INF 1002
Representation, Organization, Classification, and Meaning-making
Winter 2015
January 6 – March 31, 2015
Tuesdays 1 – 4pm
Bissell Room 507
Instructor: Patrick Keilty, MLIS, PhD
Office Hours: By appointment
Office: Bissell Room 614
Email: p.keilty@utoronto.ca
Aims and Objectives of Seminar
The primary objective of this seminar is to examine the fundamental
epistemological and ontological issues in the use of knowledge and information
in human activities. We will analyze issues in language, representation,
interpretation, semantics, meaning making, perception, conception, and
cognition, integrating perspectives from multiple disciplines and traditions. In
order to create a coherent thread among these issues, I have chosen to create a
theme for the course this semester: “belonging.” I chose this theme, in part,
because it is hardly obscure. A content analysis of its everyday speech would
surely show how often it is used, and how central it appears to be in
understanding our relation to the world and others. Its everyday use seems to
proceed as though the meaning of the term is obvious. However, over the course
of the semester, we will find that its meaning is not obvious, and, importantly,
that it is a central—though often overlooked—concept in understanding
organization, classification, representation, and meaning-making in the use of
knowledge and information in human activities. These activities regularly
produce a number of questions around belonging: where do things belong, why
does something belong in one place and not another, what does it mean to
belong, what does it mean not to belong, and what are the social and political
dimensions of belonging?
The wide use of the term “belonging”—good food belongs in the body, dirt
belongs outside, unauthorized immigrants belong somewhere else, Immigration
Canada’s advertisements that articulate, “You Belong,” Woodsworth College’s
logo, “You Belong Here,” women belong in the kitchen, this belongs to me, that
phrase doesn’t belong in that sentence, that gesture doesn’t belong in that
performance—suggest that our readings may resonate with the interests of a
wide variety of students (always a challenge in any Master’s-level class,
especially one in an interdisciplinary program such as ours). In this way, I am
able to refine and complicate the cultural knowledge students already possess,
regardless of their various academic backgrounds or career trajectories.
We’ll begin by looking at Aristotle, for whom place and belonging were
intimately and intrinsically related. For him, everything in the world had a place
where it belonged, a “natural place.” Belonging was for Aristotle irreducible and
immutable, a relationship that could not be explained or described in terms of
something else. Once you had said where something belonged you were done.
Students of library and information science will be keen to discover, through
Hope Olson and Page duBois, that ancient attempts to understand where slaves,
women, and barbarians (Persians) belonged helped to develop Western
hierarchical knowledge structures and the Western library catalog. Students of
technoscience will be interested to examine how belonging and social hierarchy
are central to early investigations of the natural world and to the development of
scientific classifications. We will then proceed to contemporary authors, from
social theory, library science, geography, philosophy of science, linguistics,
classics, history, feminism, political science, queer theory, and transnational
studies, including duBois, Foucault, Gellner, Simmel, Olson, Bowker & Star,
Dupre, Furner, Lakoff, Maciel, Zerubavel, Wittgenstein, Augustine, and Schutz,
to name only a few.
Students’ individual understandings and interests are at the center of my
pedagogy. As such, the course will be heavily discussion-based and it will, at
times, have an informal feel. The main objective of this course is to transform
students from passive receivers of knowledge into active and autonomous
cultural critics, with particular attention paid to knowledge and information in
human activities. In order to do so, students will develop critical-thinking skills
and the ability to communicate their ideas effectively in the form of an analytic
argument, which is absolutely essential regardless of one’s academic background
or career trajectory. The assignments will ask students to demonstrate both
written and oral skills in this regard.
Relation to MI Learning Outcomes
This course aligns with various Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) of the MI. The
issues covered in the course will allow students to become “conversant with
fundamental concepts, theories, practices, and the diverse horizons of
information disciplines”, so that they “can respond to changing information
practices and needs of society” (SLO 1); the course will allow them to develop
social responsibility as information professionals through the development of
“knowledge and values appropriate to their future exercise of economic, cultural,
and/or social leadership” (SLO 2). Assignments will allow “students [to] develop
the ability to contribute through research and publication, to the continuous
expansion and critical assessment of the body of knowledge underlying the
information”(SLO 3); “develop an understanding of the development of theory
concerning information, where it is found, and how it is used” (SLO 4), and
provide students the ability to “continue in life-long intellectual growth beyond
graduation” (SLO 5).
Assessment
Assessment is based upon participation in class discussions, group presentations,
weekly one-page writing responses, and a 2,000-word paper on a topic that
relates to the readings and reflects the individual interests of the student.
Readings: All course readings have been made available through the course
website (Learning Portal/ Blackboard).
Presentations: In groups of two or three, students will prepare a presentation
that a) makes connections between readings, b) critically engages the readings
by challenging the readings’ assumptions and arguments, and c) provides two
questions that provoke class discussion. Presentations should not summarize
the readings for that week. Groups will present for 20 minutes (not to exceed 30
minutes) each week at the beginning of class, including time for questions.
Students will sign-up through doodle at the beginning of the semester. So long
as groups accomplish the above requirements, the group as a whole receives full
credit for the presentation.
Weekly responses: Starting in Week Two through Week Eleven, students will
submit a one-page response to the readings assigned for that week. Responses
should include two elements: first, a brief thesis statement or paragraph that
directly engages the readings for that week, and second, a brief response to the
readings that supports that thesis. A thesis is an argument or claim with which
one can reasonably disagree. Weekly responses should not summarize the
readings for that week. The TA or I will provide constructive comments, but
students will not receive a letter grade for weekly responses. The purpose of
these responses is to improve one’s written and analytic skills, and to think
critically about the readings in advance of class; it is not simply to achieve a
certain letter grade. Students receive full credit for submitting the assignment at
the start of each class.
Final paper: Papers should demonstrate graduate-level writing skills, a fully
developed thesis, the ability to form an analytic argument, and a firm
comprehension of and critical engagement with the subject. (These are all skills
necessary for any profession.) A thesis is an argument or claim with which one
can reasonably disagree. It is not enough for students simply to summarize the
readings; this course expects students to engage the course literature in
sophisticated, meaningful ways that reflect their individual interests. Papers
should be 2,000 words in length, relate to the readings, and reflect the individual
interests of the student.
I invite and encourage students to submit rough drafts of the final paper at least
two weeks prior to the due date (so that I have time to offer suggestions and you
have time to make any necessary changes). Students may submit drafts earlier,
and students may submit as many drafts as time allows. The final paper is due
Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at the beginning of class.
Students receive a final letter grade, weighted as follows: 50% final paper, 10%
participation, 10% group presentation, and 30% weekly responses.
Late Assignments
I will not accept late assignments (defined as an assignment submitted after the
deadline). Extensions will only be granted in the event of illness or emergency.
Students will not receive credit for unexcused late assignments. Please let me
know of your extenuating circumstance as soon as possible so that we can make
reasonable accommodations.
Writing Support
The SGS Office of English Language and Writing Support provides writing
support for graduate students. The services target the needs of both native and
non- native English speakers and include non-credit courses, single-session
workshops, individual writing consultations, and website resources. I strongly
encourage all students to avail themselves of these free services.
Academic Integrity
Please consult the University’s website on Academic Integrity, located at
http://www.utoronto.ca/academicintegrity/. The University has a zero- tolerance
policy on plagiarism as defined in section B.I. 1. (d) of the University’s Code of
Behaviour on Academic Matters, located at
http://www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/policies/behaveac.htm. You should
acquaint yourself with the Code.
Accessibility Services
If you have a disability or health consideration that may require accommodation,
please feel free to approach me and/or the Accessibility Services Office as soon as
possible. The Accessibility Services staff is available by appointment to assess
specific needs, provide referrals, and arrange appropriate accommodations.
Schedule of Readings
Week One (Jan. 6): Aristotle and Plato
Aristotle. 1984. Physics—Place, the void, and time. In The complete works,
edited by J. Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, Secs. 208a25213a10.
Aristotle. 1986. The elements all have natural motion. In On the heavens.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, Secs. 300a20-302a09.
Aristotle. 2004. De anima = On the soul. Edited and translated by Hugh LawsonTangred. New York: Penguin, Book 1, Chapters 1-2
Plato. 1963. The Republic of Plato. Trans. By Francis McDonald Cornford.
Oxford: OUP, Chapter XXIV
Week Two (Jan. 13): Science I
Foucault, Michel. 1970. Classifying. In Order of things: An archeology of the
human sciences, trans. R. D. Laing. New York: Pantheon Books.
Foucault, Michel. Representing. In Order of things: An archeology of the human
sciences, trans. R. D. Laing. New York: Pantheon Books.
Sokal, Robert R. 1974. Classification: Purposes, Principles, Progress,
Prospects. Science, 185 (4157): 1115-1123.
Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, fire, and dangerous things. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, chapters 1 & 2.
Week Three (Jan. 20): Science II
Dupre, John. 2006. Scientific Classification. Theory, Culture and Society, 23 (2-3):
30-32
Dupre, John. 1993. The Disorder of Things: Metaphysical Foundations of the
Disunity of Science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Chapter
1: Natural Kinds.
Ereshefsky, Marc. 2001. The Poverty of the Linnaean Hierarchy: A Philosophical
Study of Biological Taxonomy. New York, NY: Cambridge University
Press, Chapter 1: Philosophy of Classification.
Week Four (Jan. 27): Language
Augustine. 1998. Learning to Speak. In The confessions. New York: Vintage
Books, pp. 11-12
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. 2001. On language. In Philosophical investigations, the
German text with a revised English translation. Oxford: Blackwell, Part 1,
Secs. 1-28.
Mulhall, Stephen. 2005. The child and the scapegoat: Wittgenstein. In
Philosophical myths of the fall. Princeton University Press, pp. 1-15.
Foucault, Michel. Speaking. In Order of things: An archeology of the human
sciences, trans. R. D. Laing. New York: Pantheon Books.
(Optional) Foucault, Michel. Prose of the world. In Order of things: An
archeology of the human sciences, trans. R. D. Laing. New York: Pantheon
Books.
Week Five (Feb. 3): duBois
duBois, Page. Introduction. In Centaurs and Amazons: Women and the PreHistory of the Great Chain of Being.
duBois, Page. Greeks and barbarians. In Centaurs and Amazons: Women and the
Pre-History of the Great Chain of Being.
duBois, Page. Conclusion. In Centaurs and Amazons: Women and the PreHistory of the Great Chain of Being.
(Optional). Kuntz, Paul. Jacob’s Ladder and the Tree of Life. New York: Peter
Lang, pp. 335-346.
Week Six (Feb. 10): Administrating Gender and Race I
Olson, Hope A. 2007. How We Construct Subjects: A Feminist Analysis. Library
Trends 6(2), pp. 509-541.
Voegelin, Eric. 1940. The growth of the race idea. The Review of Politics 2: 283-317.
Mudimbe, V. Y. The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of
Knowledge. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, pp. 1-23.
Reading Week: No class Feb. 17
Week Seven (Feb. 24): Administrating Gender and Race II
Spade, Dean. 2011. Administrating Gender. Normal Life: Administrative
Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of Law. Cambridge, MA:
South End Press, pp. 137-169.
Bowker, Geoff and Star, Susan Lee. 2000. Sorting Things Out: Classification and
Its Consequences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 1-50, 195-226.
Week Eight (March 3): Nationalism and Transnationalism
Gellner, Ernest. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press, p. 53-62.
Bauman, Zygmunt. 2004. Identity. In Identity: Conversations with Benedetto
Vecchi. Cambridge: Policy Press, pp. 9-32.
Weil, Simone. Uprootedness. In The need for roots. London: Routledge, pp. 4174.
Mohanty, Chandra. Crafting feminist genealogies. In Talking visions:
Multicultural feminism in a transnational age, edited by Elle Shohat.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 485-500.
Week Nine (March 10): Kinship
Readings TBD
Week Ten: (March 17): Home
Schutz, Alfred. 1964. The homecomer. In Collected papers, vol. II: Studies in
social theory. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, pp. 106-119.
Heller, Agnes. 1995. Where are we home? Thesis Eleven 41(1): 1-18.
Tuan, Yi-Fu. 1984. In place, out of place. Geoscience and Man 24: 3-10
Week Eleven (March 24): The Stranger
Simmel, Georg. 1950. The stranger. In The sociology of Georg Simmel. New York:
Free Press, pp. 402-408
Gellner, Ernest. 1998. The Habsburg dilemma. In Language and solitude:
Wittgenstein, Malinowski, and the Habsburg dilemma. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-39.
McLemore, Dale. 1970. Simmel’s Stranger: A critique of the concept. Pacific
Sociological Review 13 (2): 86-94.
Schutz, Alfred. 1964. The stranger: An essay in social psychology. In Collected
papers, vol. II: Studies in social theory. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, pp.
91-105.
Week Twelve (March 31): Alterity, Solitude, and Unclassifiable
Alund, Aleksandra. 1995. Alterity and modernity. Acta Sociologica 38: 311-322.
Koch, Philip. The place of solitude. In Solitude: A philosophical encounter.
Chicago: Open Court.
Maciel, Maria Esther. 2006. The Unclassificable. Theory, Culture and Society, 23
(2-3): 47-50.
Keilty, Patrick. 2009. Tabulating Queer. Knowledge Organization 36(4): 240-248.
Zerubavel, Eviatar. 1991. The Fine Line: Making Distinctions in Everyday
Life. New York: Free Press, chapter 1.
The final paper is due Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at the beginning of class.
Further Reading
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. 'Introductions', 'Cultural roots', and 'origins of
national consciousness'. In Imagined communities: Reflections on the
origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso, pp. 1-46.
Appadurai, Arjun. 2006. Fear of small numbers : an essay on the geography of
anger. Durham: Duke University Press.
Austin, John. 1975 [1962]. How to do things with words. Edited by J. O. Urmson
and M. Sbisa. Second ed, The William James Lectures delivered at
Harvard University in 1955. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Barker, Francis. 1984. The tremulous private body : Essays on subjection. London
; New York: Methuen.
Bell, Vikki. 1999. Performativity and belonging: An introduction. Theory, Culture
& Society 16 (2):1-10.
Borges, Jorge Luis. 1993. The analytical language of John Wilkins. In Other
inquisitions 1937-1952. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Cohen, Julie. 2007. Cyberspace as/and space. Columbia Law Review 107:210-56.
Douglas, Mary. 1976. Purity and danger: An analysis of concepts of pollution and
taboo. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Fingarette, Herbert. 1972. Human community as holy rite. In Confucius--the
secular as sacred. New York,: Harper & Row, pp. 1-17.
Flusser, Vilém, and Anke K. Finger. 2003. The freedom of the migrant : objections
to nationalism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Fortier, Anne-Marie. 1999. Re-membering places and the performance of
belonging(s). Theory, Culture & Society 16 (2):41-64.
Freud, Sigmund. 1976. Civilization and its discontents. Translated by J. Strachey:
Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Freud, Sigmund. 1919. The uncanny.
Gallagher, Catherine, and Stephen Greenblatt. 2000. The potato in the materialist
imagination. In Practicing new historicism. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, pp. 110-35.
Heidegger, Martin. 1962 [1927]. Being and time. Translated by J. Macquarrie and
E. Robinson. New York: Harper and Row.
Heidegger, Martin. 1993 [1951]. Building dwelling thinking. In Basic writings,
edited by D. F. Krell. New York: Harper Collins, pp. 343-63.
Kilgour, Maggie. 1990. From communion to cannibalism : an anatomy of
metaphors of incorporation. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Malpas, J. E. 2006. Heidegger's topology: Being, place, world. Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT Press.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 1962. Phenomenology of perception. Translated by C.
Smith. New York: Humanities Press.
Mulhall, Stephen. 1990. On being in the world: Wittgenstein and Heidegger on
seeing aspects. London: Routledge.
Probyn, Elspeth. 1996. Outside belongings. New York: Routledge.
Scarry, Elaine. 1985. The body in pain : the making and unmaking of the world.
New York: Oxford University Press.
Tinder, Glenn. 1986. Community: The tragic ideal. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State
University Press.
Topp, Leslie Elizabeth, James E. Moran, and Jonathan Andrews. 2007. Madness,
architecture and the built environment: Psychiatric spaces in historical
context, Routledge studies in the social history of medicine ; 27. New
York: Routledge.
Vidler, Anthony. 1992. The architectural uncanny : essays in the modern
unhomely. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.