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16.070.519 Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi 1

Anthropology 519 , Power and Political Form ! (The of Politics) Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University Instructor: Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi Class time: Mondays 2:55 - 5:55 o’clock Email: [email protected] Office: RAB 309, Hours: Mo. 12:30-1:30, Thurs. 12:30-1:30 Phone: (732) 932 98 86 Location of course: RAB 302 !Credits: 3 Semester: Spring 2016 Pre-requisites: 101 This seminar situates politics around other tensions than the friend-foe binary, which Carl Schmitt argued, at the beginning of the 20th century, was the elementary foundation of the political. We will engage comparatively a selection of ethnographic accounts and theories that focus on alternative political forms. “Political form” here means broadly the various social and cultural configurations that organize collective and individual life vis-a-vis the exercise of power and the construction of authority. We will try to account for the diversity of various conceptions of what constitutes the political and the effects of these conceptions on the of society. Such an approach implies both a sensitivity to the changes that accompanied the emergence of modern states with their administrative technologies (populations, nations, elections) and to the social forms (authoritarian, monarchical, democratic, totalitarian) that grew out of the use of the modern state form of organizing territory and people. The course will consider the gains and losses accrued through colonialism, independence movements, and the embrace of social transformation. Theoretical debates will include a reflection on patriarchic authority, political theology, the nationalization of religious belonging, genocide and collective violence as it relates to group solidarity or dissolution, regulated anarchy in stateless societies (segmentary organization), and chief systems, as well as the anonymous mass. The seminar will pay particular attention to how political form becomes imminent in everyday !practice, bodies, sensory experiences, memories, and identifications. General Reference Works in English: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, David L. Sills, editor. (as far s I know this classic reference work has not been digitalized) Encyclopedia of Social and , edited by Alan Barnard and Jonathan Spencer, Routledge. (Call number: GN307.E53 1996)

Below is an list of edited volumes and introductory monographs incompletely covering the Anthropology of Politics, the of the State, of the Political, and of Law. The syllabus does not make specific reference to these materials in the weekly reading assignments or in the recommended sections. It is useful to view, browse, skim, and generally remain aware, of such broader works. These readings are supplementary, not central for particular weekly themes in this course. As they might be useful for general reference you can consult them in various !libraries.

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!Selection of Edited Volumes for Political Anthropology, include: 1. Michael Banton. ed. 1965. Political Systems and the Distribution of Power. In A.S.A. Monographs. London: Tavistock Publications. 2. Joan Vincent. ed. 2002. Anthropology and Politics: A Reader in Ethnography, Theory, and Critique, Blackwell. 3. Joan Vincent and David Nugent. eds. 2004. A Companion to the Anthropology of Politics, Blackwell. 4. . ed. 2005. Law and Anthropology: A Reader, Blackwell. 5. Aradhana Sharma and Akhil Gupta. ed. 2006. The Anthropology of the State: a reader, Blackwell. 6. Daniel Goldstein and Enrique Desmond Arias. 2010. Violent Democracies in Latin America (The Cultures and Practice of Violence). Durham: Duke University Press. 7. James Carrier. 2005. Handbook of Economic Anthropology. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 8. Massimiliano Mollona, Geert de Neve and Jonathan Parry. 2009. Industrial ! Work and Life: An Anthropological Reader. Oxford: Berg. !Monographs for Political Anthropology, include: 1. Robert Lowie. 1927. The Origin of the State. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company. 2. Isaac Shapera. 1956. Government and Politics in Tribal Society. NY: Schocken Books. 3. Lucy Mair. 1962. Primitive Government. Penguin Books. 4. Victor Turner, Marc J. Swartz and Arthur Tuden. 1966. Political Anthropology. New Brunswick: Aldine Transactions. 5. George Balandier. 1970. Political Anthropology. New York: Vintage Books. 6. Joan Vincent. 1990. Anthropology and Politics: Visions, Traditions, and Trends. University of Arizona Press 7. Donald Kurtz. 2001. Political Anthropology: Paradigms and Power. Westview Press. !8. Ted C. Lewellen. 2003. Political Anthropology: An Introduction. Westport: Praeger. !Books for Purchase for this Course Books are available at the main store on Reserve at Mable Smith Douglass Library and can be !bought at the Rutgers University Bookstore: 1. Abdellah Hammoudi. 1997. Master and Disciple: The Cultural Foundations of Moroccan Authoritarianism. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-31528-2 2. Maurice Godelier. 1986. The Making of Great Men: Male domination and power among the New Guinea Baruya. Translated by Rupert Swyer. Cambridge University Press (Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme). ISBN 0-521-31212-4 3. François Bizot. 2003[2000]. The Gate. Translated by Euan Cameron. Foreword by ! John Le Carré. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0375727238 !

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MOVING IMAGES: Barbet Schroeder. 1974. Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait, 1hr 30 min Filip de Boeck. 2010. Cemetery State, 1hr 12 min Jean Rouch. 1955. Les Maitres Fous, 28 min Dino Risi. 1971. Noi donne siamo fatte cosi, 1hr 52 min Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson. 1989. Joe Leahy’s Neigbhors, 1hr 30 min Tobias Wendl and Daniela Weise. 1988, Mami Wata: Der Geist der Weißen Frau, 45 min. Carmen Losmann. 2011. Work Hard, Play Hard, min. 1hr 30 min. ! John Carpenter. 1988. They Live, 1hr 34 min. READING LOAD: Varies, but maximally 200 pages/week. All required books are on Course Reserves (The Anthropology of Politics, 519) at Mable Smith Douglass Library (8 Chapel Drive, New Brunswick, DC) and selected readings are posted on Sakai. It is advisable to buy most if not all of the classic texts (e.g. at the Rutgers University Bookstore), as they might be of use in the future and frequently become unavailable (unlike edited volumes mentioned above, which apparently remain available till the end of times and hence need not be bought). Please inform me !immediately if the books are either not available for purchase or not on Library Reserve. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING CRITERIA: The seminar will be discussion driven. Hence it is vitally important that you come to class having read and screened all class materials (this includes movies). Final paper (40%), max. 15-20 pages, due by May 11th. Class Participation (40%) and Précis (10%) and Powerpoint Presentation (10%). There will also be due an Obligatory Homework the weekend after Spring break March 21st. as part of the preparation for the presentation and completion of final paper (see below the week after spring recess). Attendance in each class is required (no more than two class absences are acceptable in one semester). If you miss a class please consult student !colleagues. Précis: Students have to hand in the short précis (1-2 pages) every week during the semester at least one day before the class, i.e. on Sunday (24 hours before class begin). For the first and last week of class this imperative is canceled. The précis offers the instructor material documentation of the student’s independent work outside of class. While précis might not be regularly discussed in class, they can be revised and discussed in office hours (in which case you need to bring it to the !office). Powerpoint Presentation: In the last week of class, and as preliminary preparation for the final paper, every participant of the seminar will offer a short presentation (5-10 minutes) that begins an analysis of a populist leader in the contemporary world whether deceased or dead. The presentation is to be short, and sufficiently humble, but focused on aligning some of the elements learned to an emerging analytic narrative. This exercise practices concise articulation, application of theoretical concepts, and the balanced use of various visual material (video, images, photographs, webpages). The presentation should be geared towards the class community to foster discussion. During the semester, all participants of the seminar will be expected to spontaneously

3 16.070.519 Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi 4 introduce and lead discussion in which they should minimally delineate directions for argumentation and critique of the text relevant for the week. Content questions of the texts should be addressed in discussion or in précis. The readings given in the recommended sections of the syllabus are not selected as aids for clarification of the weeks’ themes. They are merely offered as future references for those students who want to enter more deeply into the matters at hand. For intellectual help, please refer to the general reference work presented above. This seminar strives to build intellectual community through mutual challenge with as little antagonism as possible. Participants of the seminar are expected to be respectful to one another !and generous with their insights especially when they fundamentally disagree with one another. COURSE OBJECTIVES: To provide graduate-level competency in comparative political form, theory in political anthropological, indigenous conception of power, dominance, and authority; elementary forms of authority (primitive-civilized, master-slave, friend-foe, father-son), legitimate and illegitimate forms of authority, and political phenomena in relation to culture, history, and society. Students will learn to comprehensively read diverse theoretical approaches to politics while practicing critical discussion, argumentation, dispute, and appraisal of modern and classic anthropological and other work. One reason to engage theory is to show its inadequacy in accounting for the realities in the world. Another is to supplement descriptions of the world that without theory are equally inadequate and naïve. The course will remains sensitive to diverse national traditions of theorizing politics, conceptions of culture and society. To help advanced students gain proficiency in the use of critical thinking skills in their assessment of analytical texts on politics, history, society and culture, political theory, anthropological and ethnographic theory, media representation, and psychoanalysis. To provide students with the training of reading and presentation skills, the use of central concepts, and a comparative approach to politics, as well as cultural and social difference. To provide students with the academic tools for specialized work through the use of professional !dictionaries and encyclopedias. !

4 16.070.519 Parvis Ghassem-Fachandi 5 ! !Week 1. (Mo. January 25) Origins: Primitive-Civilized, Master-Slave

Jean Jacques Rousseau. 1754 [2011]. Discourse On the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men, pp. 27-122, esp. pp. 45-92. In Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Basic Political Writings. Second Edition. Translated and edited by Donald A. Cress. [47 pages] Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. 1807 [1977]. Independence and Dependence of Self-Consciousness: Lordship and Bondage, Segment B (Self-Consciousness), Section IV, B, pp. 111-119 (§178-196). In Phenomenology of Spirit, translated by A.V. Miller. Oxford: . [8 pages] George Balandier. 1965[1968]. Master and Slave. Chapter 7, pp. 180-209, In Daily Life in the Kingdom of the Kongo: From the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. New York: Pantheon Books [29 pages] John Hemming. 1970. Cajamarca, Chapter 1, pp. 23-45. In The Conquest of the Incas. ! New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. [22 pages] Recommended: Ibn Battutah. 1355.[2002]. The City of Dihli and Muhammad ibn Tughluq, Chapter 9, pp. 161-181. In The Travels of Ibn Battutah. Edited by Tim Mackintosh-Smith. Abridged from translation by Sir Hamilton Gibb !and C.F. Beckingham (1958). London: Picador [20 pages] !Week 2. (Mo. February 1) !Origins: Friend-Foe, Father-Son Carl Schmitt. 1932 [1996]. The Concept of the Political, pp.19-79. In The Concept of the Political. Expanded Editions. Translated by George Schwab. Chicago: University of Chicago press. [60 pages] Freud, Sigmund. 1912/1913 [1950]. The Return of Totemism in Childhood, Chapter IV, pp. 100-161 (the emphasis is on sections 4-7, i.e. pp. 132-161). In Totem and Taboo: Some points of agreement between the mental lives of savages and neurotics. London: ! Routledge & Kegan Paul. [29 pages] Recommended: . 1961. Pietas in Ancestor Worship. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland !91 (2). pp. 166-191 !Week 3. (Mo. February 8) Political Theology: Order and Aesthetics

Clifford Geertz. 1983. Centers, Kings, and Charisma: Reflections on the Symbolics of Power. In Local Knowledge: Further Essays in Interpretative Anthropology. Basic Books, Chapter 6, pp. 121-146 [25 pages] Benedict Anderson. 1990 [2006]. The Idea of Power in Javanese Culture, Part

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1 (Power), pp. 17-77. In Language and Power: Exploring Political Cultures in Indonesia. Jakarta: Equinox (originally Cornell University Press). [60 pages] James T. Siegel. 1986. A Neighborhood in the New Order: Hierarchy and Social Order. In Solo in the New Order: Language and Hierarchy in an Indonesian City, Chapter, pp. 34-58 [24 pages] Joshua Barker. 2009. Negara Beling: Street-Level Authority in an Indonesian Slum. In Gerry van Klinken and Joshua Barker (eds.). State of Authority: State in Society in ! Indonesia. Ithaca, NY: SEAP Publications, pp. 47-72 [15 pages] Recommended: Ernst H. Kantorowicz. 1957 [1997]. The King’s Two Bodies: A Study in Medieval Political Theology. Princeton University Press; Clifford Geertz 1980. Negara: The Theater State in Nineteenth Century Bali. Princeton !University Press !Week 4. (Mo. February 15) !Acephalous Power Meyer Fortes and E. Evan Evans-Pritchard. 1940[1964]. African Political Systems, Preface (by Radcliffe Brown), pp. i-xxiii, and Introduction, pp. 1-23. London: Oxford University Press. [46 pages in toto] E.E. Evans-Pritchard. 1940. The Nuer of the Southern Sudan, pp. 272-296. In African Political Systems, London: Oxford University Press. [24 pages] E.E. Evans-Pritchard. 1971. Spirit and the Social Order, Chapter III, pp. 106-122 . In Nuer Religion,. New York: Oxford University Press [18 pages] . 1980[2010]. Archeology of Violence: War in Primitive Societies, Chapter 11, pp. 237-277. In Archeology of Violence, by Pierre Clastres. Translated by ! Jeanine Hermans, Semiotext(e). [40 pages] Recommended: E.E. Evans-Pritchard. 1971. Some Reflections on Nuer Religion, Chapter XIII, pp. 311–322. In Nuer Religion,. New York: Oxford University Press. [11 pages]; Sharon Elaine Hutchinson. 2002. Nuer Ethnicity Militarized, Chapter 2, pp. 39-52. In The Anthropology of Politics: A Reader in the Ethnography, Theory, and Critique. Edited by Joan Vincent; Eduardo Viveiros de Castro. 1980 [2010]. The Untimely Again, Introduction, pp. 9-49. In Archeology of Violence, by Pierre Clastres, Translated by Jeanine Hermans, Semiotext(e).

!Week 5. (Mo. February 22) !Mimesis and Fetish Elizabeth Colson. 1969. Spirit Possession among the Tonga of Zambia. In Spirit Mediumship and Society in Africa, pp. 69-103. John Beattie and John Middleton (eds.). London: Routledge. [34 pages] Fritz Kramer. 1987[1993]. Foreword, pp. vii-xiii, The Tonga and the world of the migrant worker [and following sections], pp. 116-137, and Trans-Saharan comparison of mimesis, pp. 240-257. In The Red Fez. On Art and Possession in Africa. Translated by Malcolm R. Greene. Verso [43 pages in toto] Michael T. Taussig. 1980. Fetishism and Dialectical Deconstruction, Chapter 1, pp.

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3-12 and The Devil and Commodity Fetish, Chapter 2, pp. 13-38 and The Devil and the Cosmogenesis of Capitalism,Chapter 5, pp. 93-111 and The Devil in the Mines, Chapter 8. pp. 143-154. In The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America, &. Chapel Hill: The University of North Caroline Press. [53 pages]

Documentary # 1: Jean Rouch, Les Maîtres Fous [English version: “The Mad Masters”], (1955) Documentary # 2: Tobias Wendl and Daniela Weise, Mami Wata: Der Geist der weißen Frau[English !version: Mami Wata: The Ghost of the White Woman], (1988) !Week 6. (Mo. February 29) !Malevolent Power John Middleton. 1955. The Concept of ‘Bewitching’ in Lugbara. Africa, 25, 3, pp. 252-260. [8 pages] Jean and . 2004. Criminal Justice, Cultural Justice: The Limits of Liberalism and the Pragmatics of Difference in the New South Africa. American Ethnologist, 31(2):188-204. [16 pages] Peter Geschiere. 2006. Witchcraft and the Limits of the Law: Cameroon and South Africa. In Law and Disorder in the Postcolony, Chapter 6, pp. 219-246. eds. J. Comaroff and J.L Comaroff. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. [27 pages] James. T. Siegel. 2006. Suharto, Witches, Part Two, Chapter 4, pp. 111-170. In Naming ! the Witch. Stanford: Stanford University Press. [60 pages] Recommended: Lucy Mair. 1969. Witchcraft. New York: Mc Graw-Hill Company; Peter Geschiere 1995[1997]. The Modernity of Witchcraft: Politics and the Occult in Postcolonial Africa. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia; Thomas Hauschild. 1987. Die alten und die neuen Hexen: Die Geschichte der Frau auf der Grenze. München: Wilhelm Heyne Verlag; Heidi Taschen und Thomas Hauschild. 2001. Hexen. Königsfurt Verlag.

!Documentary: Filip de Boeck, Cemetery State (2010) !Week 7. (Mo. March 7) Circulation & Consumption—Cargo & Big Man

Maurice Godelier. 1982[1986]. Preface, pp. ix-xv, The institution and legitimization of male superiority, Chapter 3, pp. 31-76 and Conclusion, pp. 227-237. In The Making of Great Men: Male domination and power among the New Guinea Baruya. Translated by Rupert Swyer. Cambridge University Press (Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme). [61 pages] K. E. Read. 1958. A Cargo Situation in the Markham Valley, New Guinea. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 14 no.3, pp. 273-294. [21 pages] Peter Worsely. 1959. Cargo Cults. Scientific American, pp. 117-128. [11 pages] Georges Bataille. 1967 [1991]. The Gift of Rivalry: Potlatch, Part 2, pp. 63-77. In The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Economy, Volume I, Consumption. New York: Zone Books. [14 pages]

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!Documentary: Rob Connolly and Robin Anderson, Joe Leahy's Neighbors (1989) ! Spring Recess From March 12th to March 20th HOMEWORK DUE: Abstract detailing a populist political leader of your choice (maximally one page) is due. This can be an anticipatory summary, a synopsis, or a layout of your planned final written work and !class powerpoint presentation. !Week 8. (Mo. March 21) !Forms of Legitimate Authority . 1921/22 [1956]. The Types of Legitimate Domination, Chapter III, pp. 212-223, The Transformation of Charisma in a Democratic Direction, Chapter III, pp. 266-271, The Genesis and Transformation of , Chapter XIV, pp. 1121-1131. In Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive . London: University of California Press. [26 pages] Marshall D. Sahlins. 1963. Poor Man, Rich Man, Big Man, Chief: Political Types in Melanesia and Polynesia. Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 5, No.3, pp. 285-303. [18 pages] Claude Lefort. 1986[1988]. The Question of Democracy, Chapter 1, pp. 9-20. In Democracy and Political Theory,. Translated by David Macey. Polity Press. [11 pages] Maurice Bloch. 2007. Symbols, song, dance and features of articulation: Is religion an extreme form of traditional authority? In , History, and Power: Selected Papers in Anthropology, Chapter 2, pp. 19-45. Oxford: Berg (London School of Economics ! Monographs on ). [26 pages] !Documentary: Charles Nairn, Ongka’s Big Moka (1976) !Week 9. (Mo March 28) !Time, Labor, Discipline E.P. Thompson. 1967 [2009]. Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism. In Industrial Work and Life: An Anthropological reader. edited by Massimiliano Mollona, Geert de Neve and Jonathan Parry. Oxford: Berg Aihwa Ong. 1986[2010]. Neophyte Factory Women and the Negative Image, Chapter 8, pp. 179-194, and Spirits of Resistance, Chapter 9, pp. 195-213. In Spirits of Resistance and Capitalist Discipline: Factory Women in Malaysia, New York: Suni Press. [33 pages] Jeffrey Craig. 2010. Life at the Crossroads: Timepass, Chapter 3, pp. 72-102. In Timepass: Youth, Class, and the Politics of Waiting in India. Stanford: Stanford University Press. [10 pages] Shehzad Nadeem. 2011. The Uses and Abuses of Time, Chapter 4, pp. 73-101. In Dead Ringers: How Outsourcing is changing the way Indians understand themselves.

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! Princeton: Princeton University Press. [8 pages] Recommended: !Alain Supiot. 2012 [2010].The Spirit of Philadelphia: Social Justice versus the Total Market. London: Verso. Documentary: Carmen Losmann, Work Hard, Play Hard (2011)

!Week 10. (Mo. April 4) !Authoritarianism Abdellah Hammoudi. 1997. Master and Disciple: The Cultural Foundations of Moroccan Authoritarianism. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. ! [158 pages] !Week 11. (Mo April 11) !Totalitarian power Carl Schmitt. 1922[1985]. Political Theology. Chapter III, pp. 36-52. In Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. Chicago: University of Chicago press, pp. 36-52. [16 pages] Hannah Arendt. 1951. The Temporary Alliance between the Mob and the Elites. pp. 3-38. In Totalitarianism: Part Three of the Origins of Totalitarianism. San Diego: Harvest Books. [35 pages] Theodor Adorno. 1951[2006]. Theses against occultism. In Minima Moralia. Reflections from Damaged Life. Verso. [9 pages] Claude Lefort. 1986 [1971]. The Image of the Body in Totalitarianism. In The Political Forms of Modern Society: , Democracy, Totalitarianism, Chapter 9, pp. 292-306. Cambridge MIT Press. [14 pages] George L. Mosse. 1999. The Occult Origins of National Socialism. In The Fascist Revolution: Toward a General Theory of Fascism, Chapter 6, pp. 117-136. New York: Howard Ferrite. [19 pages]

Recommended: !Theodor Adorno. 1957 [2002]. The Stars Down to Earth. London: Routledge. !Week 12. (Mo April 18) !Peasants and Lumpen François Bizot. 2000[2003]. The Gate, pages 1-63, pp. 105-119, pp. 205-208 and pp. 259-276. Translated by Euan Cameron. Foreword by John Le Carré. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. [97 pages] Robert Bingham. 1993. Political Ruins: Note from Cambodia, The New Yorker, Oct. 18, pp. 57-60. [3 pages]

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Philip Gourevitch. 1998. Pol Pot's Children, The New Yorker, August 10, pp. 40-53. [7 pages] . 1852 [1972]. The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. In The Marx- Engels Reader. Second Edition, Part IV, pp. 594-617. Edited by Robert C. Tucker. [22 pages]

!Recommended: Mao Tsetung. 1972. Quotations from Chairman Mao Tsetung. Peking. !Week 13. (Mo. April 25) !Idolatry and Democratic Machine Herbert Blumer. 1948. Public Opinion and Public Opinion Poling, American Sociological Association, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 542-549. [7 pages] Pierre Bourdieu. 1972. Public opinion does not exist, pp. 124-130. In Communication and Class Struggle: An Anthology in Two Volumes. Vol. 1: Capitalism and Imperialism, Bourgeois Ideology: Public Opinion. Mattelart and Siegelaub (eds.). [6 pages] Pierre Bourdieu. 1982 [1991]. Delegation and Political Fetishism, pp. 203-219. In Language and Symbolic Power. Translated by Gino Raymond and Matthew Adamson. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. [16 pages] John W. Borneman and Stefan Senders. 2011. Politics Without a Head: Is the Love Parade a New Form of Political Identification? Part 3, pp. 166-188. In Political Crime and the Memory of Loss. Indiana University Press. [22 pages] Angélique Haugerud. 2013. The Comedy of Wealth?, Introduction, pp. 2-21, Irony, Humor, Spectacle, Chapter 1, pp. 23-53. In No Billionaires Left Behind: Satirical ! Activism in America. Stanford Stanford University Press. [49 in toto] !Feature Film: John Carpenter. They Live (1988), Selected scenes !Week 14. (Mo. May 2) Analysis of populist political leaders (student power point presentations for their Final Paper Exams)

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