History of Consciousness
Graduate Courses
Not all courses are offered every year.
203. Approaches to History of Consciousness
An introduction to history of consciousness required of all incoming students. The seminar concentrates on theory, methods, and research techniques. Major interpretive approaches drawn from cultural and political analysis are discussed in their application to specific problems in the history of consciousness. Program Faculty
204A-B. Introduction to Cultural Studies
Classic texts from the British cultural studies tradition. Traces later developments in North America, Latin America, Australia, and elsewhere. Asks how class analysis has been complicated by work on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and postcoloniality. J. Clifford
205A-B. Theories of Slavery
Explores philosophical, legal, and socio-historical analyses of slavery. Focuses on Atlantic slavery and the production of race and gender formations, complemented by discussions on contemporary forms of slavery. Impact of historical slavery on prevailing discourses and institutions. A. Davis
207. Theory of the Text
An introduction to contemporary theories of textual interpretation: anthropological, linguistic, historical, literary, semiotic, and psychoanalytic. Consideration of different kinds of texts and ways of reading them. T. de Lauretis
208A-B. Radical Critiques of Penality [syllabus]
Examines recent theories of imprisonment, focusing on the philosophical and criminological literature associated with scholarly and activist movements arguing for prison abolition. In considering the disarticulation of crime and punishment, race, class, and gender serve as principal analytical categories. A. Davis
209A-B. Women of Color: Feminist Theories and Practices
Examination of feminist consciousness in the indigenous and diasporic cultural histories of women of color. Analysis of "feminist moments" in these histories and their epistemological implications for the construction of feminist theories that take into account intersections of gender, ethnicity, class, and sexual orientation. Discussion of possible paradigmatic shifts in feminist theory. A. Davis
210A-B. Cultural and Historical Studies of Race and Ethnicity
Explores the historical construction of racial and ethnic categories in the Americas, especially the United States, in interaction with gender, sexuality, class, and nationality. Intended to introduce current work by UCSC faculty and Bay Area scholars and to stimulate graduate student research projects, the course is organized by intensive reading around key questions, followed by presentations by invited scholars. J. Clifford, A. Davis, D. Haraway, D. Marriott
211A. French Hegel
The aim of this course is to offer an introduction to the "return to Hegel" in the work of some major 20th-century French thinkers.
213A-B. Representation
An introduction to contemporary theories including semiotics, psychoanalysis, Marxism, deconstruction, and the feminist critique of representation. Emphasis and choice of texts to focus on film and visual representations, on the interpretation of image and narrative in visual and/or verbal texts, and on the representation of sexual difference in critical writings. T. de Lauretis
214A-B. Studies in History, Religion, and Myth
Selected events, figures, and ideas from histories of religions: their sources, production, and functions. Emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century theories of religion, the problems of origin and institution, and the relationship between particular histories and their mythologies. G. Lease
215A-B-C. Critical Theory in the Marxist Tradition
An introduction to classic texts of the Frankfurt School, focusing on works by Adorno, Horkheimer, Benjamin, and Marcuse. Explores their uses and critiques of Marxism, emphasizing questions of the relation between philosophy and history, theory and praxis, aesthetics and politics, and identifying issues relevant to contemporary debates around race, class, and gender. A. Davis
217A-B-C. Topics in Feminist Theory
Studies in the theory and history of feminist consciousness; analysis of the main areas of a specifically feminist interest; determination of the theoretical bases for a distinctively feminist perspective on the principal problems of the life and human sciences; examination of relations of class, race, and gender in feminist theory and practice. T. de Lauretis, D. Haraway, A. Davis
218A-B. Postcolonial Theory
Study of selected topics in postcolonial theory, including decolonizing critiques of Western knowledges and epistemologies, nationalism, gender and sexuality, cultural representation of neo-colonialism and imperialism, subalternity, history and historical transformation, and global relations of dominations. Program Faculty
219A-B-C. Psychoanalysis and Cultural Criticism
Readings in Freudian psychoanalytic theory from Freud and his contemporaries to the present, with emphasis on concepts (such as the unconscious, sexuality, fantasy, narcissism) that have informed recent cultural criticism around questions of social identity, subjectivity, marginality, and power. T. de Lauretis
220A-B. Globalization and Cultural Process
Discusses theories of globalization and its cultural effects. How are cultural forms destroyed, imposed, appropriated, hybridized, translated, invented, and reinvented at local, national, regional, and transnational levels? Historical and ethnographic focus on tourist encounters, museums, nativisms, film/media performances, etc. J. Clifford
222A-B. Theories of Late Capitalism, Nationalism, and the Politics of Identity
Looks at the theoretical literature on what is variously called late capitalism/postindustrialism/postfordism, and in that context considers the rise of nationalism and identity politics in the latter part of the 20th century. The primary focus is on the U.S. and Western Europe, but questions of the globalization of capital and the transformation of relations between "the West" and "the Third World" are also considered. B. Epstein
223. Recent European Philosophy
Seminar on recent developments in European philosophy, with particular attention to German theorists such as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Gadamer, Horkheimer, Adorno, or Habermas. Theorists such as Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Foucault, Bourdieu, Levinas, Laclau, or Vattimo may be read as well. D. Hoy
225 The Politics of Affect
The point of departure of this seminar is the question of the political, posed with respect to psychoanalysis. The underlying question is what the political does to psychoanalysis, but also what the unconscious does to the political. D. Marriott
232A-B. Third World Feminisms and Globalization
Studies Third World feminist theories and struggles and their relations to globalization; topics include nationalism, development, transnational practices, identity politics, human rights, especially the ways in which Third World feminisms respond and contribute to political, economic, social, and cultural transformations. Program Faculty
233A-B. Theories of Modernity and Postmodernity
Study of social and cultural theories of modernity and postmodernity; analysis of various conceptualizations of the modern and the postmodern and their relation to production, history, aesthetics, cultural identity, social struggle; texts from a variety of disciplines (literature, sociology, philosophy). Program Faculty
234A-B. Social Movements in the 20th-Century U.S.
The history of major social movements in the 20th-century U.S., including populism, labor, socialism and communism, civil rights, the women's movement, and the antinuclear movement. Various theoretical perspectives on the rise and fall of social movements. B. Epstein
235A-B. Theory of Religion
The difficulty of defining religion (universal essence vs. local/individual experience), of specifying its categorical boundaries, and of generating a theory based on more traditional disciplines (anthropomorphism, societal, psychic, transcendent, cognitive/ritual, historical/cultural/political). G. Lease
239A-B. The Dialectical Legacy
From Adorno to Zizek rediscoveries of Hegel have provided the impetus for some of the most innovative currents of 20th-century Marxism. Examines the philosophical and historical problems that Marx inherited from Hegel through close readings of their major works. G. Balakrishnan
242A-B. Violence and Phenomenology: Fanon/Hegel/Sartre
Study of the work and influence of Frantz Fanon from a range of viewpoints: existential, phenomenological, psychoanalytic, and political; a variety of genres: film, literature, case history, and critique; and a set of institutional histories: clinical, cultural, and intellectual. D. Marriott
243A. Nationalism, Anti-Semitism, and Jewish Resistance in World War II
Jewish resistance to Nazism during World War II, in Eastern Europe, and its historical context. Includes the pre-war rise in nationalism and anti-Semitism in Poland and Lithuania, Jewish integration in the Soviet Union, and the consequences of wartime resistance. B. Epstein
250A-B. Foundations in Science Studies
Critical inquiry into topics in the history, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy of science and technology. Organized around the position that science is its practice, the seminar explores practices of representation, science studies and cultural studies, local/global tensions and networks, and the science question in feminism and antiracism. D. Haraway
251. Readings in Science Studies
Focused on recent literature in social, cultural, and historical studies of science, medicine, and technology, this seminar familiarizes students with current scholarly debates, research networks, national traditions, international exchanges, conference proceedings, interdisciplinary projects, and publication sites. D. Haraway
252. Poststructuralism
French poststructuralism, with particular attention to the main philosophical texts of Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault. Other representative theorists as well as critics of poststructuralism are studied as time permits. D. Hoy
253A. Topics in Cultural Analysis
Advanced graduate seminar in which students do research on focused topics. Each quarter centered on single thematic area. Students read works of culture-theory and exemplary studies illustrating methodologies, problems, and current controversies. J. Clifford
256A-B. Theories of the Visual
Study of psychoanalytic theories of the visual including the emergence of psychoanalysis and cinema as parallel discourses and the mobilization of key psychoanalytic concepts--scopophilia, voyeurism, fetishism--in Freudian and Lacanian understandings of the gaze so central to film and photographic theoyr. Enrollment restricted to graduate students. Course 256A is a prerequisite for course 256B. D. Marriott
259A-B. Kant, Lacan and the Ethics of Psychoanalysis
Offers an introduction to Jacques Lacan's "return to Kant" and the response it provokes as a reading of sadism, politics, and ethics. The specific point of entry adopted for this course will be Lacan's seminar on "The Ethics of Psychoanalysis." D. Marriott
260A-B-C. Film and the Visible
Study of selected topics in film theory, including the construction of vision and spectatorship; the relations of look, image, and narrative; the formative effects of classic, experimental, and independent cinema in contemporary visual culture; the feminist critique of representation; the role of cinema in the production of public and private fantasies, cultural memory, and identity. T. de Lauretis
264. The Idea of Africa
Examines the position of Africa in cultural studies and the simultaneous processes of over- and under-representation of the continent that mark enunciations of the global and the local. Themes include defining diaspora, the West as philosophy, and Africa in the global economy. G. Dent
292. Practicum in Composition
A practicum in the genres of scholarly writing for graduate students working on the composition of their qualifying essay or doctoral dissertation. T. de Lauretis, J. Clifford
293. Field Study
Research carried out in field settings, based on a project approved by the responsible faculty. The student must file a prospectus with the department office before undertaking the research and a final report of activities upon return. Program Faculty
294. Teaching-Related Independent Study
Directed graduate research and writing coordinated with the teaching of undergraduates. Program Faculty
295. Directed Reading
Systematic working through of a prearranged bibliography, which is filed as a final report at the end of the quarter with the signature of the instructor. Program Faculty
296. Special Student Seminar
A seminar study group for graduate students, focusing each quarter on various problems in the history of consciousness. A statement and evaluation of the work done in the course will be provided each quarter by the students who have participated in the course for that quarter, and be reviewed by the responsible faculty. Program Faculty
297. Independent Study
Independent study and research under faculty supervision. Program Faculty
298. Doctoral Colloquium
Under the supervision of a history of consciousness faculty member, students finishing their dissertation meet weekly or biweekly to read and discuss selected draft chapters, design difficulties, and composition problems. Program Faculty
299. Thesis Research
Prerequisite: advancement to candidacy. Program Faculty
