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** Activism In Visual And Media Culture ** Monday 10:00-12:00 Location: CC3150 Professor: Irmgard Emmelhainz Office Hours: Monday 12:00-2:00 Office: CCT, CC3018 E-mail: i.emmelhainz@utoronto.ca
 * Spring 2009**
 * __Course Description & Objectives__**

May ‘68’s call for self-organization and direct intervention (without mediation) propitiated the demise of aesthetico-political intervention –as the ruin of representation and the demise of the Party as the container for political action. This gave leeway to multiple practices as the “expression of the multitude” within the realm of absolute democracy, implying the disavowal of the gap between governamentality and the people, privileging the technologies of presence and information as modes of intervention. This class will address the form, the content and the expression of power and struggles against power and their visual and cultural manifestations. In the first part of the semester, we will look at the history of revolt of the 20th century and the role of intellectuals and/or cultural producers, considering the mass media as a potential site for “speaking truth” to power. Addressing the shift from “working class” to “bare life” and to the “multitude,” the second part of the class will move toward the geopolitical, analyzing current struggles in the democratic North-West and the figurations and struggles from the South-East and the bridges that are woven between them. The students will be introduced to problems and concepts such as governmentality, the multitude, the police, community, ethnic riots, traffic and networks of bodies, signs and goods. Looking at examples and questions from past 30 years, the course will address models of intervention such as ethnography, journalism, social work, activism, and citizenship at the crux of the relationship between //poiesis//, //tecné// and //praxis//. The materials from the course will range from theory (Foucault, Sontag, Arendt, Baudrillard), to Hollywood, to art-films, to journalistic and fiction writing and poetry.

The course will introduce students to contemporary key questions such as responsibility, democracy, first, third and fourth worlds and practices of direct democracy. Studying recent and current case studies (LA ethnic riots, Permanent War and moral military interventions, the Neapolitan mafia, bare life in the Mumbai slums), the students at the end of the course will have developed an understanding of current global processes and the visual and cultural processes that elucidate, unveil and problematize them.
 * __Course Goals and Outcomes__**

**__ Course Requirements __**

**__ Course and Reading Schedule* __** __January 5__ (First Assignment will be posted after class on blackboard)
 * Weekly writing assignments**: 40%
 * You are required to hand in weekly writing assignments. The short papers will be based on the course readings and films. The guiding questions will be posted after class every week. The assignments will include looking up words in the dictionary (Oxford English Dictionary Online), writing the definition and using the words in your texts.
 * The weekly assignments must be submitted in person to the instructor with your UToronto ID Student card. No email submissions are accepted in any circumstance.
 * The eleven weekly assignments will not be longer than 1.5 pages, 12 pts, 1.5 spaced. The average of your marks in the assignments is worth 40% of your final grade.
 * If you fail to hand in your assignment in class, you may turn them in the following weeks. Note that each week delay will have your grade reduced by 25%. Absolutely no exceptions will be made.
 * Mid-term in-class essay**: 30%
 * Final exam**: 30%
 * There will be no make-up opportunities for the in-class essays. No exceptions.
 * Attendance** **Policy**
 * Attendance is compulsory and students are expected to participate actively in the class.
 * You should inform the instructor of any anticipated absences in the first two weeks of the class.
 * For up to and including the first 3 absences, 10% off the final grade will be deducted. If you miss four classes you have failed the class.
 * In case of justified absences you must hand in your doctor’s note at the most within a week.
 * Notes, midterm in-class essay and final exam.**
 * Taking notes is recommended.
 * You may bring summaries of your notes and assignments with you to the mid-term and final exams-essays.
 * Your notes/assignments summaries may be up to five pages long, double sided, single-spaced and 12p, and you will hand them in stapled to your essays.
 * The instructor reserves the right to timely modify the readings in the schedule (without increasing the volume of pages).
 * 1. Introductory Lecture: “Can we change the world without taking over power?”**

__January 12__ · Vladimir Ilych Lenin: “What is there to be done?” · Available at: [|http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/lenin.html]. · Boris Groys, “Educating the Masses: Socialist Realist Art,” //Art Power// (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2008), 141-148. · Walter Benjamin, “The Author as Producer,” //Art in Theory//, //1900-2000//, edited by Harrison & Wood, 769-782.
 * 2. The Early Avant-Garde**
 * Case Studies**: Socialist Realism, Vertov, Eisenstein, Brecht.

__January 19__ · The ruin of representation: Dialogue between Deleuze and Foucault: “Intellectuals and Power,” //Desert// //Islands// //and Other Texts 1953-1974//, (New York: Semiotext(e), 2002), 206-213. · Hannah Arendt, //On Violence//, 3-31. · Ulrike Meinhof, “Armed Anti-Imperialist Struggle,” //Hatred of Capitalism: A Semiotext(e) Reader//, (New York: Semiotext(e), 2001), 166-170. · Hoffman, Abbie and Jerry Rubin (2002). “From //Revolution for the Hell of it”// In Stephen Duncombe (ed.) //The Cultural Resistance Reader.// Verso: London, 327 – 330.
 * 3. May ’68: Who speaks and acts, for whom and how?**
 * Case studies**: GIP, The Guerrilla Girls, RAF, Weather Underground, Abby Hoffman

__January 26__ · Sartre, Introduction to Fanon’s “Wretched of the Earth,” //Jean-Paul Sartre: Colonialism and Neo-Colonialism//, (London: Routledge, 2001), 136-155. Available at: http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/sartre/1961/preface.htm · Glauber Rocha, “Aesthetics of Hunger,” (1965) Available at: http://www.tempoglauber.com.br/english/t_estetica.html Available at: http://www.thecornerreport.com/index.php?title=speech_of_the_red_indian&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1. __February 2__ · Bertolt Brecht, “The Radio as an Apparatus for Communication,” (1932). http://home.freeuk.net/lemmaesthetics/brecht1.htm · Jean Baudrillard, “Requiem for the Media” (1972) //Toward a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign//, (Saint Louis: Telos Press, 1981), 278-288. · Hans Manus Enzenzberger, “Constituents of a Theory of the Media,” //The Consciousness Industry: On Literature, Politics and the Media//, (Seabury Press, 1974), 260-276.
 * 4. From Third Worldism to the Fourth World**
 * Vijay Prashad, //The Darker Nations, A People’s History of the Third World//, (London and New York: The New Press, 2007) (3 page intro)
 * Guillermo Gómez-Peña “The '90s Culture of Xenophobia: Beyond the Tortilla Curtain.” from //The New World Border//, (City Lights, 1996), 63-72.
 * Guillermo Gómez-Peña, “Declaration of Poetic Disobedience.”
 * Mahmoud Darwish, “The Speech of the Red Indian,” (1992)
 * Case Studies**: Glauber Rocha, Derek Walcott, Senghor, Guillermo Gómez-Peña, Jimmy Durham, James Luna, Rebecca Bellmore, Annie Pootoogook.
 * 5. Interventions in the Media I**
 * Case Studies**: Raqs Media Collective; Ant Farm, Selections from: Godard’s //Six Fois Deux//, David Lamelas, //Vietnam Information Station// (1968), etc.

__February 9__ · Selections from Susan Sontag, //Regarding the Pain of Others//, (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003). · Nina Zivancevic, “Pandora’s Box: From Inside and Outside Byzantium,” //Hatred of Capitalism//, (New York: Semiotext(e), 2001), 67-82. · Jean Genet, “Four Hours at Chatila,” //Journal of Palestine Studies// 12, no. 3 (Spring 1983). Available at: http://www.abbc2.com/solus/JGchatilaEngl.html.
 * 6.** **Interventions in the Media II**
 * Case Studies**: //Jenin Jenin// by Mohammad Bakri (2002) and Paul Chan’s //Baghdad in No Particular Order// (2003), BH Yael, “Palestine Triology,” Juliano Mer Khamis, //Arna’s Children// (2002).

__February 16: Reading week__ __February 23 MIDTERM in-class essay__

__March 2__ Guest Speaker: Eshrat Erfanian · Marjane Satrapi, //Persepolis//, Vol. 1 (2002) · Retort, “Revolutionary Islam,” //Afflicted Powers//, (New York and London: Verso, 2005), 132-171.
 * 7. Islamic Revolution**

__March 9__ · Michel Foucault, “Governmentality,” //The Foucault Effect//, (Chicago: The University Press, 1991), 87-104. · David Alan Sklanski, “Work and Authority in Policing,” //Police and the Liberal State//, (Stanford: The University Press, 2006), 110-135. · Paolo Virno interviewed by Maurizio Lazaratto, “Multitude and Working Class.” http://www.generation-online.org/t/multitudeworkingclass.htm.
 * 8. The Multitude Against the Police?**

__My notes:__ Foucault on the Police state; difference between governmentality, sovereignty and economy. Ranciere: the police controls what is visible and what is not. Look up: Brian Champan “Police State” (1971), Foucault” Security, Territory, X.
 * Film:** The Wachawski Brothers’ //V for Vendetta// (2006)

__March 16__ · Retort, “Permanent War” //Afflicted Powers//, 78-107. · J.M. Coetzee, //Diary of a Bad Year//, (New York: Vintage, 2007), 3-15 and 19-23.
 * 9. Permanent War, Bare Life and Spectacle**
 * Case Studies**: Alfonso Cuarón’s //Children of men// (2006) and Ridley Scott’s //Black Hawk Dawn// (1992).

__March 23__ Guest Lecturer: Alessandra Renzi http://www.noborder.org/archive_item.php?id=356 __Watch movie__: Biemann, Ursula. Remote Sensing. New York, NY: Women Makes Movies, 2001. (53 min.)
 * 10. Traffic of Bodies, Labor and Precarity**
 * Serhat Karakayali, Sandro Mezzadra, Vassilis Tsianos, Manuela Bojadzijev, Thomas Atzert "Frassanito - by any means necessary" (2005), pp. 18-19
 * Gerald Raunig "NO BORDER NO NATION. Considerations on the Boundlessness of the Border", 27-28.
 * Schleuser.net " MOBILITY IS OUR GOAL! National Federation of Smugglers & Traffickers", 64-65.
 * Imre Szeman. “Remote Sensing: An Interview with Ursula Biemann” in: //Review of Education/Pedagogy/Cultural Studies//, 24.1/2 (2002)
 * Roberto Saviano, “The Port” in: Gomorrah. Translated by Virginia Jewiss. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 2006. pp. 3-16
 * Renzi, A and S. Turpin (2007) “Nothing Fails Like Prayer: Why the Cult of San Precario is More Dangerous than Religion” in: Fuse Magazine, Issue 25/2007: 26-35.

__March 30__ · Naomi Klein, “The Discarded Factory,” //No Logo//, (New York: Picador, 2000), 195-229. · Roberto Saviano, “Angelina Jolie,” //Gomorrah//, (New York: Picador, 2006), 17-37. · Jean Baudrillard, “Beyond Use Value,” 130-143 and/or “Concerning the Fulfillment of Desire in Exchange Value,” 204-212; Chapters 7 and 11 from //For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign// translated by Charles Levin, (New York: Telos Press Publishing, 1981). __April 6__ · Mike Davis, “Planet of Slums,” //New Left Review// 26, (March-April 2004), 5-35. · J.M. Coetzee, //Diary of a Bad Year//, (New York: Vintage, 2007), 3-15 and 19-23.
 * 11. Traffic of Commodities and Signs: Exchange Value and Surplus Value**
 * 12. The Slums & Conclusions**
 * Case study**: //Otolith II// (2007).

Honesty and fairness are considered fundamental to the University’s mission, and, as a result, all those who violate those principles are dealt with as if they were damaging the integrity of the University itself. When students are suspected of cheating or a similar academic offence, they are typically surprised at how formal and seriously the matter is dealt with – and how severe the consequences can be if it is determined that cheating did occur. The University of Toronto treats academic offences very seriously. Students should note that copying, plagiarizing, or other forms of academic misconduct will not be tolerated. Any student caught engaging in such activities will be subject to academic discipline ranging from a mark of zero on the assignment, test or examination to dismissal from the university as outlined in the UTM calendar. Any student abating or otherwise assisting in such misconduct will also be subject to academic penalties. Students are assumed to be informed about plagiarism and are expected to be familiar the handout, titled "Plagiarism and Reference Format". How not to plagiarize, written by Margaret Procter, is a valuable and succinct source of information on the topic. www.utoronto.ca/writing/plagsep.html/ You are also supposed to be familiar, and considered as being familiar, with the Faculty Rules and Regulations, Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters (see 2008-2009 UTM Calendar) and Code of Student Conduct (see  2008-2009 UTM Calendar), which spell out your rights, your duties and provide all the details on grading regulations and academic offenses at the University of Toronto. The University accommodates students with disabilities who have registered with the AccessAbility Resource Centre. Please let me know in advance, preferably in the first week of class, if you will require any accommodation on these grounds. (2008-09 UTM Calendar Section 6.3 AccessAbility Resource Centre). The Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre offers both individual appointments and workshops for students having difficulty with reading and writing skills. You are expected to come to class on time, turn off cell phones and pagers, use laptops in class for note-taking only (not for web surfing, email etc.).
 * __University Statement on Academic Honesty__**
 * __ University Statement on Plagiarism __**
 * AccessAbility **
 * Academic Skills Centre **
 * Classroom Management **