Social Foundations III, Section 009 Spring 2014, MW 2-3:15 p.m., GCASL 388 Prof.

Ashley Vaught Office Hours: 3:30-4:30 MW and by appointment, in 726 Broadway 6th floor lounge Email: prof.vaught@gmail.com, auv1@nyu.edu Course Description In this course we will examine some of the most important intellectual developments from the Enlightenment to the contemporary period. Specifically, we will consider some of the philosophical texts that established liberalism and doctrines of human rights, and the basic concepts of capitalism. Then we will engage the Marxist critique of capitalism (and liberalism) and its development into imperialism, and the nationalistic, frequently racist and sexist formations that attend imperialism. Finally we will examine the violence occurring in the 20th century, frequently in resisting oppressive regimes and traditions left by imperialism. Course Texts Available at NYU Bookstore (and online): Hannah Arendt. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt Brace, Jovanovich, 1973. ISBN: 978-0156701532. Frantz Fanon. Wretched of the Earth. Translated by Richard Philcox. Reprint edition. New York: Grove Press, 2005. ISBN: 978-0802141323. Sigmund Freud. Civilization and its Discontents. Edited and translated by James Strachey. New York: Norton, 2010. ISBN: 978-0393304510. Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Translated by Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 1992. ISBN: 978-0872201507. Robert Tucker, ed. The Marx-Engels Reader. 2nd ed. Norton: New York, 1978. ISBN: 9780393090406. As PDF files available on Google Drive: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) English Bill of Rights 1689. Yale Law School. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/england.asp (accessed August 26 2013). Declaration of Human and Civil Rights of 26 August 1789. Conseil Constitutionnel. http://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/conseil-constitutionnel/root/bank_mm/anglais/cst2.pdf (accessed August 25, 2013) Olympia de Gouges. Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen, 1791. From Darline Gay Levy, Harriet Branson Applewhite, and Mary Durham Johnson, eds., Women in Revolutionary Paris, 1789-1795 (Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 1980), pp. 87-96. http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/americanstudies/lavender/decwom2.html (accessed August 22, 2013). tienne Balibar, Racism and Nationalism. In tienne Balibar and Immanuel Wallerstein. Race, Nation, Class. Translation of Balibar by Chris Turner. London: Verso, 1991. 36-67. Simone de Beauvoir. The Second Sex. Translated by H.M. Parshley. Reprint. New York: Vintage, 1989. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France. In John Payne, ed., Select Works of Edmund Burke: a new imprint. Three volumes. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1874-1878. V. 2: 85-476. Milton Friedman. Capitalism and Freedom. 40th anniversary ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002. Immanuel Kant. Ideas for a Universal History with a Cosmopolitan Purpose. In Hans Reiss, ed., Kant: Political Writings. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991. 41-53. V.I. Lenin. Imperialism. In Robert Tucker, ed. The Lenin Anthology. New York: Norton, 1975. 204274.

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John Locke. Two Treatises on Government. In The Works of John Locke, in Nine Volumes. 12th ed. London, 1824. Vol. 4: 210-537. Or, ________. Second Treatise of Government. Kindle edition. ISBN: 145375427X. Mahmood Mamdani. A Brief History of Genocide. Transition. 87 (2001): 26-47. Mahmood Mamdani. When Victims Become Killers. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001. John Stuart Mill. Of Liberty. In The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. 32 vols. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977. Vol. XVIII: 213-310. Adam Smith. An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. 2 vols. Reprint. Indianapolis: LibertyClassics, 1980. Or, ________. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Kindle edition. ISBN: 1453732772. Charlotte Perkins Stetson [Gilman]. Women and Economics. Boston: Small, Maynard and Co., 1900. Course Blog www.sf3-009-spr14.blogspot.com Google Drive In this class we will be using Google Drive as an alternative to NYU Classes. You will be able to find all PDFs of class readings (save those you are asked to purchase), all assignments, as well as copies of the syllabus, classroom policies, etc. We will also being using Blogger and Google Groups (invitations to all of these should have arrived by the time you read this). Course Requirements Reflective reading: Each week you will be responsible for having read 40-50 pages of dense, frequently theoretical texts. You should have read the texts before you come to class. Your participation grade is dependent on your contributions to the class, demonstrating your engagement with the course texts. Oral Presentations: Each student will give at least one brief (<10 minutes) oral presentation of the texts for that day. This means outlining the text, discussing several major concepts, and offering questions for discussion. Each student will post a synopsis of their presentation on the course blog. Writing: Each student will write two brief essays of no more than 3 pages and then write a longer research essay (8-10 pages). The short essays will demand unmediated engagement with the course texts, in which you are not to consult external sources; the research essay will require you to consult several external sources. The short essays will be due on Feb. 12th and Apr. 7th. The research essay will be due on May 5th. Papers must be handed in on time; late papers will be penalized one half grade for each day late. Further details will be provided in class. I will post writing guidelines in the Course Information area of NYU Classes. In addition, students can get help with their writing at the NYU Writing Center, 411 Lafayette, 3rd floor, www.nyu.edu/cas/ewp/html/writing_center.html; tel.: 212-998-8866. Students are able to work closely with professional consultants at every stage of the writing process and on any piece of writing except for exams. Appointments can be made online at www.rich15.com/nyu/ and should be scheduled at least one day before the due date of your paper. Walk-in sessions operate on a firstcome, first-served basis. Examinations: A midterm and a final exam will be given. Both exams will present students with a choice of several short essay questions to answer. Blog contribution: Every two weeks each student will write a short blog post (>50 words) stating several basic questions and some tentative answers. The blog will be addressed during class meetings.

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Attendance: Students are expected to attend every class. A record of class attendance will be kept. You will not be penalized for absences due to religious observance. If you plan to miss any classes for religious observance this semester, please let me know their dates by the end of the first week of the term. Students who miss class can always meet with me to discuss material discussed when they were absent. In accordance with the policy of the Liberal Studies Program, you are required to furnish me with a written explanation if you miss two consecutive classes. If you miss more than three classes for reasons besides religious observance, or documented medical and family emergency, your maximum possible participation grade will be lowered one letter grade per absence. You may be failed for the course, if you miss more than seven classes for any reason besides religious observance. Participation: Good talk is the lifeblood of a liberal arts education. For that reason, I expect students to complete the assigned reading before coming to class and to take an active part in our discussions. Your participation grade depends on your presentation and your responses to those of others in the class, throughout the semester. Grade Breakdown Midterm exam Final exam Participation Oral Presentation Blog contributions Essay 1 and 2 Research essay 12% 17% 10% 11% 5% 12 & 13% 20%

Academic Integrity Papers submitted for this course must be your own work, written for this course. Plagiarism submitting someone elses work as though it were your ownwill not be tolerated. Please read the discussion of plagiarism in the Academic Integrity Guide, on the LS site: http://core.ls.nyu.edu/page/ls.academicintegrity. If you are unsure of how it applies to your work, please ask me for a clarification before submitting it. Disability and Accommodations Students with disabilities who believe that they may need accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities at (212) 998-4980 as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion. For more information, see the CSD website: http://www.nyu.edu.osl/csd. Computers and Cell Phones Please silence and tuck away your phone during class; texting during class is not allowed. Students texting in class will be asked to leave. Except for days when we are doing peer reviewing, student should not bring or use computers in class. Schedule of Classes
Date 27 Jan 29 Jan Topic Introduction to the course Reading/Assignment Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Freedom, Civil Rights, Property Freedom, property, and the deliverance from Locke, Second Treatise, Chs. I-VIII; English Bill

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3 Feb 5 Feb 10 Feb 12 Feb

nature/war Forces of antagonism The state of nature, reconceived Deliverance to civilization Is inequality incompatible with civilization?

of Rights (1689) Kant, Ideas for a Universal History Rousseau, Discourse, Preface, First Part; first essay assigned Rousseau, Discourse, (first part of the) Second Part; Declaration of the Human and Civil Rights (1789) Rousseau, Discourse, (second part of the) Second Part; Burke, Reflections on the Revolution (selections); Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791); first essay due

19 Feb 24 Feb 3 Mar 5 Mar 10 Mar 12 Mar 17-19 24 Mar 26 Mar 31 Mar 2 Apr 7 Apr

Liberalism and Capitalism The civilizing powers of commerce Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. I: Chs. I, IV, IX, Bk. II: Ch. I Capitalism and the classical doctrine of Smith, Wealth of Nations, Bk. III: Ch. I, IV, Bk. liberalism IV: Ch. I.; Mill, Of Liberty, Chs. 1(close), 2 Mill, Of Liberty, Chs. 3, 4(close) Economic and civil freedom Friedman, Capitalism Freedom, Chs.12(close),8,13 What is the value of a wife/mother? Gilman, Women and Economics, Chs. 1-2 Midterm Exam Spring Break, no class The Critique of Capitalism and Imperialism The Marxist critique of capitalism Marx-Engels Reader, pp. 67-105 (Economic and Political Manuscripts), pp. 133-146 MER, pp. 147-200 (The German Ideology) MER, pp. 147-200 (The German Ideology); second essay assigned The Leninist critique of imperialism V.I. Lenin, Imperialism, Preface, I-II (close), VII-X Imperialism and racism Balibar, Selections from Racism and Nationalism; Arendt, Origins of Totalitarianism, pp. 123-134, 158-207 (Chs. 5:I, 6-7:II); second essay due National and Lesser Identities Tribal Nationalism in Eastern Europe Arendt, Origins, pp. 207-266 (Chs. 7:III-8:I) Settlers and Natives In Rwanda Mamdani, When Victims , pp.19-75 (Chs. 1-2) Nation in consciousness Fanon, Wretched, Colonial War (pp. 181234) Female identity? de Beauvoir, Second Sex, pp. xix-xxxvi, 679-732 Perplexities concerning rights Arendt, Origins, pp. 267-302 (Ch.9); third essay assigned Civilization and Violence Violence as endemic to civilization Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, I-IV Freud, Civilization, V-VIII Decolonization, Genocide Fanon, Wretched, On Violence (pp. 1-62); Mamdani, Brief History of Genocide; third essay due Fanon, Wretched, On Violence (pp. 1-62); Mamdani, Brief History of Genocide Terror Arendt, Origins, pp. 460-479 (Ch.13) Final Exam

9 Apr 14 Apr 16 Apr 21 Apr 23 Apr

28 Apr 30 Apr 05 May 07 May 12 May TBA

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