Teaching Materials by Cody Campbell
Course Description This course intends to study the role of the United States in global politics ... more Course Description This course intends to study the role of the United States in global politics post-1945, when it became the world's "unquestioned hegemonic power," according to Immanuel Wallerstein. We will also begin there, though, for another, more practical reason: with Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine, it behooves us to revisit the Cold War and the Liberal International Order that it created. Much of U.S. foreign policy between 1945 and 1989 was focused on "Russian Containment." Everything from Vietnam and Cambodia to Nixon's policies towards Pakistan; from JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis to Reagan's interventions in Central and South America; from the CIA meddling in African independence movements to the initial arming of Osama bin Laden-all of this was in the service of winning the Cold War.
The millions, that around us are rushing into life, cannot always be fed on the sere remains of f... more The millions, that around us are rushing into life, cannot always be fed on the sere remains of foreign harvests. Events, actions arise, that must be sung, that will sing themselves. Who can doubt, that poetry will revive and lead in a new age, as the star in the constellation Harp, which now flames in our zenith, astronomers announce, shall one day be the pole-star for a thousand years?"-Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The American Scholar" (1837) "But you have here the myth of the essential white America. All the other stuff, the love, the democracy, the floundering into lust, is a sort of by-play. The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted."-D.H. Lawrence, "Studies in Classic American Literature" (1923) Course Description In 1837, the philosopher and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson argued that we need to construct our own "language," a distinctly American vernacular that would finally divorce us from our "European cousins" and, therefore, allow us to forge our own identity. Twenty years later, Walt Whitman tried to do just that in his now canonical The Leaves of Grass, even sending Emerson a note asking if he had succeeded. Whitman himself was eulogized and emulated by Bob Dylan, the only songwriter to win a Nobel Prize for poetry, and Allen Ginsburg, the 1960's countercultural icon and beat poet.
is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten childr... more is an ugly city, a dirty city. Its climate is a scandal, its politics are used to frighten children, its traffic is madness, its competition is murderous. But there is one thing about it-once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough.-John Steinbeck
Course Description: The primary purpose of this course is to examine how ideologies and represena... more Course Description: The primary purpose of this course is to examine how ideologies and represenations of gender are deployed (and resisted) within the " modern " political theory canon, moving from rougly Machiavelli (16 th Century) to Marx (19 th Century). By closely reading several major thinkers in this era, we will acquire a strong grasp on the ways in which identity, power, citizenship, race and class are all intimatley entwined with the concepts of gender and sex. There are two methods we will use in our investigation. The first, and most common for political theorists, is to undertake a feminist or gender-based reading of " the canon, " in order to clearly ascertain the implcit and explicit patriarchal assumptions that provide its scaffolding– and that, consequently, continue to fortify our own political institutions and cultural norms today. The second method, quite uncommon, is to question the canon by changing its form, rather than merely its content. We will do this by reading a series of female philosophers who have been written out of the canon and, in many ways, history itself. By putting them back into conversation with their male counterparts we will be able to better see the history of political thought for what it is and to more distinctly understand its patriarchal nature.
The Politics and Literature of Existentialism
Course Description The political theory canon is often divided into three eras, each separated by... more Course Description The political theory canon is often divided into three eras, each separated by deep ideological and political crises. The Modern period, which we will be studying this semester, stretches from the seventeenth century to the twentieth century, and sets itself off from what came before in that the Aristotelian Scholasticism of the Middle Ages, among other things, could no longer withstand the scientific, political, and economic changes sweeping through Europe. The moderns were, in this context, striving to build political institutions and construct worldviews that corresponded to their own times. The contemporary period, beginning roughly at the turn of the twentieth century, also experienced an array of ideological and political crises that likewise cannot be explained or resolved by the theoretical apparatuses of the modern period. We, too, only a century into this new era, are grappling with how best to construct our world. Over the course of the semester, we will gain a working knowledge of modern political theory and its debates by interrogating the ways in which theorists attempted to grapple with a series of crises, both ideological and political. In doing so, we will ask how past theories failed to address the severity or novelty of these crises, as well as how these crises prompted innovative ways of imagining a new future, one unencumbered by the past.
Course Description: The relationship between the individual and society has changed dramatically ... more Course Description: The relationship between the individual and society has changed dramatically over time, and one of the more profound places to witness this development is in literature. Over the course of this semester, we will read a series of works from the Western literary canon, placing particular emphasis on the social, political, and cultural contexts in which they were written. We will thus pair these texts with some of their political and philosophical counterparts, as well as some contemporary criticism, allowing us to better glimpse the degrees to which literary production is embedded in in its own time. Class discussions will consider closely the ways in which social and aesthetic pressures have affected both the production and the reception of work over time. We will pay particular attention to the ways in which the literary representation of the individual and the philosophical conception of human nature, the citizen, and the subject often develop in tandem. Texts and Readings: I will put all of the secondary readings and many of the primary readings in a Dropbox folder. I will allow you to read them on your computer or portable reading device, such as an iPad or Kindle, as it can be expensive to print out all of these texts. However, I will NOT ALLOW you to read them on your cell phone. This is non-negotiable. I do expect you to have either a hard copy or electronic copy with you in class. There are also 5 books you will need to purchase. While all of the books are available at the Brooklyn College Bookstore, you may be able to find them for a cheaper price on Amazon. Most of these are classic texts, as well, so it will be quite easy to find them at either the Brooklyn College Library or your local library, if you cannot afford to purchase them. In any case, I expect you to have hard copies of the below texts and bring them with you every day to class.
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Teaching Materials by Cody Campbell