poetries, songs, drawings from around the world]

Silliman, Ron (1977). The New Sentence [poetics and political economy]

Poetry Audio

Along with two friends, I run a website that has a large audio archive (including the stuff you heard last friday).

Please visit and listen, in particular to the "Clairvoyant Journals" performance by Hannah Weiner, which we didn't get to in class:

Factory School Audio Archive

(Scroll down to the W's. Note that you will need Real Audio installed on your computer and speakers/headphones.)

Web Sites & Organizations

Adbusters
Showcases culture jamming activities (ad parodies, etc.) from around the world.
Bad Subjects
Journal featuring political and cultural commentary.
Beehive
Journal of web art, visual poetry, and essays on poetics.
deviantArt
Archive/collection of digital artwork.
Electronic Poetry Center
Large resource with links to author pages, representative work, audio files, etc.
Found Magazine
Magazine featuring pictures of "found" materials.
Poems That Go
Journal featuring animated audio-visual poetry.
Online Poetry Classroom
Resource for poetry.
R TM Ark
Another culture jamming initiative focusing on corporate/consumer culture.
Prelinger Archives
Gigantic archive of old government-issue films, advertisements, etc.
Illegal Art
Features artworks generated using copyrighted/trademarked materials.
VozAlta Project
Local (San Diego) organization with space downtown where they hold regular poetry and spoken word events.
San Diego Poetry Guild
Small collective of artists, writers, and poets with occasional events at Korova Coffee Bar (University Heights) and elsewhere, site features audio samples. (I'm a member of this group.)
Los Able Minded Poets
Local (San Diego) hip-hop/spoken word group, site features audio samples.

[please send me links if you find anything out there that would fit on this list]

Reminder for Week Two

Read the first four definitions from Williams's Keywords (art, common, communication, creative) and the two chapters from Carey (both excerpts are in the packet). In reading through the definitions (which are dense, maybe a little dry), pay attention to how the words intersect in meaning. Also pay attention to the ways in which these words, as concepts, have changed in meaning over the years/centuries.

[Note that you want to read, before class, everything that's listed for a given week.]

Bring your assignment (2 pages) to class to hand in. I might ask some of you to share your questions with the rest of us.

Remember to pick your first three choices for the week of your group presentation. On the day of your presentation, you and your fellow team members will briefly present each of the readings and ask a few questions to get us going. You will also bring to class some relevant examples (artifacts, instances, reports) that intersect with the readings in some way. For example, you and your group may go to a spoken word poetry reading and come to class with some stories and analysis. Or you may scour campus for advertising slogans or other "signage" and then report on these as examples of "performative" language. Or you may present a website that deals with social issues addressed in a reading.

The basic idea behind the presentation assignment is to come to class prepared to lead (or at least help lead) class discussion and to bring examples "from the wild" that you think are relevant to the course theme and to communication studies in general. This should be a fun and relatively painless activity, so let me know if you have any questions, concerns, or misgivings and we'll work them out.

Looking forward to class this week!

Syllabus

COGN 150: Poetry, Performance, and Protest
Professor: Bill Marsh
OH: Friday, 8-9am and 12:30-1:30pm
Room: MCC 125
Email: wmarsh@weber.ucsd.edu
Website: http://poperpro.blogspot.com

Overview and Objectives

In this course we will look at varied instances of poetic discourse, performance, and protest as communication activities in situated contexts. Students will explore a range of materials and examples, including political speeches and poetry, music videos, bumper stickers, digital performance art, online gaming communities, protest signage, and various ‘live’ performances such as slam poetry contests and spoken word gatherings. This course is an integrative senior seminar in Communication. We will use course materials (readings and artifacts) to revisit some of the themes, concerns, and questions relevant to the discipline of Communication. A final paper assignment will help guide this work of disciplinary integration. Overall, the course should provide some orientation for future occupations and activities in Communication or related fields.

Required Texts

George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (ISBN 0226468011)
bell hooks, Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (ISBN 0415908116)
Course Packet (Postal Plus Copy Shop, Phone: 452-9933, Email: info@postalplusucsd.com)

Course Requirements

Final Paper (10-12 pages) - 50%
Midterm Writing Assignment - 25%
Class Participation - 25%

Final Paper: On a topic predetermined in conversation with me. Due on the day of our scheduled final exam. Paper should fall in the page range suggested, double-spaced, one-inch margins, Times New Roman 12 point font recommended (preferred). Use a cover page and include some kind of bibliography/reference page (both not included in page total). Cite all secondary source materials, including passages and paraphrased/summarized ideas from class readings. Avoid faulty or overzealous appropriation of outside sources, which could be construed as plagiarism. Please use either MLA or APA format for in-text citations and bibliographical information (general guidelines for both available online or in the library). Papers will be graded on all of the following: content, organization, clarity (language and mechanics).

Midterm Writing Assignment: Three to five page take-home writing assignment based on a set of questions relevant to course readings and class discussions. I will most likely give you questions to choose from, and you will write a short essay in response to one of them. The goal of this assignment is to help move you toward a final paper topic. Material generated from this assignment can be reworked into the final paper, if appropriate.

Class Participation: Includes (1) weekly attendance, (2) active participation in class discussions, (3) working with two or three other students in leading discussion (presenting the readings) one week, and (4) bringing in one or more discussion “artifacts” relevant to your week’s topic and readings. This course is a seminar, and participation is key. I understand that participation can take many forms, including but not limited to a willingness to talk in class. Therefore, find your preferred way, participate in a manner that works best for you, and get in touch with me often to review your progress in the course (door’s open, and email works).

Meetings: COGN 150: Poetry, Performance, and Protest (Marsh, Winter 2005)

Week 1 (January 7): Introductions
Ulin, “Poets Are Heard in Protest” (L.A. Times)
Kravets, “Conviction of Boy Who Wrote Death Poem Is Reversed” (L.A. Times)

Week 2 (January 14): Communication, Art, Creativity
Keywords (Williams): art, common, communication, creative
James Carey, “Introduction” and “A Cultural Approach to Communication”

Week 3 (January 21): Poetry and Democracy
Keywords: democracy
Emerson, “The Poet”
Vološinov, from Marxism and the Philosophy of Language
Silliman, “The Political Economy of Poetry”

Week 4 (January 28): Voice and Textuality
Shklovsky, “Art as Technique”
Hejinian, “Who Is Speaking” and “The Rejection of Closure”
Antin, “a private occasion in a public place”

Week 5 (February 4): Sense and Social Sensibilities
Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (part one)

Week 6 (February 11): Language, Ideology, and Subjectivity
Keywords: individual
Lakoff and Johnson, Metaphors We Live By (part two)
Althusser, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”
Fiske, “Culture, Ideology, Interpellation”

Week 7 (February 18: Identity and Representation
Keywords: media, mediation, popular
Gamson, “The Monster With Two Heads” (from Freaks Talk Back)
McGrath, “Staging the Spectator” (from Loving Big Brother)

Week 8 (February 25): Performance and Performativity
Butler, “Subjects of Sex/Gender/Desire” (from Gender Trouble)
Austin, from How To Do Things With Words
Moser and Law, “Making Voices”

Week 9 (March 4): Protest and Resistance
Keywords: revolution, violence
hooks, Outlaw Culture (part one)

Week 10 (March 11): Conclusions / Questions
hooks, Outlaw Culture (part two)

Greetings

Check here often for syllabus updates, pointers, comments, suggestions, discussion questions, lecture and discussion notes, photos, links, event notices, birthdays, etcetera.

I will post the syllabus any day now.

Note that there is a "comments" feature here. Please use it to ask general questions (to be seen/read by other students) and/or to offer feedback on anything I post. You can also post your own questions, notices, reminders, advertisements, or start a discussion, etc. Don't be shy.

Looking forward to working with you all!