Hi All,
First of all, I would like to thank you all for a wonderful semester. It was really great knowing all of you and truly speaking I learned a lot from all of you.
Regarding the course, I think like some others who came in after taking Am_St 506, I too came in with the presumption that this course would deal with more contemporary theoretical literature that are considered foundational in Critical Cultural Studies. However, Thank you Dr Christen for the wonderful selection of text books (even though I admit struggling with all of them). I am particularly thankful for the ethnographies we read over the semester, I guess someone up there has heard my complaint and grudges for not been allowed to take my aspired ethnography course last semester.
I would also like to add the scholarship we read over the semester helped me to realize how concepts proposed by the Foucault (What is an author?) etc can be modified and used to explain contemporary things. To mention some of the literature we read, first in my list is of course Anna L Tsing's Friction. I feel it is a treasure box full of precious knowledge that I can use throughout my career and life. I also like Mirzoeff's, The right to look, even though I feel I am still struggling with the concept of visuality1, visuality2 and counter visuality. Finally, even though we all recognized the flaws in Castells book, Networks of Outrage and Hope, I admit the other literature I have come across about Arab Spring had adopted the Orientalistic lens in their narrative. In those lines, I would say even though Castells disregards the complexities in
networked social movements he did acknowledge the native players contribution in Arab Spring.
One last thing, I will admit that I was a bit disappointed that we did not read Grossberg and how he lays out
the development, progress, and conjunctures in cultural studies. Even though it is a dense text, I feel it would have been a great discussion if we unpacked it as a class.
Again, thank you all and thank you Dr Christen for a great semester.
Best
Somava
First of all, I would like to thank you all for a wonderful semester. It was really great knowing all of you and truly speaking I learned a lot from all of you.
Regarding the course, I think like some others who came in after taking Am_St 506, I too came in with the presumption that this course would deal with more contemporary theoretical literature that are considered foundational in Critical Cultural Studies. However, Thank you Dr Christen for the wonderful selection of text books (even though I admit struggling with all of them). I am particularly thankful for the ethnographies we read over the semester, I guess someone up there has heard my complaint and grudges for not been allowed to take my aspired ethnography course last semester.
I would also like to add the scholarship we read over the semester helped me to realize how concepts proposed by the Foucault (What is an author?) etc can be modified and used to explain contemporary things. To mention some of the literature we read, first in my list is of course Anna L Tsing's Friction. I feel it is a treasure box full of precious knowledge that I can use throughout my career and life. I also like Mirzoeff's, The right to look, even though I feel I am still struggling with the concept of visuality1, visuality2 and counter visuality. Finally, even though we all recognized the flaws in Castells book, Networks of Outrage and Hope, I admit the other literature I have come across about Arab Spring had adopted the Orientalistic lens in their narrative. In those lines, I would say even though Castells disregards the complexities in
networked social movements he did acknowledge the native players contribution in Arab Spring.
One last thing, I will admit that I was a bit disappointed that we did not read Grossberg and how he lays out
the development, progress, and conjunctures in cultural studies. Even though it is a dense text, I feel it would have been a great discussion if we unpacked it as a class.
Again, thank you all and thank you Dr Christen for a great semester.
Best
Somava
| final_proposal_somava.pdf |
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