Course Introduction:

This course examines the ways in which we use language performatively to construct our personal, social, and cultural realities. Specifically, we will examine how performance and other cultural productions generate, reproduce, and negotiate cultural meanings, identities, and differences.

Central to this course is an assumption that language is itself a performative endeavor -- we study not so much what language is as what language does. It is also assumed that culture is an ongoing process of cultivation -- through language, we perform in an ongoing and ever-changing process of the generation, reproduction, and negotiation of meanings and identities. We will focus on how we construct our culture, social, and individual identities through discourse and performance.

Additionally, we will spend much of the semester examining various case studies in the performance of cultural identity. These case studies should allow us to apply the theoretical models we discuss in class to real world examples.

Required Texts:

301 Reader and Sourcebook, available from Northridge Copy Center Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style

Reading Assignments

It is expected that each of the reading assignments will be completed by the time you come to class the day the assignment is due. The instructor urges you in the strongest possible terms to keep on schedule with the assigned readings and exercises. If you don't, you will probably have to work much harder to keep up with missed work. Additionally, in a small discussion class such as this one, it is obvious who has and has not completed the readings. Students who try to participate in the discussion without having completed the readings tend to degrade the intellectual experience for the other students.

Course Requirements:

Grading

Exams: The exams will be part objective and part analytical. They will cover the material in readings and lectures prior to the exam date. These examinations are not easy and I strongly encourage students to take them seriously when studying. These exams are together worth 40% of your total grade. Exams will comprise multiple choice, short answer, and essay questions. The instructor will not provide a study guide for these exams. However, those who wish to may look at the study guide created for previous semester exams; it is accessible through the World Wide Web. Additionally the interactive study guide that you will create with your classmates should be helpful. In any case it is up to you -- not the instructor -- to make sure you are prepared for these exams. The first exam will be an "objective" assessment of your familiarity with the course material (multiple choice/short answer) and the second will offer a subjective assessment of your application of the course materials (essay).

Written Presentation on Class Readings: Each student will choose a set of readings and write a short (3-5 pages) presentation on those readings for that date. The student will turn the paper in on the day the readings are to be discussed, and will participate on a "panel" in the discussion of those readings on that day. I will hand out forms for you to "vote" for your choice of reading, but there is no guarantee that you will receive the one you choose. I will hand out reading assignments on Sept 13th, and they will begin with the readings for Sept 25.

Presentations should do two things: (1) provide a brief summary of the author's main points in the reading, and (2) offer an original argument setting the reading into the context of performance, language, and cultural studies. In other words, take a critical or analytical position on the text you are covering; don't simply review what the author has to say. This presentation is worth 20% of your final grade. Keep in mind that your paper should be guided by your central position or your thesis, as with any other scholarly essay. This is not a "book review" or summary paper, although some summary of the essay will be necessary to support your point.

In-Class Exercises and Class Participation: While not formally graded, your participation in class discussions and in in-class exercises is expected and required. I will not be marking attendance but will expect you to show up to class; in-class exercises cannot be made up. Participation is worth 10% of your final grade. Your participation grade will be affected not only by verbal participation in the class discussion, but also by your written contributions to the online discussion on HyperNews.

One of the class exercises is the creation of an interactive study guide with your fellow students on HyperNews (on the World Wide Web). There is a web page set up for this purpose that you will find on the Internet. This project should be an ongoing project that will begin with the very first course lecture. It is each student's job to contribute to this study guide by posting to HyperNews key terms and their definitions, lecture outlines, and theses or positions regarding the materials covered in the course. Your posts should be accurate and thorough, and should ideally help yourself and other students with exam study. The project will end on November 22, after the last exam.

Oral Presentation and Final Paper: Early on in the semester I will place you in groups for group oral presentations at the end of the semester. Each group will choose an outside-class performance text which you will do some ethnographic research on. Your research should utilize some of the materials covered in class lectures, readings, and discussions to analyze your performance text and discuss the underlying cultural struggles or ideas that you find in the text.

Each student will write a final paper (4-6 pages) which offers a critical-analytical interpretation of the performance you have chosen. This paper should offer an original argument about the performance; your argument should be somewhat different in focus, emphasis, or position, than those of your other group members. This written paper will be worth 20% of your final grade.

Additionally, each student will arrange with their group an oral presentation of your analysis. These presentations should offer students an opportunity to share your work, as well as to hear what other students have been researching. Each student should hold up their part of the group presentation for I will assign grades individually. This presentation will be worth 10% of your final grade.

Academic Honesty: I certainly hope you won't cheat in my class. If you are caught in any form of academic dishonesty, expect to fail the course and to be brought up on charges in accordance with the Student Conduct Code. If you are unsure what constitutes academic honesty, consult the university catalog and/or your therapist.

Attendance and Participation Statement

Regular attendance and participation in class discussion is expected. I will not be taking roll regularly nor evaluating student reasons for missing classes. The student alone is responsible for attending classes and finding out what was missed when s/he is unable to attend. I will not respond to phone calls, emails, or other messages whose content is some variant of "I can't make it to class today; are we doing anything important?" Take it as a given that we will never do anything unimportant, and show up to class or figure out on your own what happened in class. I am not interested in hearing about your reasons for missing classes. As adults I expect you to have confidence in your own system of priorities and act accordingly -- in other words, it's up to you, not me, to determine what is or isn't a good reason for missing classes. And it's up to you, not me, to make up missed work. Keep in mind that some missed work, such as participation in the day to day activities of the course, cannot be made up no matter how good your reasons.

Additionally, it is up to you to come to class prepared to participate as a citizen -- to listen attentively to others, to engage critically and creatively the perspectives of others, and to contribute meaningfully to discussions of the course materials. This means having all of the reading done when it is due, turning in assignments on time, and actively listening to and participating with your classmates and your instructor. Students who interrupt discussions by frequently arriving to class late, who constantly interrupt others without meaningfully listening to their comments, or who constantly bring up questions that would more appropriately be answered by a glance at the syllabus or during office hours (e.g. "when is this due?" or "what if I wasn't here when you handed out the assignment?" or "is this going to be on the test?") not only reflect poorly on their own class citizenship; they actively cheapen the educational experience of all of the other students. Procedural questions about what is expected of you in the class should be saved for office hours if they are not answered after a thorough re-reading of the class syllabus. Electronic mail is also a more appropriate forum for such questions.

Late Assignments:

In the past, I have had a lenient policy towards extensions and late assignments. However, due to the abuse of this lenience by a number of students and the unfairness perceived by other students who do their work on time, I will no longer be accepting any late assignments. I will listen sympathetically in emergency situations, but do not expect me to bend over backwards to help you because you forgot to get an assignment in on time, as it isn't fair to the rest of the class. It is up to you to decide what family and job committments have priority over this course. Additionally, you are urged to budget your time to allow for Murphy's Law and contingencies such as broken copiers, blackouts, riots, fires, and pets who like to snack on final drafts.

Some Definitions:

performance n (15c) 1 a: the execution of an action b: something accomplished: DEED, FEAT 2: the fulfillment of a claim, promise, or request : IMPLEMENTATION 3 a: the action of representing a character in a play b: a public presentation or exhibition 4 a: the ability to perform: EFFICIENCY b: the manner in which a mechanism performs 5: the manner of reacting to stimuli: BEHAVIOR 6: linguistic behavior

perform vb [ME performen, fr. AF performer, alter. of OF perfournir, fr. per- thoroughly (fr. L) + fournir to complete -- more at FURNISH] -->vt (14c) 1: to adhere to the terms of: FULFILL 2: CARRY OUT, DO 3 a: to do in a formal manner or according to prescribed ritual b: to give a rendition of: PRESENT --> vi 1: to carry out an action or pattern of behavior: ACT, FUNCTION 2: to give a performance: PLAY

language n [ME, fr. OF, fr. langue tongue, language, fr. L lingua -- more at TONGUE] (13c) 1 a: the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a considerable community b (1): audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs (2): a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (3) the suggestion by objects, actions, or conditions of associated ideas or feelings {body --} (4): the means by which animals communicate... 2 a: manner of verbal expression; specif: STYLE b: the vocabulary or phraseology belonging to an art or a department of knowledge c: PROFANITY

culture n [ME, fr. MF, fr. L cultura, fr. cultus, pp.] (15c) 1: CULTIVATION, TILLAGE 2: the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties esp. by education 3: expert care and training 4 a: enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training b: acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills 5 a: the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon man's capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations b: the customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group 6: cultivation of living material in prepared nutrient media; also: a product of such cultivation