Spring 2006

HIS 383 • History and Social Theory

Course Description

This course introduces students to social theorists whose work has shaped the field of historical inquiry. The readings will pay particular attention to the construction and organization of knowledge, the functions of ideology, and the production of the knowing subject. The first half of the course will follow developments in Marxism and sociology, looking at their contributions to issues of ideology and value formation; the second half of the course will trace a different set of challenges that poststructuralism has posed to the certainty of historical claims. In the end, we will be able to ask if and how a language of ideology - or perhaps of discourse or practice - remains useful to the scholar interested in pursuing questions about the past.

Grading Policy

Class Participation (including discussion and weekly response papers): 35% Short Paper (5-6 pp.) and presentation #1: 30% Short Paper (5-6 pp.) and presentation #2: 30%

Texts

G. W. F. Hegel, "Introduction" to The Philosophy of History Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism Benjamin, Adorno, and Habermas, selections Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction (excerpts) Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish Edward Said, Orientalism Michel Foucault, History of Sexuality, Vol. 1 Ann Laura Stoler, Race and the Education of Desire Jacques Derrida, Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences, and other selections Hayden White and Dominick LaCapra, selections Gayatri Spivak and Homi Bhabha, selections

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