History of Consciousness
2018-19 General Catalog
315 Humanities 1
(831) 459-2757
http://histcon.ucsc.edu/
Lower-Division Courses
1. Introduction to History of Consciousness. W
Investigates the politics of identity and recognition as the basis for claims about institutional legitimacy and social struggle. Examines such diverse figures as Sartre, Fanon, Bataille, Foucault, Lacan, Levinas, Derrida, Deleuze, Zizek, and Badiou. The Staff
12. Historical Introduction to Philosophy. *
Focuses on moral, metaphysical, and epistemological issues using classical texts along with some contemporary readings on related philosophical problems. Plato, Kant, and Sartre provide the central readings on ethics, while Descartes, Hume, Kant (again), and Wittgenstein provide the central metaphysical and epistemological discussions. Issues of philosophy of language and method are highlighted throughout. (General Education Code(s): TA.) The Staff
80N. Prophecy Against Empire. *
In the core of a London slum, with wars raging all around him, the printer William Blake sounded the trumpet of prophecy. This course channels Blake's war-time revelations, laying bare the antimonies of imperial violence and the prophetic tradition. (General Education Code(s): IM.) The Staff
80O. Understanding Popular Music. F
Students develop the skills necessary to analyze popular music. First, challenging common-sense understandings of how music functions. And second, understanding how history works its way into musical forms. Enrollment limited to 120. (General Education Code(s): IM.) J. Gampel
85. Politics and Religion. *
Considers both the religious sources of political ideas and the political sources of religious ideas, addressing topics, such as sovereignty, justice, love, reason, revelation, sacrifice, victimhood, evil, racism, rebellion, reconciliation, and human rights. (General Education Code(s): TA.) R. Meister
Upper-Division Courses
102. Philosophy and Poetics. *
Introduction to the relationship between philosophy and poetics in some major 19th- and 20th-century poets and thinkers. Enrollment restricted to juniors and seniors. Enrollment limited to 30. D. Marriott
111. States, War, Capitalism. *
Survey of seminal work on ancient origins of the state, diverse geo-political systems of war and diplomacy, and consequences of the formation of the world market on the evolution of geo-political systems up to and beyond the wars of today. Enrollment restricted to juniors and seniors. Enrollment limited to 35. G. Balakrishnan
112. Foundations in Critical Theory. *
Concentrates on the Marxist tradition of critical theory, centering on classical texts by Marx and by writers in the Marxist tradition up to the present. Enrollment limited to 150. (General Education Code(s): TA.) The Staff
113. History of Capitalism. W
Surveys major developments in the capitalist world economy from the 13th century to today. Topics include: the "transition to capitalism" in Europe; the emergence of banking; colonization, slavery, and uneven development; industrialization; and globalization. (General Education Code(s): CC.) A. Wistar
117. Making the Refugee Century: Non-Citizens and Modernity. S
Examines the material, discursive, and racialized conditions that have produced refugees in the last century. Also examines the social claims made by refugees, institutional responses to them, and political alternatives to state belonging. (General Education Code(s): CC.) T. Nguyen
119. Politics of Recognition. *
Course touches on the philosophical roots of Hegel's text, starting from the pre-World War II rereading of Hegel's master/slave dialectic that became the kernel of postwar thought arising from struggles over capitalism, communism, fascism, racism, colonialism, and feminism. R. Meister
120. What is a State?. F
Examines the modern concept of state, its anthropological assumptions, categories, its critique, and its crisis. Inquires into the concept of representation, borders, security and control in thinkers, such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Carl Schmitt, and Lenin. (General Education Code(s): TA.) M. Tomba
125. Queerness and Race. *
Gives students a grasp of different definitions and uses of the concept queerness in its relationship to race and how it's tied to the politics of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) identity. Enrollment limited to 25. The Staff
129. Politics of Violence. W
Inquires into the relationship between politics and violence as articulated by early modern, modern, and contemporary political theorists. Investigates the role of violence in the constitution and maintenance of sovereign power and the construction of the modern subject of politics. (General Education Code(s): TA.) B. Bargu
131. Postcolonial Paths. *
How postcolonial thought occasions the reconsideration of the Western tradition of political philosophy and the discovery of alternative pathways of modernization within it. (General Education Code(s): CC.) M. Tomba
140A. Africa: How to Make a Continent. *
Introduces the histories of exploration, museum collection, and photography that shape historical and contemporary ideas about race, culture, and place in Africa. (Also offered as Critical Race & Ethnic Studies 140A. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) (General Education Code(s): CC.) A. De Morais
150. Radical Political Theory. S
Provides an introduction to classical and contemporary texts of radical political theory, a body of work that critically examines fundamental premises of politics. Addresses the question "What is the 'political?'" G. Balakrishnan
160. Advanced Topics in History of Consciousness. *
Provides students an opportunity for in-depth analysis of advanced topics within the history of consciousness arena. Course topic changes; see the Class Search for current topic. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
163. Freud. *
The development of Freud's concept of mind. Extensive reading tracing the origins and development of Freud's theories and concepts (e.g., abreaction, psychic energy, defense, wish-fulfillment, unconscious fantasy, dreams, symptoms, transference, cure, sexuality) and emphasizing the underlying model of the mind and mental functioning. The Staff
185C. Comparative Religion: A Critical Introduction. *
Introduces the comparative study of world religions and provides critical entry points toward the understanding of its history as a discipline. Special emphasis on the troubled history of imperialism, orientalism, and facile generalizations that have always accompanied the attempt to understand foreign or dead cultures. Enrollment is restricted to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. (General Education Code(s): CC.) The Staff
185T. Marxism and Feminism. *
Critically engages with feminist-Marxist perspectives on social-reproduction. Introduces the foundation of Marxism and feminist-Marxist critique while examining the international feminist struggle historically from the origins of capitalism to the present moment. The Staff
187. The Emergence of the Avant-garde from Disenchantment to Dada. *
Examines the socio-political and cultural origins of early 20th-century avant-garde movements focusing on the vanguard movement of futurism, the roles played by the disenchantment of the world, and technological rationalization as it relates to warfare and aesthetic production. (General Education Code(s): TA.) The Staff
199. Tutorial. F,W,S
A program of individual study arranged between an undergraduate student and a faculty member. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
Graduate Courses
203A. Approaches to History of Consciousness. F
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. Prerequisite(s): first-year standing in the program. See the department office for more information. (Formerly course 203.) The Staff
203B. Approaches to History of Consciousness. S
Writing-intensive course based on readings in course 203A. Prerequisite(s): course 203A. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 9. The Staff
212. Feminist Theory and the Law. *
Interrogation of the relationship between law and its instantiating gendered categories, supported by feminist, queer, Marxist, critical race, and postcolonial theories. Topics include hypostasization of legal categories, the contest between domestic and international human rights frameworks, overlapping civil and communal codes, cultural explanations in the law, the law as text and archive, testimony and legal subjectivity. (Also offered as Feminist Studies 212. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. G. Dent
214. What is a Subject?. W
Examines major streams of theorization about the subject in postwar and contemporary continental and critical theory. Thinkers include Althusser, Badiou, Balibar, Butler, Fanon, Foucault, Honneth, Laclau and Mouffe, Mbembe, Ranciere, and Sartre. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. B. Bargu
215. History of Unconsciousness. W
There is a history of political consciousness that culminated in the project of enlightenment. There is a history of individual, collective, and political unconscious, which culminated in fascism. These two histories are intertwined, but their outcome is not preconceived. On the contrary, their relationship and integration constitute a field of possibilities for social, political, and human experimentation. This course inquires into the concept of political unconscious by exploring thinkers, such as Kant, Foucault, Adorno, Horkheimer, Freud, Jung, Reich, Fromm, Marcuse, and Klein. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Tomba
216. Critical Race/Ethnic Studies. *
Explores foundational and emergent theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of race. Issues examined include the production of race within and across various spheres of human activity and how race has shaped notions of difference and commonality in the past and present. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. E. Porter
217. Critical Human Rights Theory. *
Addresses about 10 of the significant critiques of human rights discourse published in the past decade by authors, such as Moyn, Douzinas, Fassin, Ticktin, J. Slaughter, D. Chandler, Mamdani, Weitzman, Badiou, and Meister. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. May be repeated for credit. R. Meister
222B. Theories of Late Capitalism. *
Writing intensive course based on readings in course 222A. (Formerly Theories of Late Capitalism, Nationalism, and the Politics of Identity.) Prerequisite(s): course 222A. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. The Staff
223. Althusser. S
Through close readings of Althusser's major texts, this course systematically examines the political and philosophical thought of Louis Althusser and analyzes why he is one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. B. Bargu
224. Marx's Capital Vol. 1. *
Investigates the many layers of Marx's "Capital." Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Tomba
226. Liberty and Resistance. F
Examines modern conceptions of liberty from a non-liberal perspective. Proposes to inquire into the concept of liberty as an individual and collective right by exploring its philosophical justifications and criticism in thinkers, such as Kant, Hegel, and Marx. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Tomba
227. Carl Schmitt. *
Provides a careful contextualization and a critically informed interrogation of the major works of Carl Schmitt, a figure at the center of many contemporary debates in political and legal thought. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. G. Balakrishnan
230A. Poetry, Language, Thought. *
Introduces the relation between philosophy and poetics in some major 20th-century poets and thinkers. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. D. Marriott
230B. Poetry, Language, Thought. *
Writing-intensive course based on readings in course 230A. Prerequisite(s): course 230A, or permission of instructor. Enrollment limited to 15. D. Marriott
232. Music, Social, Thought. F
Examines the various modes through which intellectuals, artists, and other commentators have written about music as a socially situated art as well as the ways they have theorized "the social" through examinations of musical phenomena. Focus changes with course offering. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. E. Porter
237A. Historical Materialism. *
Students read landmark works of classical and contemporary Marxism. Writings from Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Lukacs, Gramsci, Adorno, Benjamin, Sartre, Althusser, Anderson, Jameson, and Zizek are addressed. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. May be repeated for credit. G. Balakrishnan
237B. Historical Materialism. *
Writing-intensive seminar based on course 237A. Students read landmark works of classical and contemporary Marxism. Writings from Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Lukacs, Gramsci, Adorno, Benjamin, Sartre, Althusser, Anderson, Jameson, and Zizek are discussed. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 10. May be repeated for credit. G. Balakrishnan
240. Basic Principles of University-Level Pedagogy (1 credit). *
Provides training for graduate students in university-level pedagogy in general. Under the supervision of the department chair, coordinated by a graduate student with substantial experience as a teaching assistant. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
242A. 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. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. D. Marriott
242B. Violence and Phenomenology: Fanon/Hegel/Sartre. *
Writing intensive course based on readings in course 242A. Prerequisite: course 242A. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. D. Marriott
245. Race and Representation. *
Explores how human subjects come to be visually defined and marked by "race" discourse. Covers diverse theoretical literatures on the topic, primarily in visual studies, but also in cultural studies, post-colonial studies, and psychoanalysis. (Also offered as Feminist Studies 245. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. J. Gonzalez
246. Black Radicalism. *
Examines the history of black radical intellectual, cultural, political, and/or social movements. May take the form of a survey of different aspects of black radicalism or may focus on a particular individual, groups, period, etc. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. E. Porter
248. Black Critical Theory. S
Offers a critical introduction and overview of black critical theory across multiple fields and genres. Beginning with the question of race and ontology, students go on to consider questions of sovereignty and domination, freedom and liberation, identity and difference, and conclude with a study of race and the post-human. Major thinkers studied include: Sylvia Wynter, Achille Mbembe, Frantz Fanon, and W.E.B. DuBois, as well as contemporary figures, such as Frank Wilderson, Fred Moten, and Hortense Spillers. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. D. Marriott
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. (Also offered as Philosophy 252. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
261. Modern Intellectual History. *
Survey of 19th- and 20th-century intellectual history that focuses on a cross-section of major works from Hegel to Levi-Strauss. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. G. Balakrishnan
262. Critical Theory After Habermas. *
Examines key works of Frankfurt School theorist Jurgen Habermas, his followers, and critics, on topics such as the public sphere, the theory of communicative action, power and domination, and religion and secularism. Prerequisite(s): Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. T. Miller
263. European Philosophies of Difference. *
Survey of European philosophies of difference, tracing the evolution of philosophical concepts and frameworks from Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Bergson, and Heidegger through later 20th-century French post-structuralist, feminist, and Frankfurt School theory. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. T. Miller
264. The Idea of Africa. F
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. (Also offered as Feminist Studies 264. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. G. Dent
265A. Biopolitics l: Problematics. *
Focuses on the theorization of life and death in relation to power as proposed by 20th-century thinkers. Investigates how a biopolitical problematic has emerged and what insights into politics it offers. Explores the different ways in which thinkers have conceptualized biopolitics and its broader implications. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. B. Bargu
265B. Biopolitics II: Corporealities. *
Focuses on the exploration of biopolitics and necropolitics on the body. Examines how the body has become deeply integrated into power relations in modern society. Also explores different forms of corporeality that are conduits of political struggle and sites of transgression, resistance, and refusal. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. B. Bargu
268A. Rethinking Capitalism. W
Readings include works by speakers at UCSC's "Rethinking Capitalism Initiative." Topics are: (1) financialization versus commodification (how options-theory has changed capitalism); (2) material markets (how this theory performs); and (3) valuation and contingency (how economies make worlds). (Also offered as Anthropology 268A. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. R. Meister
268B. Rethinking Capitalism. *
Course 268A addressed changes in the theory and practice of capitalism as derivatives markets have become increasingly central to it. This course, which can be regarded as either background or sequel, concerns questions that surround recent debates about derivatives from the standpoint of broader developments in law, culture, politics, ethics, ontology, and theology. What would it mean to see questions of contingency and value as a challenge to late-modern understandings of these modes of thought? (Also offered as Anthropology 268B. Students cannot receive credit for both courses.) Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. R. Meister
269. Property and Possession. *
Covers modern conceptions of property and their critique. Inquires into the concept of property as an individual right by exploring its philosophical justifications and criticism in thinkers, such as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, G.W. F. Hegel, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and Karl Marx. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. M. Tomba
271. Historical Temporalities. *
Explores the critique of the unilinear historical time through the prism of Reinhart Koselleck, Walter Benjamin, and Ernst Bloch's attempts to reconfigure the concepts of time and history. During the course, students investigate how time affects both representation of reality and political praxis. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Tomba
272. Deprovincializing Marx. *
Course aims to rethink Marx against the grain, from the debate with Russian populists to Capital and the Grundrisse. Investigates formal subsumption not as a historical stage, but as a form that denotes how capitalism encounters, incorporates, and combines existing modes of production without creating a homogeneous world. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Tomba
275. Sovereignties. *
The guiding thought of this seminar is the question of what is, and is not, "sovereign." Exploring a wide range of authors (such as Bodin, Hobbes, Spinoza, Rousseau, Kant, Schmitt, Bataille, and Fanon), this seminar addresses the most salient problems in recent discussions of sovereignty. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. D. Marriott
285. Topics in Political Theology. S
Readings focus on the early 20th-century rediscovery of political theology; its use in theorizations of the Holocaust; and its return in 21st-centurty debates on empires, war, terror, enmity, reconciliation, fanaticism, human rights, political economy, and global catastrophe. Students cannot receive credit for this course and course 85. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. May be repeated for credit. R. Meister
291. Advising (2 credits). F,W,S
Independent study formalizing the advisee-adviser relationship. Regular meetings to plan, assess and monitor academic progress, and to evaluate coursework as necessary. May be used to develop general bibliography of background reading and trajectory of study in preparation for the qualifying examination. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
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. Enrollment is restricted to graduate students. Enrollment limited to 15. The Staff
293. Field Study. F,W,S
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. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
294. Teaching-Related Independent Study. F,W,S
Directed graduate research and writing coordinated with the teaching of undergraduates. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. The Staff
294A. Ind Study-Teaching.
Directed graduate research and writing coordinated with the teaching of undergraduates. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
294B. Ind Study-Teaching (10 credits).
Directed graduate research and writing coordinated with the teaching of undergraduates. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
295. Directed Reading. F,W,S
Systematic working through a prearranged bibliography which is filed as a final report at the end of the quarter with the signature of the instructor. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
296. Special Student Seminar. F,W,S
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 reviewed by the responsible faculty. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
297. Independent Study. F,W,S
Independent study and research under faculty supervision. Students submit petition to sponsoring agency. The Staff
298. Doctoral Colloquium. *
Under the supervision of a History of Consciousness faculty member, students finishing their dissertation meet weekly or bi-weekly to read and discuss selected draft chapters, design difficulties and composition problems. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
299. Thesis Research. F,W,S
Prerequisite(s): advancement to candidacy. May be repeated for credit. The Staff
Revised: 07/15/18
