AMST 66B: American Scholars: Public Intellectuals in American Life

AMST 66b: American Scholars: Public Intellectuals in American Life Maura Jane Farrelly Tues./Fri., 12:30-1:50 Location: Brown 218 Office hours: Brown, 303, Tu/Fri, 10am-12pm, or by appointment Email: [email protected]

This course will examine the role and the influence of public intellectuals in American society. The primary focus will be on the 20th and 21st centuries, although students will explore the work of some of America’s first “home-grown” public intellectuals in the 19th century, as well. Students will be asked to consider what constitutes an “intellectual” body of work, and how and why that body of work might be rendered relevant to a mass audience. In addition to exploring the ideas that have been put forth by some of the most influential public intellectuals in American life, students will be challenged to explore the impact the modern university has had on public intellectualism; the role the broadcast and Internet media are playing in the making of public intellectuals; whether and how pundits are different from public intellectuals; and the benefits and drawbacks to taking one’s work to the public, or venturing outside one’s established and credentialed discipline.

Readings:

All of the readings have been posted on LATTE. The volume by Edward Said is also available in the bookstore. Additionally, you may wish to purchase full copies of the books we’ll be reading excerpts of, as the books will say something intriguing about you later in life, when people come into your home and see them on your bookshelves. ;-)

Requirements:

1. Class attendance and participation: This means that you must come to class, and that you must read the required assignments and think about them before coming to class. Because this is a University Seminar, it is particularly important that you answer questions when asked and offer your own brilliant and insightful questions/commentary. If you are shy, come and speak to me, and we can talk about ways of getting you over that hurdle. I understand shyness, but I will not accept it as an excuse for a lack of participation. Nor, of course, will I accept ill- preparation as an excuse. Class participation will be 10% of your grade.

2. Once the “shopping” period is over and the student roster for the course is settled, I will randomly assign each student in the class one (or maybe two… depending upon how the numbers work out) public intellectual from the assigned reading list. Before we begin our close reading and analysis of each work on the syllabus, then, the student who has been assigned to the intellectual whose work we’re considering will give us a brief biography of the intellectual, along with some context on where the assigned reading “fits” in his or her career and/or overall body of thought (Is the text we’re considering the work that put the intellectual “on the map,” so to speak? Or did he or she already have a reputation as a leading thinker in the U.S. before the text came out? Is the assigned text a fairly typical example of his or her thinking? Does the text represent the intellectual’s first foray into a particular argument or line of thought? Does the argument in the piece represent the intellectual’s thinking at the end of his or her life – or, if he or she is still alive, does it represent the intellectual’s thinking now? That sort of thing…).

These presentations will be oral, but students will be expected to submit a written version of their oral presentation to the instructor (via email) at least 24 hours before the scheduled date of the oral presentation. Students, then, will be graded on the quality of both the written and oral versions of their presentations. When making their oral presentations, students are strongly encouraged not to read from the written presentation; you can look at notes, but don’t bore us! Shoot for a presentation that is approximately 10 minutes long. Your grade (or grades) on these presentations will constitute 10% of your final grade.

3. Reading-based writing assignments: Students will be required to write three, 3-5 page evaluations of the ideas put forth by one of the public intellectuals featured on the syllabus. The evaluation of a particular intellectual will be due on the day that intellectual’s ideas are scheduled to be discussed in class. I will not accept late versions of these 3-5 page papers; if you are unable to turn something in on the day a particular intellectual is scheduled to be discussed, you will have to choose a different intellectual. A question has been provided after each set of readings to help students structure their evaluations. Although students are free to choose which intellectual they wish to evaluate, they must choose at least one intellectual from the period between 1900 and the 1950s, and at least one intellectual from the period between the 1960s and today. Each paper will make up 10% of your final grade (30% total)

4. A mid-term exam that will count for 25% of your final grade.

5. A final exam that will count for 25% of your final grade.

A Note on Late Papers and Plagiarism:

All of the work that you turn in to me must be your own. If you are even slightly unclear about what, exactly, constitutes plagiarism, I encourage you to come and speak to me before you begin writing any of your papers. As stated earlier, late papers will not be accepted. Syllabus:

Fri., Jan. 12th: Hello

Intellectuals: Who they are and what they do Tue., Jan. 16th: Said, Representations of the Intellectual (1994), intro, chps. 1, 2, and 5 Fri., Jan. 19th: Said, Representations… chaps. 3,4, and 6

Public Intellectuals: How They are Different Tue., Jan. 23rd: Steven Mailloux, “Thinking in Public with Rhetoric,” Philosophy and Rhetoric (2006) [available on ProjectMuse, http://muse.jhu.edu]; Richard Hofstadter, excerpts from Anti-Intellectualism in American Life (1963)

America’s First Public Intellectuals Fri., Jan. 26th: Emerson, “The American Scholar” (1837) Tue., Jan. 30th: Thoreau, “On Resistance to Government, Parts One, Two, and Three (1849)

Public Intellectualism, 1900-1950s:

Democracy

Fri., Feb. 2nd: Jane Addams, excerpts from Democracy and Social Ethics (1902) QUESTION: How does Addams define “democracy”? What potential does she believe it has – and what factors can frustrate the realization of this potential?

Tue., Feb. 6th: Walter Lippmann, excerpts from The Phantom Public (1925) QUESTION: Does Lippmann have faith in the American democratic system? Why or why not?

Fri., Feb. 9th: John Dewey, excerpts from The Public and its Problems (1927) QUESTION: How is Dewey’s work a refutation of the ideas put forth by Lippmann in The Phantom Public?

Race Tue., Feb. 13th: W.E.B. Dubois, excerpts from The Souls of Black Folk (1903) QUESTION: What kind of educational reforms does Dubois advocate? What challenges do advocates of this kind of reform face?

Religion Fri., Feb. 16th: Walter Rauschenbush, excerpts from Christianity and the Social Crisis (1908) QUESTION:What does Rauschenbush believe is “unchristian” about a capitalist system like the one in the United States at the turn of the 20th Century? Tue., Feb. 20th: NO CLASS (WINTER BREAK) Fri., Feb. 23rd: NO CLASS (WINTER BREAK)

Midterm Exam Tue., Feb. 27th: Today you will take your mid-term exams

Socialism, Communism, and Totalitarianism Fri. Mar. 2nd: Langston Hughes, “One More ‘S’ in the U.S.A.” (1934); Dorothy Day, excerpts from From Union Square to Rome (1938) QUESTION: What are some of the ideals and attributes of Communism that Dorothy Day admires? Why, in spite of this, does she ultimately believe Communism is inadequate?

Tue., Mar.6th: Arthur Schlesinger, excerpts from The Vital Center (1949); Hannah Arendt, excerpts from The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) QUESTION: What threat does Schlesinger believe Communism poses to the United States? What does he think is America’s best defense against Communism? Under what circumstances does Arendt believe totalitarianism thrives?

Fri., Mar. 9th: NO CLASS (Rather than meet during our normal class time this day, we will meet during a pre-determined evening this week to watch a film about life under a totalitarian regime, “Das Leben Der Anderen” [in English, “The Lives of Others”], winner of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film)

The Academy Tue., Mar. 13th: Upton Sinclair, excerpts from The Goose-Step: A Study of American Education (1922) QUESTION: What lessons does Sinclair believe students at American universities are learning – and why are they learning them? What lessons would he like to see them learn instead?

Public Intellectualism: 1960s – present

The Academy Fri., Mar. 16th: Russell Jacoby, The Last Intellectuals (1987), chps. 1,2,5,7 QUESTION: What impact does Jacoby believe the growth and expansion of universities has had on America’s intellectual landscape?

Tue., Mar. 20th: Todd Gitlin, excerpts from The Intellectuals and the Flag (2006) QUESTION: What hole does Gitlin think modern-day liberal intellectuals have fallen into? Why have they fallen into this hole, and why is he concerned?

Democracy Fri., Mar. 23rd: Jean Bethke Elshtain, excerpts from Democracy on Trial (1995) QUESTION: What threat does individualism, when mixed with the “Ideology of Progress,” pose to democracy, according to Elshtain? Race Tue. Mar. 27th: Cornel West, excerpts from Race Matters (1993) QUESTION: What does West believe is the greatest crisis facing black America? What are the immediate causes of this crisis? Fri., Mar. 30th: NO CLASS (Passover/Easter Recess) Tue. Apr. 3rd: NO CLASS (Passover/Easter Recess) Fri., Apr. 6th: NO CLASS (Passover/Easter Recess) Tue. Apr. 10th: Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations,” Atlantic, (2014)

Religion Fri., Apr. 13th: Alan Wolfe, excerpts from The Transformation of American Religion (2003) QUESTION: In what ways does Wolfe believe the practice of religion in America has changed over the course of the last 40 years? What are some of the causes of this change?

Tue., Apr. 17th: Christopher Hitchens, excerpts from God is Not Great (2007) QUESTION: What does Hitchens mean when he says religion “poisons” everything? How might he respond to those who point to some of the more progressive (dare we say “good”?) things that have been accomplished by people of faith throughout recent history?

The New World Order (post-Socialism, Communism, and Totalitarianism?) Fri., Apr. 20th: Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History,” (1989) QUESTION: What does Fukuyama mean by “history” when he speaks of the “end of history”? What proof does he offer that the end is near?

Tue., Apr. 24th: Noam Chomsky, “The New World Order,” (1991) QUESTION: What role does Chomsky predict the United States will play in the New World Order? Why will the U.S. play this role?

Wed., Apr. 25th : “Brandeis Friday” – CATCH-UP DAY