Texts, Contexts, Cultures – Semester 1 2011

http://www.textscontextscultures.ie/ Semester I 2011 – 2 Courses”Critical thinking 1500-Ś_1800: Texts, Contexts, Cultures” Brendan Dooley (UCC)&”Critical thinking, 1900 to the present: Texts, Contexts, Cultures” Professor Nicholas Allen (NUIG) and Dr Crawford Gribben (TCD) ‘Critical thinking 1500-1800′ Semester 1: Tuesdays, 12noon-2pm This element of research training in the Texts, Contexts, Cultures pathway grounds students in a range of theoretical and material approaches to humanities research. Located in the historical period from 1500 to 1800 The module examines critical themes in the culture of knowledge mainly in Europe, between 1500 and 1800. Questions include: how did human feeling contribute to knowledge? What was nature, according to early modern people? How was beauty recorded and protected? What was the relation between philosophy and other kinds of knowing? What role did religion play in the knowledge of the self and the world? How was religious knowledge evaluated? What were place, space and time, and how did such concepts change? Theoretical as well as practical perspectives will be examined, and modern interpretations (Foucault, Toulmin, Ginzburg, Nussbaum, Bouwsma, Bendix, Darnton, Israel etc.) as well as interpretations by the early moderns. The interests of the course will be molded by the interests of participants, and bibliography will be formulated to accomodate participants’ needs and interests. Assessment: submission of ongoing research or relevant professional document in agreement with course director. Assessments are due on the last day of class. Trinity students will meet on Tuesdays, 12noon-2pm, in Arts Block 3129, throughout semester 1. Trinity students should contact Crawford Gribben with any enquiries (crawford.gribben@tcd.ie) NUI Galway students will meet on Tuesdays, noon-2pm, in the Moore Institute Seminar Room, throughout semester 1. NUI Galway students should contact Nicholas Allen with any enquiries (nicholas.allen@nuigalway.ie) UCC students will meet on Tuesdays, 12noon-2pm in the Boole library teleconferencing room, throughout semester 1. UCC students should contact Brendan Dooley with any enquiries (B.Dooley@ucc.ie) Participants will prepare one or more selections as noted in the bibliography below and in special bibliographies for each session. 27 September: Introduction 4 October : I’m away 11 October: Historical psychology of emotions Translated selections from B. Dooley, Amore e guerra nel tardo Rinascimento (Polistampa, 2009) 18 October: Time and Narrative Benvenuti Cellini Autobiography, chaps. XXXIII-XXXIX (sack of Rome) English version by John Addington Symonds, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4028 25 October: Space and Consciousness J. B. Harley, “New England Cartography and the Native Americans,” The New Nature of Maps. Essays in the History of Cartography, ed. P. Laxton and J. H. Andrews, Hopkins 2001 1 November: Words and Things Paula Findlen, “Possessing the Past: The Material World of the Italian Renaissance,” American Historical Review 103 (1998): 83-114 8 November: Truth and Power Barbara Shapiro, A Culture of Fact. England, 1550-1720, Cornell, 2000, chap. 1. 5 November: Enlightenments Old and New Jonathan Israel, “Enlightenment! Which Enlightenment?” Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 67, No. 3 (Jul., 2006), pp. 523-545 22 November: Picturing the Word. 22 November Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, FROM: Laocoí_n, The Limits of Poetry and Painting, (1766) http://books.google.com/books?id=qR4GAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA262&lpg=PA262&dq=ovid+laocoon&source=bl&ots=i3ayhF_ 4yZ&sig=XGJkQEi3pmKlNU77Lk_ssQA0E7U&hl=de&ei=866RSdvNI-TGjAfmuriiCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPR29,M1 29 November: The Nature of Books From F. Redi, Experiments on the Generation of Insects, in B. Dooley, Italy in the Baroque (NY 1995): http://books.google.it/books?id=q2doAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=italy+in+the+baroque+dooley&source =bl&ots=atHZfItVMe&sig=hWqbUG8PUBEgIFDZLs3pXz1gh9U&hl=it&ei=AsaETLPHOMmL4gawjfzRBA&sa =X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false 6 December: Conclusion 6 December TOPIC 2 – 5 October – Historical psychology of emotions. Concept: How do texts of various types evince or express emotions, emotivity, passions? A recent historiography has begun tracing the history of emotions from the Renaissance to modern times. We look at some of the documents in the light of some of the conclusions. READINGS: Translated selections from B. Dooley, Amore e guerra nel tardo Rinascimento (Polistampa, 2009) B. Dooley, A Mattress-Maker’s Daughter: The Renaissance Romance of Don Giovanni de’ Medici and Livia Vernazza (forthcoming), chap. 4: Writing the Passions B. Dooley, Ibid., Preface and Prologue (for context) B. Rosenwein, “Worrying about Emotions in History.” The American Historical Review 107.3 (2002): 45 pars. 5 Sep. 2011 http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/107.3/ah0302000821.html ‘Critical thinking, 1900 to the present’ Semester 1: Tuesdays, 2-4pm This element of research training in the Texts, Contexts, Cultures pathway grounds students in a range of theoretical and material approaches to humanities research. Located in the historical period from 1900 to the present, it builds on the related seminar, Texts, Contexts, Cultures: Critical Thinking (1500-1800). The seminar’s interdisciplinary framework is designed from elements of literature, history, visual arts, philosophy, and critical theory. This seminar will be broadcast throughout the TCC consortium. Learning Outcomes: Advanced critical thinking in cultural theory; knowledge of cultural change from 1900 to the present; reading in key texts of the period; experience of different learning environments through multimedia; improved writing skills; improved research capacity as individual scholars in training; improved community of learning. Assessment: submission of ongoing research or relevant professional document in agreement with course directors. Assessments are due on the last day of class, 29th November. Trinity students will meet on Tuesdays, 2-4pm, in Arts Block 3129, throughout semester 1. Trinity students should contact Crawford Gribben with any enquiries (crawford.gribben@tcd.ie) NUI Galway students will meet on Tuesdays, 2-4pm, in the Moore Institute Seminar Room, throughout semester 1. NUI Galway students should contact Nicholas Allen with any enquiries (nicholas.allen@nuigalway.ie) UCC students will meet on Tuesdays, 2-4pm, in the Boole library teleconferencing room, throughout semester 1. UCC students should contact Brendan Dooley with any enquiries (B.Dooley@ucc.ie) Set text: selections from Neil Badmington and Julia Thomas (eds), The Routledge Critical and Cultural Theory Reader (London: Routledge, 2008). Other texts available online, through library or for purchase. Please see schedule below. SCHEDULE 1. Introduction (27th September) 2. The Historical Problem (4th October) Reading: Walter Benjamin, äóÖThe Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’: Hayden White, äóÖThe Burden of History’ 3. Read: Frank O’Connor, äóÖGuests of the Nation’ (11th October) 4. Read: W. G. Sebald, Austerlitz (18th October) 5. Thinking about Things (25th October) Reading: Raymond Williams, äóÖCulture is Ordinary’: Michel de Certeau, äóÖWalking in the City’ 6. Read: James Joyce, äóÖThe Dead’, from Dubliners (1st November) 7. Reading Week 8. Read: Elizabeth Bowen, äóÖAnn Lee’s’, äóÖThe Demon Lover’ (15th November) 9. Others (22nd November) Edward Said, äóÖIntroduction to Orientalism’: Stuart Hall, äóÖEncoding/Decoding’ 10. Read: Julian Barnes: Arthur & George (29th November)