Society, Culture, and Politics in the 1960S AMS 370, Unique Number 30860, BUR 436A

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Society, Culture, and Politics in the 1960S AMS 370, Unique Number 30860, BUR 436A You Say You Want a Revolution? Society, Culture, and Politics in the 1960s AMS 370, Unique number 30860, BUR 436A Professor: Julia Mickenberg Office: 420 Burdine Email: [email protected] Office phone: 232-2650 Office hours: Tuesdays 12:30-3:30 (please email if you’re planning to come in) Course Description In this class we will explore the major political, social, cultural, and intellectual currents of the 1960s, as well as their origins in the 1950s and earlier. These include: post-war liberalism; the Great Society and the War on Poverty; the New Left; the Free Speech Movement; the peace movement; the civil rights movement; nationalist and liberation movements among African Americans, Chicanos, Asian Americans, American Indians, gays and lesbians, and women; the counterculture; the conservative movement; and the environmental movement. Throughout, through interdisciplinary exploration, we’ll seek to learn not only what happened, but also why it happened. Finally, as members of a university community, we’ll be attentive to the question of how political and social activity in the 1960s, activity inspired largely by young people in and around universities, has affected our lives today and our relationship to civic life. In the 1960s spirit of “participatory democracy” this class will be run as a cooperative enterprise: rather than working on the model of expert teacher and student receptacles-of-knowledge, students will actively contribute to the course content through your own research and presentations to the class. Your active participation is essential to the course. Course Texts (available from UT Co-op or on reserve at PCL) Isserman and Kazin, America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s 5th ed (4th ok too) Alexander Bloom and Wini Breines, Takin’ It To the Streets: A Sixties Reader. 3rd ed.* * Please let me know if you have an earlier or later edition and I’ll make sure you get the relevant readings * Alice Echols, Scars of Sweet Paradise: The Life and Times of Janis Joplin Additional readings posted on Canvas Films (some shown outside class, some shown only in clips, others just recommended) Berkeley in the Sixties Black Panther San Francisco State on Strike Chicago 1968 Easy Rider The Woman’s Film Requirements and Assignments: 1. Participation: be prepared to read and discuss »100 pp/week--15% (includes attendance—see below) 2. Five two to three-page, double-spaced response papers/think pieces—(combined for 40% total course grade) in which you point to outstanding themes of two weeks’ readings and attempt to make critical connections between specific readings and larger course topics. At the end of the semester you’ll read over your own papers and turn them in as a portfolio, along with a 2-3 p. reflection on common themes you discovered by re-reading your entries. Portfolio will receive one letter grade, based primarily on the level of thoughtful engagement. Papers due by 9:00 am on designated due dates; Group A: last names A-J; Group B: K-Z (subject to adjustment). Portfolio due Thursday, May 7th 3. Final term paper (7-10 pages), requiring stages and peer review and based on original research--35% 4. Presentations (approximately 6-8 minutes/person)--10% Course Procedures and Policies: Attendance: This course will be run as a seminar, which means that a lot of the learning takes place within the context of class discussion. If you are absent you are responsible for any missed work. If you know about a future, unavoidable absence, let me know in advance and we can try to come up with arrangements for you to make up the work. Ask a classmate to fill you in if you miss class. If you must be absent in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence if you gave advance notice. Missing more than two classes (for any reason) is likely to affect your grade. Missing more than six classes will result in an F (apart from exceptional circumstances). You are expected to come to each class prepared to discuss assigned readings. You may also be asked to do informal, out-of-class or in-class writing as a prelude to discussion, or to take impromptu quizzes. These writing assignments may be collected and will count toward your class participation grade. JIGSAW READINGS: Occasionally assigned readings will be divided up so that parts of the class focus on different readings. You are expected to be familiar with all of the assigned readings for that week, but prepared to respond in a more in-depth way to the readings to which your group was assigned. Any student with a documented disability who requires academic accommodations should contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 512-410- 6644 (Video Phone) as soon as possible to request an official letter outlining authorized accommodations. Late papers, if accepted, will be downgraded, usually half a letter grade per day. Please contact me at least 24 hours in advance if you need an extension. Plus or Minus grades will be assigned in the course. University Honor Code: Student Honor Code states: "As a student of The University of Texas at Austin, I shall abide by the core values of the University and uphold academic integrity." The UT History Department’s statement on plagiarism offers a useful guide for knowing what counts as plagiarism and making sure you avoid doing it. Flags: This course carries the flag for Cultural Diversity in the United States. Cultural Diversity courses are designed to increase your familiarity with the variety and richness of the American cultural experience. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of at least one U.S. cultural group that has experienced persistent marginalization. This course carries the Writing Flag. Writing Flag courses are designed to give students experience with writing in an academic discipline. In this class, you can expect to write regularly during the semester, complete substantial writing projects, and receive feedback from your instructor to help you improve your writing. You will also have the opportunity to revise one or more assignments, and you may be asked to read and discuss your peers’ work. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your written work. Writing Flag classes meet the Core Communications objectives of Critical Thinking, Communication, Teamwork, and Personal Responsibility, established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. This course carries the Independent Inquiry flag. Independent Inquiry courses are designed to engage you in the process of inquiry over the course of a semester, providing you with the opportunity for independent investigation of a question, problem, or project related to your major. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from the independent investigation and presentation of your own work. Senate Bill 212 and Title IX Reporting Requirements. Under Senate Bill 212 (SB 212), the professor for this course is required to report any information concerning incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking committed by or against a UT student or employee. Federal law and university policy also requires reporting incidents of sex- and gender-based discrimination and sexual misconduct (collectively known as Title IX incidents). This means we cannot keep confidential information about any such incidents that you share with us. If you need to talk with someone who can maintain confidentiality, please contact University Health Services (512-471-4955 or 512-475-6877) or the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center (512-471-3515 or 512-471-2255). We strongly urge you make use of these services for any needed support and that you report any Title IX incidents to the Title IX Office. Schedule (subject to change—most current schedule will be posted on Canvas) Tuesday, January 21 Introductions Thursday, January 23 What Came Before Reading due: 1. Breines and Bloom, “The Past as Prologue”; The 1950s as an Introduction to the 1960s” 2.. Isserman and Kazin, Introduction and Chapter One, “A Gathering of Forces” Recommended: Seeds of the Sixties Tuesday, January 28th Civil Rights Reading due: 1. Isserman and Kazin, Chapter Two: “Black Ordeal, Black Freedom”; 2. Bloom and Breines, ch. 1 “Keep on Walkin’, Keep on Talkin’”: Civil Rights to 1965,” pp. 12-20 (King, Moody, SNCC) Thursday, January 30th Civil Rights Reading due: Bloom and Breines ch. 1, pp. 21-42 (rest of Civil Rights docs) Response due: Group A Tuesday, February 4th Kennedy, the New Frontier, and the Origins of Vietnam Reading due: 1. Isserman and Kazin, Chapter Three, “The New Frontier of American Liberalism; and Chapter Four, “Why Did the United States Fight in Vietnam” 2. Norman Mailer, “Superman Comes to the Supermarket” Thursday, February 6th Why the US Fought in Vietnam Reading due: 1. Leslie Gelb, “Causes of the War” (Canvas) 2. Bloom and Breines, “Background to the War: Vietnam documents” pp. 154-166: Response due: Group B Tuesday, Feb 11The Great Society and the Dawn of a New Left Reading due: 1. Isserman and Kazin chapter 5 (“1963”), Chapter 6 “The Rise of the Great Society” 2. Bloom and Breines, LBJ and the Great Society (pp. 80-86) 3. Bloom and Brienes, Chapter Two, “‘My Generation’: The Student Movement and the New Left”: Beginnings (50-69) Thursday, February 13 The New Left, in Austin and Nationally Reading due: 1. All: a. Isserman and Kazin, Chapter 9, “The New Left” b. John A. Moretta, “Political Hippies and Hip Politicos: Counterculture Alliance and Cultural Radicalism in 1960s Austin, Texas,” Southwestern Historical Quarterly Vol.
Recommended publications
  • 'Resistance,' 'Cultural Radicalism,' and 'Self-Formation'
    Popular Culture, ‘Resistance,’ ‘Cultural Radicalism,’ and ‘Self-Formation’ Comments on the Development of a Theory Kaspar Maase 1. PRELIMINARY COMMENTS This article follows up on the debate over the resistance potential of popular culture. The first part traces the historical constellation of ideas in which the question arose and remains to this day. The second part attempts to systematize different dimensions of ‘resistance.’ The third part examines the development and criticism of this approach in the field of Cultural Studies. This leads to the fourth part, which investigates the role “cultural radicalism” (Fluck, “Die Wissenschaft” 115) has played in this discussion. The fifth part introduces the concept of self-formation. The sixth discusses the ways in which the political relevance of popular culture has been evaluated, and how the ‘resistance’ approach can be further developed. ‘Resistance’ in a specific sense, namely that established in British Cultural Studies, forms the point of reference, framing the topic of this article in three ways. Firstly, the analysis will take place within the supposed context of a clash of interests between ‘the people’ and ‘the power bloc’; secondly, it will focus on the cultural dimension; and thirdly, it will investigate the cultural exercise of power and oppositional practices from the perspective of ‘the people’ with the intention of facilitating their empowerment. The thoughts of political and academic actors as to what exactly constitutes ‘resistance’ are as varied and contradictory as the concerns articulated by ‘the people.’ Nonetheless, there is a widespread expectation that research from the perspective of ‘the people’ has to promote 46 Kaspar Maase oppositional feelings, thoughts, and actions.
    [Show full text]
  • The Sixties Counterculture and Public Space, 1964--1967
    University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 2003 "Everybody get together": The sixties counterculture and public space, 1964--1967 Jill Katherine Silos University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Silos, Jill Katherine, ""Everybody get together": The sixties counterculture and public space, 1964--1967" (2003). Doctoral Dissertations. 170. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/170 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards Cultural Democracy
    University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/36329 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. TOWARDS CULTURAL DEMOCRACY: CONTRADICTION AND CRISIS IN BRITISH AND U.S. CULTURAL POLICY 1870 - 1990 CHRIS BILTON PH.D. THESIS UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF CULTURAL POLICY SCHOOL OF THEATRE STUDIES OCTOBER 1997 TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary (iv) Preface (v) Acknowledgements (vii) Notes (viii) Abbreviations (ix) Chapter 1: Introduction and Methodology: the Crisis of Cultural Democracy 1/ 1.1 The historical pattern: contradiction and crisis 1/ 1.2 The contradiction of cultural democracy 5/ 1.3 The origins of cultural democracy in Britain 12/ 1.4 Theoretical perspectives: the culturalist solution 17/ 1.5 Culturalism 2: culturalist optimikn and the new determinism 21/ 1.6 From theory to practice: culturalism and community arts 31/ Chapter 2: The Nineteenth Century Civilising Mission: A Study in Contradiction 40/ 2.1 The 'moment' of cultural reform 1870 - 1910 41/ 2.2 The conspiracy theory of cultural democratisation 44/ 2.3 Education and social class in the civilising mission 56/ 2.4 The settlement house: from 'useful culture' to 'neutral space' 64/ 2.5 Neutrality and sacrifice
    [Show full text]
  • Harrison Stetler Thesis
    “A skilled surgeon presiding at the birth of a new culture”: Christopher Lasch on the Politics of Post-Industrial Society Senior Thesis by Harrison Stetler Advisor: Professor Rebecca Kobrin Second Reader: Professor Casey Blake April 2016 Department of History Columbia University 16, 520 Words Acknowledgements: Writing this thesis has been an extraordinarily trying and rewarding experience, which I would not have been able to complete without an inordinate amount of help and support from friends and family. I owe a great debt to all my fellow students and to Professor Kobrin for providing an immense amount of support over the past year. I would also like to thank Professor Blake for guiding me through this study of Lasch’s thought. Likewise, I owe a debt of gratitude to a number of other teachers—Professors Mark Mazower, Adam Tooze, Mark Lilla, and Nicholas Dames, in particular—who have participated in a number of smaller yet indispensible ways throughout this long process. For letting me rant incessantly about Christopher Lasch, I am not sure whether I should apologize to or thank my friends. Thank you to my suitemates—Mark, Jackson, Kal, Derek, and Gerry—in particular. Thank you to Ruby, my intellectual soul mate, for venturing with me— through Adorno, Melville, and Flaubert—along our path to mystical modernism. I see this essay as a partial capstone to that journey. Thank you to Max for preventing me from thinking that “this is not the land of truth.” Thank you to Elena for humoring me during many a procrastination break outside of Butler.
    [Show full text]
  • A Critical Overview ¿Qué Es El Giro Transnacional En Los Estudios
    ATLANTIS Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies 42.2 (December 2020): 138-159 e-issn 1989-6840 DOI: http://doi.org/10.28914/Atlantis-2020-42.2.07 © The Author(s) Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence What Is the Transnational Turn in American Literary Studies? A Critical Overview Isabel Durán Universidad Complutense de Madrid [email protected] This article presents a critical overview of the state of the art of transnational American studies in the wake of the so-called transnational turn. After an introduction to key ideas and concepts surrounding transnationalism as applied to American studies and, more particularly, to literary studies—including comparative and international approaches to American literature—I interweave critical arguments with brief reviews of key publications—monographs, edited collections and individual essays—produced in the US and abroad—particularly Spain—in the twenty-first century. My overview mainly focuses on general literary studies, but it also tackles particular areas such as gender, ethnicity, aesthetics and political transnationalism. My conclusion suggests that the transnational turn will continue to shape our scholarship in the decades to come. Keywords: American studies; transnational turn; ethnicity; gender; comparative studies; internationalization . ¿Qué es el giro transnacional en los estudios literarios norteamericanos? Una revisión crítica Este artículo presenta una revisión crítica del estado de la cuestión
    [Show full text]
  • 1989 Fall – Boyer – “Readings in American Intellectual and Cultural
    University of Wisconsin Department of History Fall Semester 1989 Hist. 901 Professor Paul Boyer Studies in American History Mondays~ 1 - 3 p.m. Readings in American Intellectual and Cultural History This semester we will read and discuss a wide range of recent books and essays in American intellectual and cultural history from the Colonial Era to the present. The objective is both to survey recent work on topics of interest to historians of ideas and culture and to explore the various methodologies, approaches, and types of evidence intellectual and cultural historians employ. (Note: If you believe that Richard A. Wines, Fertilizer in America (1985] should be on this reading list, perhaps you should consider another seminar 1 l Weekly Short Reviews. At our first meeting !Mon., Sept. 111, each student will choose a boo k or article to read for each week from the lists attached. <Each student's cumulative choices should result in about a 50-50 mix of books and articles.) Each student will then write a 2-2 1/2 page essay on each week's reading and make sufficient Xerox copies for distribution to the full class, plus two copies for the instructor. lOne of these copies will be returned the following week with comments.) These papers should be 500-600 word critical reviews such as one might write for the American Historical RPview. They should concisely summarize the argument or main themes of the work; discuss the organization and use of evidence; and critically assess strengths and weaknesses. Lonqer Paper. One of these reviews should be expanded into a longer paper of 8-10 pages in which the analytical and critical discussion is enlarged and deepened.
    [Show full text]
  • Rethinking the Relationship Between China and the West Through a Focus on Literature and Aesthetics
    Rethinking the Relationship between China and the West through a Focus on Literature and Aesthetics Rethinking the Relationship between China and the West through a Focus on Literature and Aesthetics By Qingben Li Rethinking the Relationship between China and the West through a Focus on Literature and Aesthetics By Qingben Li This book first published 2018 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2018 by Qingben Li All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-1572-9 ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-1572-7 Research for this book was funded by the Key Projects of Philosophy and Social Science Research program, the Ministry of Education P.R. China (13JZD032). So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sum up the Law and Prophets. (Matthew 7:12, Holy Bible, Hong Kong: Chinese Bible International Limited, 1996: 12) Tsze-kung asked, saying “Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” The Master said, “Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” (Confucian Analects 15: 24, in James Legge (Trans.), The Chinese Classics, Volume I, Shanghai: East China Normal University press, 2010: 301) TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Author ........................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Music, Culture, and the Rise and Fall of the Haight Ashbury Counterculture
    Zaroff 1 A Moment in the Sun: Music, Culture, and the Rise and Fall of the Haight Ashbury Counterculture Samuel Zaroff Honors Thesis Submitted to the Department of History, Georgetown University Advisor: Professor Maurice Jackson Honors Program Chairs: Professor Katherine Benton-Cohen and Professor Alison Games 6 May 2019 Zaroff 2 Table of Contents Introduction 4 Historiography 8 Chapter I: Defining the Counterculture 15 Protesting Without Protest 20 ​ Cultural Exoticism in the Haight 24 ​ Chapter II: The Music of the Haight Ashbury 43 Musical Exoticism: Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” 44 ​ Assimilating African American Musical Culture: Big Brother and the Holding Company’s “Summertime” 48 ​ Music, Drugs, and Hendrix: “Purple Haze” 52 ​ Protesting Vietnam: Country Joe and the Fish’s “I-Feel-Like-I’m Fixin’-to-Die-Rag” 59 ​ Folk, Nature, and the Grateful Dead: “Morning Dew” and the Irony of Technology 62 ​ Chapter III: The End of the Counterculture 67 Overpopulation 67 ​ Commercialization 72 ​ Hard Drugs 74 ​ Death of the Hippie Ceremony 76 ​ “I Know You Rider”: Music of the End of the Counterculture 80 ​ Violence: The Altamont Speedway Free Festival 85 ​ Conclusion 90 Appendix 92 Bibliography 94 Zaroff 3 Acknowledgements Thank you, Professor Benton-Cohen and Professor Jackson, for your guidance on this thesis. Thank you, Mom, Dad, Leo, Eliza, Roxanne, Daniela, Ruby, and Boo for supporting me throughout. Lastly, thank you Antine and Uncle Rich for your wisdom and music. I give permission to Lauinger Library to make this thesis available to the public. Zaroff 4 Introduction From 1964 to 1967, the Haight Ashbury district of San Francisco experienced one of the most significant and short-lived cultural moments of twentieth century America.
    [Show full text]
  • American Studies, Cultural History, and the Critique of Culture
    W&M ScholarWorks Arts & Sciences Articles Arts and Sciences 7-2009 American Studies, Cultural History, and the Critique of Culture Richard S. Lowry College of William and Mary, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/aspubs Part of the American Literature Commons, Cultural History Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Lowry, Richard S., American Studies, Cultural History, and the Critique of Culture (2009). Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era, 8(3), 301-339. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/aspubs/372 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Arts and Sciences at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Arts & Sciences Articles by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. American Studies, Cultural History, and the Critique of Culture By Rich Lowry College of William and Mary Abstract For several decades historians have expressed reservations about how scholars of American studies have embraced theory and its jargons. The program for a recent American studies convention seems to confirm the field’s turn from history and its embrace of the paradigms and practices of cultural studies. The nature of this gap is complicated by comparing scholarly work published since 2000 on the Gilded Age and Progressive Era in the respective flagship journals of each field. Scholars in both fields are committed to the study of culture, but they differ in how they understand historical agency and subjectivity. A historical overview of American Studies scholars’ engagement with cultural critique, and a critical analysis of how two exemplary books in the field engage with historical change, offers historians a way to understand such work not only as complementary to their own objectives, but necessary for a full understanding of the past and our relation to it.
    [Show full text]
  • Complete Issue
    Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research Thematic Section: Reports and Reflections from the Field: Current Issues in European Cultural Studies Edited by Ferda Keskin Extraction from Volume 5, 2013 Linköping University Electronic Press Culture Unbound: ISSN 2000-1525 (online) URL: http://www.cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/ © 2013 The Authors. Culture Unbound, Extraction from Volume 5, 2013 Thematic Section: Reports and Reflections from the Field: Current Issues in European Cultural Studies Ferda Keskin European Cultural Studies: Pathways in an Unbound Geography ...................................... 19 Mica Nava Cultural Studies, History and Cosmopolitanism in UK ........................................................ 23 Udo Göttlich Cultural Studies and Sociology of Culture in Germany: Relations and Interrelations ........ 33 Gönül Pultar Cultural Studies in Turkey: The State of the Art ................................................................... 43 Sofia Sampaio Portuguese Cultural Studies / Cultural Studies in Portugal: Some Thoughts on the Making and Remaking of a Field .......................................................................................... 73 Anne Scott Sørensen “Something is at Stake”: Northern European Cultural Studies – Where, How, and Why? . 89 Aljoša Pužar The Boratization Revisited: Thinking the “South” in European Cultural Studies ............... 103 European Cultural Studies: Pathways in an Unbound Geography By Ferda Keskin This collection of texts derives from the international conference
    [Show full text]
  • Playing Hippies and Indians: Acts of Cultural Colonization in the Theatre of the American Counterculture
    PLAYING HIPPIES AND INDIANS: ACTS OF CULTURAL COLONIZATION IN THE THEATRE OF THE AMERICAN COUNTERCULTURE Miriam Hahn A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2014 Committee: Jonathan Chambers, Advisor Sheri Wells-Jensen, Graduate Faculty Representative Eileen Cherry-Chandler Scott Magelssen © 2014 Miriam Hahn All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Jonathan Chambers, Advisor In this dissertation, I examine the appropriation of Native American cultures and histories in the theatre of the American counterculture of the 1960s and seventies, using the Living Theatre’s Paradise Now, the street theatricals and broadsides of the San Francisco Diggers, and James Rado and Gerome Ragni’s Hair: The American Tribal- Love Rock Musical as my primary case studies. Defining themselves by points of difference from mainstream America and its traditional social and cultural values, counterculturalists often attempted to align themselves with Native Americans in order to express an imagined sense of shared otherness. Representations of Natives on countercultural stages, however, were frequently steeped in stereotype, and they often depicted Native cultures inaccurately, elided significant tribal differences, and relegated Native identity almost wholly to the past, a practice that was particularly problematic in light of concurrent Native rights movements that were actively engaged in bringing national attention to the contemporary issues and injustices Native Americans faced on a daily basis. In my study, I analyze the impulses that might have led counterculturalists to appropriate Native culture during this period, highlighting some of the ways in which such appropriations played out in Paradise Now and Hair, as well as on the streets of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district.
    [Show full text]
  • Randolph Bourne's Radical Cultural Idealism
    MAN WITH A GHOST: RANDOLPH BOURNE’S RADICAL CULTURAL IDEALISM Kevin T. Higashikubo A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS May 2021 Committee: Jolie Sheffer, Advisor Andrew Schocket © 2021 Kevin Higashikubo All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Jolie Sheffer, Advisor Though not obscure as a figure in American intellectual history, Randolph Bourne has largely been overlooked by American culture studies. My main argument is that Bourne’s cultural writings show a distinctly American approach to the complications of modernity that show the early 20th century as worthwhile grounds for more contemporary consideration within cultural studies. I explore the foundations of Randolph Bourne's cultural idealism, beginning with an analysis of philosophical pragmatism. Bourne radical understanding of pragmatism was a framework to reimagine two important cultural concepts: youth and national identity. I proceed to examine the role of irony in Randolph Bourne's cultural idealism. I show how Bourne drew from the history of irony to create a cultural concept that served two purposes. First, it was a companion to philosophical pragmatism that would help resolve some of the philosophy's shortcomings in dealing with social values. Second, it was a means to a creative, social empathy needed to fulfill the promises of American democracy in an increasingly complicated world. Finally, I examine Bourne’s cultural idealism through his social aesthetics, which was his way for the individual to, through cultivation of personal taste, regain agency and subjectivity in modernity. This is largely framed through Bourne’s essays arguing against the hierarchical and undemocratic cultural idealism of English poet and critic, Matthew Arnold.
    [Show full text]