Graduate Courses, Summer 2001

Times and locations of class meetings are subject to change. Consult the UF Schedule of Courses for an explanation of the class period abbreviations.

Summer Session B
Course no. Time(s) Course title Instructor
ENG 6075 TR 5-6 Theory: Issues: Hauntologies Wolfreys
LIT 6855 TR 4-5 Disney & Its Discontents Kidd

ENG 6075

Theory: Issues: Hauntologies (Spectrality, Materiality, Representation)

Julian Wolfreys
Tuesdays and Thursdays, per. 5-6 (2-4:45 p.m.)

What can we speak of, in the name of the ghost? What articulations does the revenant come to authorise? Can we think of a “materiality without matter,” and what material effects (politically, historically) might the spectral trace bring about in the act of representation? Neither there nor not there, neither living nor dead (to allow the words of Derrida to come back, without coming back as such), we will consider how the spectral, irreducible to any ontology, announces indirectly in varying, unstoppable, and unpredictable manifestations, the limits to which matters of history and representation can go. In excess of the ontological limits of history, representation and the political traditionally conceived, spectrality addresses issues of memory and responsibility, issuing the impossible demand of reading.

Requirements:

Regular attendance and participation (10%), weekly journals (2-3 pages, 40%), research paper (c. 15 pages, 50%).

Reading (depending on availability):

There will also be a photocopy packet including:

Other photocopies in the packet will include, possibly, essays (and fragments of essays) by Jacques Derrida, Jean-Michel Rabaté, Samuel Weber, Nicholas Royle, Peggy Kamuf, Ernesto Laclau, Slavoj Zizek, Hélène Cixous, and Peter Schwenger.

Films:

Times for screenings and discussion of the films are to be arranged.

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LIT 6855

Disney and Its Discontents

Kenneth Kidd
Tuesdays and Thursdays, per. 4-5 (12:50-3:15 p.m.)

This summer seminar will focus on Disney – the man, the corporation, the global phenomenon. And on its discontents; for many intellectuals anyway, Disney has become nearly synonymous with a conservative, patriarchal, heterosexual ideology linked with American cultural imperialism. Disney’s global reach and financial worth are staggering; the corporation owns not only Walt Disney Pictures and the ABC television network but also the film companies of Touchstone, Hollywood, Caravan, Miramax, Henson, and Merchant Ivory Productions (not to mention seven theme park complexes and other worldwide ventures). There’s a substantial body of scholarship on Disney’s ideology and its vast array of products/forms; we’ll survey that literature, with the help of related readings in critical theory, cultural studies, psychoanalysis, and gender/queer studies. Central to the literature is a debate about the intentions and consequences of the (newest) “evil empire,” a debate which reflects tensions in contemporary media and cultural studies. We’ll look systematically at Disney, but also explore the ways in which scholarly treatments (whatever their angle) suggest the aims and emphases of intellectual work in the contemporary moment. The course will be organized around pairings of theoretical issues with certain kinds of Disney texts – books, films, theme parks, webpages, events (such as Gay Day). We’ll screen two films during class, but students will be responsible for watching others on their own time. In tandem with our unit on “How to Read a Theme Park,” we’ll visit one or more of the parks at Disney World in Orlando, and generally try to take advantage of our proximity to the magic kingdom. We’ll also benefit from the expertise of local experts.

Required are two essays and active participation; there will be no exams. A shorter essay (5-7 pages) will examine a local genre or aspect of the Disney experience, while a longer seminar essay (20+ pages) will develop a more sustained treatment of a course-related topic (not necessarily restricted to Disney).

Tentative Films:

Tentative Texts:

Plus a course packet of shorter readings from Bachelard, Baudrillard, de Certeau, Freud, Jameson, Soja, Stallybrass and White, and others.

These lists are subject to change; Consult me before buying materials.

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