Syllabus: from Marx to Hardt/Negri: academic communist continuity

Marxism and Culture E59.1402 Spring 2007

The purpose of this course is to read a number of key works from western Marxism and to understand the various political and philosophical debates with which they engage. The course emphasizes Marxism as a scholarly methodology for critique, applicable across disciplines. Particular attention is given to the so-called cultural turn in twentieth-century Marxist thought, including Marx's influence on feminism, identity, and theories of representation. Themes include: the commodity, alienation and reification, surplus value, ideology, hegemony, and subjectivity.



January 16--Course Introduction.


I. "The History of Capital and Class Struggle"

January 18--Karl Marx, Capital, pp. 873-907.

January 23--Karl Marx, Capital, pp. 908-940.


II. "The Young Marx"

January 25--Karl Marx, "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts" in Early Writings, pp. 279-309.

January 30--Karl Marx, "Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts" in Early Writings, pp. 322-334, 345-358, and 375-379.

February 1--Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto, pp. 218-258.


III. "Commodities and Reification"

February 6--Karl Marx, Capital, pp. 89-103 and 125-153.

February 8--Karl Marx, Capital, pp. 154-209.


IV. "Surplus Value and Reproduction"

February 13--Karl Marx, Capital, pp. 247-257, 270-306, and 320-329.

February 15--Karl Marx, Capital, pp. 429-454 and 544-564.

February 20--Karl Marx, Capital, pp. 675-682 and 709-724.


February 22--Midterm Exam.


V. "The Cultural Turn"

February 27--Georg Lukács, "What is Orthodox Marxism?" (Reader).

March 1--Walter Benjamin, "The Author As Producer" (Reader).


VI. "Social Realism"

March 6--Vittorio De Sica, The Bicycle Thief (screening--part one); Karl Marx, "Letter to Ruge" in Early Writings, pp. 206-209.

March 8--Vittorio De Sica, The Bicycle Thief (screening--part two); Karl Marx, "Concerning Feurbach" and "Preface" in Early Writings, pp. 421-428.


March 13 and 15 (spring break)


VII. "Hegemony and Ideology"

March 20--Louis Althusser, "Ideology and State Ideological Apparatuses," pp. 56-75 (Reader).

March 22--Louis Althusser, "Ideology and State Ideological Apparatuses," pp. 76-95 (Reader).

March 27--Stuart Hall, "The Problem of Ideology: Marxism Without Guarantees" (Reader).

March 29--Stuart Hall, "Notes on Deconstructing the Popular" (Reader).

April 3--Chantal Mouffe, "Hegemony and Ideology in Gramsci" (Reader).

April 5--Donna Haraway, "'Gender' for a Marxist Dictionary" (Reader).

April 10--Fredric Jameson, "Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture" (Reader).


VIII. "After the Berlin Wall"

April 12--Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire, preface and pp. 3-30.

April 17--Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire, pp. 31-63.

April 19--Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire, pp. 137-159.

April 24--Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire, pp. 203-218, 280-300.


April 26--Final Exam.



EVALUATION

The course contains midterm and final examinations. Each exam will be in-class and will follow a short-answer, written format. Students will also be evaluated according to their class participation. All course work and participation should demonstrate a close reading of the required materials and exhibit a method of critical analysis.



REQUIRED MATERIALS

Course Reader
Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Empire (Cambridge: Harvard, 2000).
Karl Marx, Early Writings (London: Penguin, 1974).
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto (London: Penguin, 2002).
Karl Marx, Capital, Vol. 1 (London: Penguin, 1976).