Teaching Documents by Adam Culver
This course examines how changing conceptions of selfhood and human nature have informed moral an... more This course examines how changing conceptions of selfhood and human nature have informed moral and political theory since the seventeenth century. Engaging texts from a variety of intellectual traditions, students will consider the ramifications of western modernity’s progressive erosion of the strong conceptions of agency that informed classical moral thought. Can modern moral philosophy give a convincing answer to the question Why should I be moral? What are the implications if it cannot? What are the sources of moral motivation? Is human nature constant in all times and places, or is it historically contingent and the product of environment? If human nature is not constant, on what principle or principles should we base our moral and political judgments? Given that we observe tremendous variation in how the category of the “human” has been understood across space and time, what are the dangers of pursuing political projects premised on purportedly universalist conceptions of humanity, reason, and morality? Paying special attention to western humanism’s entanglements with colonialism and racial slavery, we will explore how race, place, and time have together informed what it means to be human and how conceptions of the human are always being contested and imagined anew. That is to say, the legacy of modernity is divided because it is founded not only in the Enlightenment, but by slavery and colonialism, which continue to haunt Euro-American political life, cultural practices, and theoretical productions. Course readings include works by Alasdair MacIntyre, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Aimé Césaire, Friedrich Nietzsche, James Baldwin, Hortense Spillers, and Val Plumwood.
This course will examine changing norms of racial representation in American cinema from The Birt... more This course will examine changing norms of racial representation in American cinema from The Birth of a Nation (1915), Casablanca (1942), and Home of the Brave (1949) to 12 Years a Slave (2013), Selma (2014), and Get Out (2017). We will analyze specific representations of racial identity and difference in film and will consider those images in relation to the operations of the film industry and to specific moments in US history when “race relations,” international politics, economic factors, legal policy, and social rights movements informed cinematic representations of race. Although this course begins with the silent film and Classical Hollywood eras and ends with recent black-directed films, it is not intended to plot out either a complete or a linear history of race in American cinema. Instead, we will focus on exploring how representations of racial difference function as allegories for different visions of American social and political life. This means that we will be analyzing film as a social practice that creates meanings for its makers and audience, meanings that inform both everyday practices and deliberations over many of the most important issues and debates in American society. Through this analysis we will also have occasion to examine race’s complex and ever-shifting relationship to class, gender, and sexuality in both cinema and American politics more generally. The goal is to gain a better appreciation for how the stories films tell us shape our personal and collective identities and inform our understanding of political life.
Alienation, ambiguity, anxiety, absurdity, authenticity, belief, consciousness, commitment, dread... more Alienation, ambiguity, anxiety, absurdity, authenticity, belief, consciousness, commitment, dread, death, despair, faith, freedom, joy, and responsibility—all of these are concerns associated with existentialism and its pursuit of what it means to exist, to be a self, to be a being. This course introduces students to existentialism through a study of some of the thinkers responsible for its formation, development, and extension as we trace trajectories of existentialist thought from early articulations in the 19th century (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dostoevsky), through prominent European pronouncements in the wake of the First and Second World Wars (Sartre and De Beauvoir), to the works of Afro-diasporic writers (Fanon and Baldwin) who explore the complex relation between being and being black. Through these engagements we will approach existentialism not just as a series of claims, questions, and concerns, but also as a critical method for interrogating issues related to the embodied, interpersonal, and historical dimensions of human life. What critical resources can we find in existentialism for illuminating questions of identity and difference and for making sense of contemporary struggles regarding race, gender, class, and sexuality?
This course will pursue an in-depth, critical analysis of the history and philosophy of black nat... more This course will pursue an in-depth, critical analysis of the history and philosophy of black nationalism and its relationship to other trends in modern black political thought. Like all ideologies, black nationalism is comprised of a complex and multifaceted constellation of concepts, beliefs, and ideals, the meanings of which change over time or are interpreted differently within a given time period. Nonetheless, what unites black nationalist ideologies and remains constant across evolving visions of the black nation and black liberation is the conviction that race and racial hierarchy are fundamental features of the modern world-system, that systems of racial domination are the foremost forces responsible for structuring social reality in America and abroad, and that race represents the fundamental axis around which blacks must mobilize in order to achieve their long sought-after goals of freedom, justice, and self-determination. We will attempt to make sense of black nationalism as a whole by situating its distinct articulations and periods of significant political mobilization in their specific historical, cultural, and political contexts. This means that we will assess black nationalist ideologies in relation both to the American polity at large and to black political culture, thought, and action. More than simply tracing the historical development of black nationalist thought and practice, however, this course will also approach black nationalist mobilizations and the ideological debates they have occasioned as sites of theoretical engagement and critical analysis that have significant implications for a range of important theoretical issues, including the proper conceptualization of politics and the political, the interrelations between gender, class, and race, the sources of community and identification, and the relationship between history, politics, and culture.
Power, we are often told, is perhaps the central concept of political science. But what exactly i... more Power, we are often told, is perhaps the central concept of political science. But what exactly is power? Is it “the production of intended effects,” as the philosopher Bertrand Russell suggested? Or is power the capacity to produce intended effects? Is power merely material, or does it have an ideational dimension as well? How is power exercised? What is the relationship between patterns of power and the character of a given political order? What distinguishes power from strength, authority, force, or violence? Is power evil?
This course will examine a number of different “theories of power” in order to introduce students to some of the most important methods and approaches used by political theorists today in their myriad attempts to make sense of the world around them. Theory is never an entirely abstract endeavor—it is always rooted in a sense of worldly care and social engagement. As such, we will pay careful attention to the different historical and political contexts that informed and motivated the various theoretical engagements under consideration. The goal here is to not only acquire an understanding of different theories of power and how power “works” in the contemporary world, but also to gain an appreciation for the complex interplay between political experience and thought and the task of theorizing itself. More broadly, one of the primary objectives of this course is ensuring competence in understanding critical methodologies and academic debate. To that end, students will write 2 critical assessments involving evidence, evaluation, synthesis, and conclusion (4-6 pages) and pass a final exam with a minimum C+ grade.
This seminar examines the multifaceted philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most provoca... more This seminar examines the multifaceted philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most provocative, controversial, and misunderstood thinkers of the modern age. Among the themes explored in this course are the critique of transcendental philosophizing and philosophical system-building, the elaboration of complex relations of identity and difference, the human tendency to resent the conditions of existence, the “death of God,” and the trans-valuation of values. We will focus on three seminal works from Nietzsche’s middle-to-late period: The Gay Science (1882, 1887), Beyond Good and Evil (1886), and The Genealogy of Morals (1887). In order to better understand Nietzsche’s philosophical arguments and commitments, we will also consult The Will to Power, a posthumously published collection compiled from Nietzsche’s notebooks from 1883 to 1888. Although we will cover many topics in this course, we will approach Nietzsche primarily as an analyst and critic of nihilism; engaging Nietzsche’s diagnoses of nihilism (i.e., what is nihilism symptomatic of?) and his prescriptions for overcoming the crisis of meaninglessness in modern life, we will ask what resources we can draw from Nietzsche as we confront the pervasive nihilism of the contemporary condition.
The aim of this course is to explore a range of theories and images of violence, from total war, ... more The aim of this course is to explore a range of theories and images of violence, from total war, torture, and terrorism to the “everyday” violence of policing and disciplinary practices. Political violence, subsequently, will be defined in a very broad sense, and will frequently be seen to encompass a variety of forms - ranging from direct compulsion to more subtle or structural and discursive uses. In addition to examining the kinds of political violence characteristic of the modern world, we will also explore some of the ways in which modernity itself is a conditional product of violence. We will focus, in particular, on the legacies of colonialism, slavery, and racial domination and ask what role these played in shaping the modern world. As we read contemporary and classic treatments of violence, we will also ask: What constitutes violence? Are there cases where the use of violence is legitimate? Does violence have specific modes of agency or is it an intensification of generally available modes of action? What is the relationship between violence and bodies, violence and identification, violence and social and psychic structures? Do all social structures entail or contain a necessary element of violence? What is the relationship between knowledge about violence and action? To clarify our understanding of these issues and the relationship between modern politics and violence we will analyze the works of representative thinkers from the nineteenth century to the present, including C. L. R. James, Karl Marx, Georges Sorel, Frantz Fanon, Hannah Arendt, Friedrich Nietzsche, James Baldwin, W. E. B. Du Bois and Ta-Nehisi Coates.
Papers by Adam Culver
My dissertation explores a set of creative intersections between romanticism, black political tho... more My dissertation explores a set of creative intersections between romanticism, black political thought, and Nietzschean philosophy. In so doing it asks two overarching questions. First, how do different ethical theories, philosophies of time and history, and conceptualizations of subjectivity and community suggest contending ways of understanding the roles that race and race-making play in modern life? Second, how can reflective black experiences of modernity shed light on discussions in political theory about the relationship between theory and history, the significance of identity, identification, and difference in democratic life, and the complex interrelations between affect, ethics, culture, and politics? Ultimately, I argue that a tragic vision of an unbalanced world neither governed by providence nor readily susceptible to human mastery provides a valuable lens through which to assess contemporary racial politics. Articulated through a series of engagements with the works of
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Teaching Documents by Adam Culver
This course will examine a number of different “theories of power” in order to introduce students to some of the most important methods and approaches used by political theorists today in their myriad attempts to make sense of the world around them. Theory is never an entirely abstract endeavor—it is always rooted in a sense of worldly care and social engagement. As such, we will pay careful attention to the different historical and political contexts that informed and motivated the various theoretical engagements under consideration. The goal here is to not only acquire an understanding of different theories of power and how power “works” in the contemporary world, but also to gain an appreciation for the complex interplay between political experience and thought and the task of theorizing itself. More broadly, one of the primary objectives of this course is ensuring competence in understanding critical methodologies and academic debate. To that end, students will write 2 critical assessments involving evidence, evaluation, synthesis, and conclusion (4-6 pages) and pass a final exam with a minimum C+ grade.
Papers by Adam Culver
This course will examine a number of different “theories of power” in order to introduce students to some of the most important methods and approaches used by political theorists today in their myriad attempts to make sense of the world around them. Theory is never an entirely abstract endeavor—it is always rooted in a sense of worldly care and social engagement. As such, we will pay careful attention to the different historical and political contexts that informed and motivated the various theoretical engagements under consideration. The goal here is to not only acquire an understanding of different theories of power and how power “works” in the contemporary world, but also to gain an appreciation for the complex interplay between political experience and thought and the task of theorizing itself. More broadly, one of the primary objectives of this course is ensuring competence in understanding critical methodologies and academic debate. To that end, students will write 2 critical assessments involving evidence, evaluation, synthesis, and conclusion (4-6 pages) and pass a final exam with a minimum C+ grade.