Making Worlds in 2014!

Greetings from the new year, all! The Cultural Studies Reading Group has resumed our discussion of "Making Worlds" with renewed gusto. Last week, we watched Jia Zhangke's 2004 film The World (stills included here), in conversation with Timothy Mitchell's article "The World as Exhibition." Our discussion ranged over many aspects of world-making, including the interrelated moral and aesthetic projects of worlding; economic precarity and contingency; spectacle, simulacrum and the world as picture or the world as object; and imaginaries/economies of scale as they highlight global positioning and metonymic forms of autonomy.

This very productive discussion will be, we think, further explored and complicated in our upcoming reading by Mimi Nguyen. Selected by CSRG member Kasim Husain, "The Biopower of Beauty: Humanitarian Imperialisms and Global Feminisms in an Age of Terror" will be discussed for our next meeting on February 5th (4:30-6:30pm in CNH 317). As usual, please feel free to comment or email us @ readingculturalstudies@gmail.com if you'd like a copy of the article. Stay tuned for what promises to be a generative meeting in February!

Next meeting: Ursula K. Heise's "Lost Dogs, Last Birds, and Listed Species: Cultures of Extinction"

At last week's meeting, the group decided to look at some terms and think about how we might frame or ground our discussions of "worlds." We read Jacques Derrida's "Globalization, Peace, Cosmopolitanism", in which he attempts to define "mondialisation" against what he reads as the more Eurocentric term "globalization," in conversation with Victor Li (U.Toronto)'s rejoinder, "Elliptical Interruptions: Why Derrida Prefers Mondialisation to Globalization." We read affirmatively and suspiciously, using a deconstructive reading mode to agree on the limits of theoretical debates about worlding in addition to the problems they allow us to identify. Thanks for a great discussion! Feel free to comment if you are interested in receiving copies of these readings.

Our next session will be on Wednesday, Dec. 4th at 4:30 in CNH 317. We will be discussing a piece by Ursula K. Heise, whose work at the intersection of contemporary environmental culture, literature and art in the Americas, Western Europe and Japan, theories of globalization, literature and science, and the digital humanities will allow us to take up worlding from yet another lens. The article, selected by Matt Zantingh, is titled "Lost Dogs, Last Birds, and Listed Species: Cultures of Extinction"; please send us an e-mail if you would like further information or a copy of the .pdf.

 

Next meeting: Priscilla Wald's "Imagined Immunities: The Epidemiology of Belonging"

At our first meeting of the Fall term, the CSRG kicked off this year's "Making Worlds" theme with a productive, exploratory discussion of Zizek's "Do We Still Live in a World?", available online here: http://www.lacan.com/zizrattlesnakeshake.html

After this provocative start, our next session will be on Wednesday, Nov. 6th at 4:30 in CNH 317. We will be discussing "Imagined Immunities: The Epidemiology of Belonging," a chapter from Priscilla Wald's Contagious: Cultures, Carriers, and the Outbreak Narrative (2008). Bring snacks, questions, ideas! New members are always welcome. Please send us an e-mail if you would like further information or a copy of the .pdf.

2013-14 CSRG Theme: Making Worlds

Photo: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/
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This year, the CSRG will be pursuing readings that relate to the theme of "Making Worlds."

A rich stream of Marxian theory exposes what Zizek, following Badiou calls the “worldless” nature of capitalism as a global system. Not only does capital dissolve all pre-existing social conglomerates (Jameson), it must borrow from existing value structures to supply the narratives that “humanize” it as a mode of production (Boltanski and Chiapello), even while the constant imperative to growth ultimately undermines the particular “host” cultures to which it grafts (Zizek). In the grips of such a force, how do subjects struggle to articulate livable, human (or maybe post-human!) worlds? How do a multiplicity of worlds produce and respond to a field of uneven, global power relations? How do post-colonialism, globalism, and transnationalism factor? What is the role of virtuality, speculation, utopia and dystopia in the production and reproduction of worlds? How do we represent our relation to a natural world that appears increasingly precarious, and to a future that seems progressively uncertain? How do play and game theory, media, television and film figure into the construction of worlds?

The CSRG will be pursuing articles or chapter readings that relate to these topics. If you would like to come to one or more meetings (people tend to come and go as one's schedule allows), or if you can suggest a reading that would fit well with the above theme please drop us a line. 

Interview with Rosi Braidotti

The next meeting of the Cultural Studies Reading Group will be on Thursday, March 28 at 4:30 in CNH 332. We will be talking about an interview with the feminist and posthumanist philosopher Rosi Braidotti that recently appeared in New Materialism: Interviews & Cartographies.

New members are always welcome! 

Cultural Studies in the Future Tense

At our first meeting of 2013, the CSRG discussed a short paper by J.K. Gibson-Graham, "The Violence of Development: Two Political Imaginaries" (2004).

After this excellent start, our next session will be on Thursday, Feb. 14th at 4:30 in CNH 307. We will be discussing Chapter Six, "In Search of Modernities," in Lawrence Grossberg's book Cultural Studies in the Future Tense (2010). Bring snacks! Bring your Valentine date! New members are always welcome. Please send us an e-mail if you would like further information.

Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga, "Vermin Beings"

For our next meeting of the Cultural Studies Reading Group (Thurs. Nov. 15 @ 4:30, CNH 332), Jesse Arseneault has suggested we read "Vermin Beings: On Pestiferous Animals and Human Game" by Clapperton Chakanetsa Mavhunga from Social Text vol.29, no.1 (Spring 2011). This article looks at what happens when human beings are treated as if they were vermin to be hunted down and annihilated.  As stated in the abstract, this article examines,

African resistance against colonial settler rule between 1890 and 1980 as pestiferous mobility and the state response as pesticide(the theory, technology, and practice of pest control). Designated as vermin (terrorists), African guerrillas fighting for independence were subjected to weapons that had been used against wild animals, such as poisons. The article ends with a reminder that the designation and treatment of people as vermin beings has outlasted the birth of an independent Zimbabwean state.

The CSRG is meeting every other Thursday during the fall semester, at which time we discuss readings that present diverse strategies and topics investigating the political dimensions of culture. New members are always welcome. We has a habit of heading to the local pub for drinks and conversation after meetings. Please drop us a line if you would like a copy of the readings, or if you would like to be put on the regular mailing list for the CSRG.

Emily S. Lee "The Epistemology of the Question of Authenticity, in Place of Strategic Essentialism"

For the next session of the Cultural Studies Reading Group (Thurs. Nov. 1), Marquita Smith has suggested that we read Emily S. Lee's article on authenticity from Hypatia Vol. 26, no.2 (Spring 2011). The abstract to this article reads:

The question of authenticity centers in the lives of women of color to invite and restrict their representative roles. For this reason, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Uma Narayan advocate responding with strategic essentialism. This paper argues against such a strategy and proposes an epistemic understanding of the question of authenticity. The question stems from a kernel of truth—the connection between experience and knowledge. But a coherence theory of knowledge better captures the sociality and the holism of experience and knowledge.

We hope you can join us at the usual time (4:30) in the usual place (CNH 332) to discuss this article. Please contact us if you have any questions about this or future sessions, or if you are wondering how to find a copy of these or other readings. 

Michel Foucault "Nietzsche, Genealogy, History"

"And you might say to yourself: well, how did I get here?" Suspicious of origin myths? Ever wondered about the difference between genealogy and history? Looking to discuss diverse and influential writings on the political dimensions of culture? On Thursday, Oct. 18 at 4:30 pm in CNH 230, the Cultural Studies Reading Group will be meeting to discuss Foucault's essay "Nietzsche, Genealogy, History." New participants are always welcome. Please contact orpanasa@mcmaster.ca if you have any questions or would like to know where to find a copy of this or future readings. Thanks to CSRG member Ben Prus for suggesting this reading selection.

Arjun Appadurai's "Global Ethnoscapes"

For our next session (Thursday, Oct. 4 @ 4:30 in CNH 332), Sarah D'Adamo has suggested we read Arjun Appadurai's "Global Ethnoscapes: Notes and Queries for a Transnational Anthropology" which is the third chapter from his book Modernity at Large (1996). As Sarah notes:

This chapter poses interesting questions about how deterritorialization shapes our imaginative capacity for exploring cultural frameworks and theory in an era of globalization. It also explores the concept of "-scape" as cultural arena, providing an alternative to the center-periphery model.

We very much hope you can be there to discuss this important essay!

Judith Butler's "Merely Cultural"

The CSRG will meet on Thursday, Sept. 20 at 4:30 in CNH 332. We will be discussing Judith Butler's essay "Merely Cultural" [Social Text. 52.3 (Fall/Winter) 1997]. In this important essay, Butler responds to critiques of leftist politics that reduce issues of identity and sexuality to the "merely cultural" realm. Butler moves from examining several forms that this reductive move takes, to arguing for the centrality of categories such as gender to the reproduction of the dominant social relations of capitalism.

Please join us for a collegial discussion of this essay, where we might investigate such issues as the continued relevance of Butler's argument to our contemporary political and cultural situation. How have ideas about identity, culture and politics developed in the fifteen years since this essay was published, and what have been the transformations or afterlives of the tensions Butler describes and addresses? We will also be circulating a sign-up sheet for those interested in nominating texts and leading discussions for future reading group meetings.

Reading Group Resumes, New Members Welcome!

The first meeting of the CSRG will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 4:30 in CNH 317. There are no readings for this meeting. Instead, we will surveying people's interests to discuss possible reading selections for coming months as well as convenient meeting times. Please come out to meet new and old members of the group. We look forward to seeing you!


Now entering its fourth year of existence, the Cultural Studies Reading Group in McMaster's Department of English and Cultural Studies will be resuming its activities this month after a brief summer hiatus. As a glance through our older posts will reveal, the CSRG has read and discussed a wide range of topics, from media and film studies to post-humanism and science studies. We have pursued a survey of several prominent journals in the field, and we have looked at anthologies such as Paul Smith's The Renewal of Cultural Studies, and the compilation The Idea of Communism. Please drop us a line at readingculturalstudies@gmail.com if you would like notification regarding meeting times, or stay tuned to this blog for more information and updates.

Cruel Optimism in the Summer

This Summer, the CSRG will be meeting every second Wednesday in CNH 332 to read through Lauren Berlant's Cruel Optimism (Duke UP, 2006). Berlant's book examines a variety of textual sites, from literature, film and art to family life and body image, to examine the ways people remain attached to post World War II visions of "the good life" even in the midst of the widespread dissolution of this fantasy. Combining affect and queer theory with Marxian analysis, and delivered with Berlant's equally poetic and rigorous style of academic prose, this summer's readings promise a venue in which to explore the structures of feeling that emerge as contemporary situations coalesce into new generic forms.

“A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing.”

The Cultural Studies Reading Group meets during the summer every second Wednesday, starting June 14, in CNH 332 at McMaster University. Newcomers are always welcome. Please e-mail us for further details.

*Check out Lauren Berlant's blog, Supervalent Thought.

Angela McRobbie

In preparation for Angela McRobbie's visit next week, the Cultural Studies Reading Group will be meeting this Monday, Feb 6 at 4:30 in CNH 332 to discuss her 2010 article "Reflections on Feminism, Immaterial Labour and the Post-Fordist Regime" (New Formations, Vol 70). Please join us if you have the time and inclination.

On Monday the 13th we will return to our readings from Paul Smith's collection The Renewal of Cultural Studies.

McRobbie Poster enlarge

CSRG Resumes Meetings, New Participants Welcome!

As the Cultural Studies Reading Group at McMaster University's Department of English and Cultural Studies enters its third year of existence, we would like to invite any and all interested students, alumni, and forward thinking citizens to our first meeting of the academic year, to be held on Thursday, September 22 at 4:30 in CNH 332. At this meeting we will do some general introductions, and will be discussing the introduction and first chapter of Paul Smith's new collection of essays "The Renewal of Cultural Studies" (2011).

Meetings will be held every subsequent second Thursday until Christmas, during which time we hope to cover the entirety of the book. By investigating the relationship of cultural studies as a discipline to such topics as feminism, ideology critique, post-colonial literature, the culture industry, elitism, economics and environmentalism (among many others), this collection promises to offer an opportunity for informed discussion about the role of cultural studies within the university and larger society.

For more information on readings and CSRG events, please contact us at readingculturalstudies@gmail.com.

CSRG Spring Reading Series

Given the history of "actually existing socialism" in the twentieth century, is communism an outmoded idea better relegated to "the dustbin of history," or does the communist vision still offer a productive and critical exterior to the dominant capitalist order? What is the relation between Utopian vision and political practice? Can Marxian and communist discourse still inform leftist politics, both within academia and in larger political projects of transformation?

The essays collected in "The Idea of Communism" (eds. Costas Douzinas & Slavoj Žižek; Verso, 2010) address the question of "whether 'communism' is still the name to be used to designate a radical emancipatory politics" (vii). Gathered from a 2009 conference orginized by the Birbeck Institute for the Humanities, this collection of short, conference-style essays by such scholars as Alian Badiou, Susan Buck-Morss, Micheal Hardt and Jacques Rancière addresses the question of communism's continued relevance to contemporary political thought and practice.

The Cultural Studies Reading Group will be discussing several of the essays from the this collection in our next few gatherings. Our first meeting will be on Wednesday, April, 20, at 4:30 (location TBD). Please e-mail us at readingculturalstudies@gmail.com if you would like further details about this or future meeting times, or check back with the blog for updates.

Lawrence Grossberg Interview

This week, the CSRG will be discussing an interview with Lawrence Grossberg featured on the Critical Lede podcast. In this interview, Dr. Grossberg discusses his new book Cultural Studies in the Future Tense which makes a critical evaluation of contemporary cultural studies practices and suggests ways in which the discipline might develop to address the challenge of framing a leftist politics and the project of imagining alternatives to what Grossberg calls the dominant Euro-modernity.

The reading group will meet this Thursday, April 7 at 4:30 in CNH 332. We will also be deciding which chapters of the collection The Idea of Communism we will be discussing in upcoming sessions.  Hope to see you there!

Reading Sara Ahmed: February 17, 4:30pm

In prep for Sara Ahmed's upcoming visit to McMaster, the csrg is reading a couple of excerpts from The Promise of Happiness. If you've had a chance to read the introduction or conclusion, or just feel like chatting about Ahmed's work, drop by for this week's meeting.

Thursday, February 17, 4:30pm
CNH 332

Wendy Brown at McMaster - Thursday, February 10, 2011

All are welcome to join us in taking advantage of the opportunity to see and hear Wendy Brown speak at McMaster this Thursday.

The Graduate Program in Gender Studies and Feminist Research Presents:

Wendy Brown
Heller Professor of Political Science, Berkeley
Thursday, 1:30 pm Council Chambers (Gilmour Hall 111)

Civilizational Delusions:  Equality, Secularism, Tolerance

"Burka bans"—restrictions on Islamic female dress in public—have been established in France, Belgium, and the German state of Hesse.  They have been proposed in Denmark, the Netherlands, French Canada and parts of Spain.   What are the assumptions in Western secularism that make such bans possible and legitimate, despite their patent affront to principles of cultural pluralism, individual choice and religious freedom?   Revisiting certain legacies of the Protestant Reformation in Locke and Marx, and examining the ways that the secular West is depicted by thinkers such as Samuel Huntington, this lecture challenges the conceits of cultural, religious, gender and civilizational neutrality at the heart of Western secular discourse.

reading more Wendy Brown

Our winter schedule continues with two more chapters by Wendy Brown from Edgework - chapters six and seven.

Join us Thursday, February 3 in CNH 332 at 4.30pm. Any and all are welcome.