PLPT 8500: American Political Cultures

University of Virginia Department of Politics

PLPT 8500: American Political Cultures Fall 2013

Professor Lawrie Balfour Tues. 6:00-8:30 S395 Gibson 042 New Cabell Hall Office hours: Wed. 10:30-12:30 924-4631 or by appointment

This course explores the idea of "democracy in America" through a comparative reading of canonical works of American political thought and contemporary critical studies of American political culture. We will explore the promise, limitations, and fundamental contradictions of the United States as liberal democracy, slave regime, and empire. Among the themes we will address are: revolution and order, citizenship and exclusion, freedom and domination, memories and futures, and aesthetics and politics. This is an interdisciplinary seminar, and graduate students from across the humanities and social sciences are welcome.

Required Texts: The readings marked by an asterisk in the syllabus are available through Collab. In addition, the following books are available for purchase at the bookstore and have been placed on reserve at Clemons Library:

Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, The Federalist Papers (Penguin) Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Harper Perennial) Herman Melville, Benito Cereno (Bedford) Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom (Penguin) Saidiya Hartman, Scenes of Subjection (Oxford) Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Iola Leroy (Penguin) W. E. B. Du Bois, Darkwater (Dover) Danielle Allen, Talking to Strangers (Chicago) Toni Morrison, Paradise (Plume) Paul Apostolidis, Breaks in the Chain (Minnesota) Bonnie Honig, Emergency Politics (Princeton)

Course Requirements

Writing: There are two writing requirements for the class: weekly reading responses and one term paper.

Before noon on the day of the seminar, you will submit a reflection paper on the week’s readings to Collab. These essays should be approximately 500 words long and are intended to give you an opportunity to develop an argument about a central issue or issues in the assigned texts. You may address a question from the reading, link the reading to a theme from previous weeks, and/or respond to an argument or question advanced by a post from another student. I encourage you to read and print all of the responses before class. You may take one pass during the semester and are not required to submit a reflection when you are presenting. The term paper should be approximately 20 pages on a topic of your choosing. You may focus exclusively on one or more of the assigned texts or connect a theme or question from the course to texts beyond the class. The aim is for you to link some aspect of the seminar to your own research interests. I urge you to begin thinking about possible topics and to consult with me about them as early as possible. The paper will be due at noon on Friday, 12/13.

Participation: Each student is expected to come to class prepared and ready to engage with the material and with her/his classmates. At least once during the semester (depending on enrollment), it will be your responsibility to prepare a presentation on the day’s readings. A successful presentation combines some brief introductory remarks, lasting no more than 10 minutes, with questions for class discussion. These presentations should not rehearse the main ideas in the assignment; instead, it will be your job to identify questions for us to consider, to stimulate and to lead the discussion.

Grades will be determined as follows: Participation (including weekly responses): 40% Presentation: 20% Final paper: 40%

Reading and Class Schedule

I. FOUNDINGS

August 27: Introduction

September 3: “Declaration of Independence”*; Hannah Arendt, “Foundation I: Constitutio Libertatis"*; Jacques Derrida, “Declarations of Independence"*; Bonnie Honig, “Declarations of Independence: Arendt and Derrida on the Problem of Founding a Republic”*

September 10: The Federalist Papers (#1-10, 14, 23, 39, 42, 49-51, 54, 57); Sheldon Wolin, "Tending and Intending a Constitution"*; Dana Nelson, "Purity Control"*; Jason Frank, “Publius and Political Imagination”*

II. DEMOCRACY, SLAVERY, EMPIRE

September 17: Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Vol. I, Author’s Introduction; pt. I, ch. 3-4; pt. II, ch. 6-7, 9, 10; Vol. II, Preface; pt. I, ch.1-5; pt. II, ch. 1-5, 8, 13; pt. III, ch.12; pt. IV, ch. 1- 3, 6-8); William Apess, “Eulogy on King Philip” (http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/apess- eulogy-speech-text/ ); Michael Rogin, "Liberal Society and the Indian Question"*

September 24: Herman Melville, Benito Cereno; Sundquist, "Melville, Delany, and New World Slavery"*

October 1: Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom October 8: Saidiya Hartman, Scenes of Subjection

October 15: No Class—Fall Break!

III. REFOUNDING I: FIRST RECONSTRUCTION

October 22: Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, Iola Leroy; Plessy v. Ferguson*; Lauren Berlant, "The Queen of America Goes to Washington City"*

October 29: W. E. B. Du Bois, Darkwater

November 5: Screening of Birth of a Nation completed in class; Michael Rogin, "'The Sword Became a Flashing Vision'"*

IV. REFOUNDING II: SECOND RECONSTRUCTION

November 12: Brown v. Board of Education*; Danielle Allen, Talking to Strangers; Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle*

November 19: Toni Morrison, Paradise

V. DEMOCRATIC FUTURES?

November 26: Paul Apostolidis, Breaks in the Chain

December 3: Bonnie Honig, Emergency Politics