ClassInfo

Culture, the titular topic of this course, is a broad, fuzzy, and difficult to define concept. We might include such disparate elements as art, music, technology, food, tradition, religion, ideas, worldviews, behaviors, customs, stories, myths, and any other socially connective phenomena. While culture will be the subject of our course, we will not be trying to tackle the entirety of culture's existence or function. Instead, we will look at a particular structure to identify shifts in ideas, frameworks, and perspectives.

In this course we will focus specifically on the manifesto as a cultural form. The first question to ask is what is a manifesto? What marks a manifesto as different from an essay, a poem, or a strongly worded letter? In French manifeste (manifesto) is both a noun and verb; in other words, to write a manifesto is to bring that thing into existence (i.e. to "manifest" it). The manifesto, as a form, is a material act, an attempt to change or create.We will look at the manifesto as a uniquely modern form, tracing its history from the early modern period to the present day. How do these texts attempt to bring something new into existence and how can we connect them to the modernist impulse? How can we use a study of this deliberately incisive medium to identify ideological change? We will use the manifesto to frame our understanding of modernism and postmodernism, and the difference between them. Our course will place particular emphasis on arts manifestos, putting such texts in conversation with the artistic output of their authors.

If our preliminary hypothesis is correct - - that through studying the manifesto we may come to understand something essential about culture in modernity - - then this form will be an excellent tool for tying together the various artifacts that make up the nebulous mass of Culture with a capital C. But beyond that, the manifesto will also serve as a tool for personal reflection or excavation - - the sharp edges of the manifesto (its polemical and provocative aspects) should be useful in uncovering our own core values. Each of you will finish the course by writing your own manifesto.

We will leave this semester together with a better understanding of the manifesto as a historically specific form. We will also work to understand the slippery conceptual difference between modernism and postmodernism, within an artistic, political, and epistemological context. I hope we will also leave this course with a better understanding of our own politics and values and how they relate to a variety of movements, both artistic and political.

What is a Grade?

A Exceptional work, creative, original, and well-written

B Good work, exceeds course requirements

This course is grounded in the idea that we are all immersed in cultures that we use and enjoy, but that also influence our ideas about gender, sex, race, ethnicity, and class. Historically, such cultural constructions have also served to divide individuals, nations, and regions. Such divisions are at the core of this class, which examines how culture is and has been theorized. This class will take that into consideration, examining how culture is considered, constructed, and then practiced in the experiment of the Soviet Union, with the understanding that rhetoric surrounding the Soviet Union has long been shaped by the West's ideological opposition to its tenets, resulting in its exclusion from popular discourse.

Our study of cultural objects and projects includes films, novels, historical documents, magazines, television, clothing, and foods, although it is certainly not limited to these things. Over the course of the semester, we will investigate (1) the role played and work done by cultural objects in creating and maintaining a Soviet culture and (2) why the Soviet Union had a vested interest in theorizing, constructing, and practicing a unique, entirely new culture. This approach is meant to be interdisciplinary, using multiple access points to provide a foundational understanding of the discipline of cultural studies.

By the end of the semester, you will have:

1. Developed the tools to read and interpret a cultural text.

2. Learned how to perform a close reading of a text.

3. Learned how to engage critically with a text in discussion.

4. Fulfilled the University of Minnesota's Writing Intensive Course and Liberal Education requirements.