Power: Theory and History

Professor Ellen Herman
Department of History
University of Oregon

meeting time: Tuesday, 1:15 - 3:15 pm
office: 321 McKenzie Hall
phone: 346-3118
e-mail: eherman@uoregon.edu
office hours: Monday, 1:30 - 2:30 pm; Thursday, 10:15 - 11:15 am

Brief Description

This seminar is designed to familiarize graduate students in history and other empirical disciplines with a variety of theoretical approaches to power and allied concepts: domination, authority, hegemony, deference, discipline, agency, resistance, repression, individualism, and empowerment, among others. During most of the term, we will concentrate our attention on theories of power drawn from political economy, sociology, anthropology, psychoanalysis, and social criticism indebted to marxism and feminism. During the final weeks of the term, we will consider scholarship that illustrates the potential usefulness of one or more of these theoretical approaches to historical writing. The aim of the seminar is not to develop a single, systematic, or unified concept of power but rather to explore the possibilities available and treat them as resources for research and teaching.

Readings and discussions are the heart of this seminar. Everything depends on class participation. To facilitate that worthy goal, students will rotate responsibility for leading seminar discussions, alone or with a colleague.

Writing Requirements

The writing requirement, upon which much of your grade will depend, will be a paper—approximately 20-25 pages in length—that tackles a case study related to power. The goal is to think and write about the advantages and disadvantages of using one or more theoretical vocabularies in historical analysis. Each student will choose his or her topic in consultation with the instructor as early in the quarter as possible. The paper may be based on either secondary materials or original research in primary sources that is already underway.

Reading Requirements

Books are available for purchase at the UO Bookstore, along with a small course packet. I will do my best to insure that everything is also placed on reserve in the library. The following books are listed in the order in which they will be read.

Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. George Lawrence, vol. I and II (New York: Perennial, 1988).

Robert C. Tucker, ed., The Marx-Engels Reader, 2nd ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1999).

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. Talcott Parsons (Mineola, New York: Dover, 2003).

Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, ed. James Strachey (New York: W.W. Norton, 1989).

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans. H.M. Parshley (New York: Vintage, 1989).

Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, trans. Alan Sheridan (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995).

James C. Scott, Domination and the Arts of Resistance: Hidden Transcripts (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992).

Robin D. Kelley, Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class (New York: Free Press, 1994).

Jennifer Terry, An American Obsession: Science, Medicine, and Homosexuality in Modern Society (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999).

Jackson Lears, Something for Nothing: Luck in America (New York: Viking, 2003).

Rules

Lateness Policy
No late papers will be accepted, except for authentic emergencies or other legitimate reasons discussed in advance.

Accommodations
If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, please arrange to see me soon and request that Disability Services send a letter verifying your disability.

Grades

Your grade in this course will depend very largely on the quality of your final paper, although other factors will be taken into account, including the level of preparation for and participation in weekly discussions.