CHUM 305/ENGL 302/ SISP 303/ COL 303
CFH, room 106
Fall 2015, M/W 11-12:20
Moodle: https://moodle28.wesleyan.edu
Professor Jeanette Samyn
jsamyn@wesleyan.edu
Office: CFH, room 104
Office hours: M, 12:30-2 and by appt.
Matter, Community, Environment
In recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to consider human communities
without also considering questions of “nature” or “environment.” Actor-network theory
condemns nature/society dualisms; ecological theory argues that there is indeed no
“nature” or “society”—only the Anthropocene; and, drawing from the former two
positions, Object Oriented Ontology conceives of ideas (such as “community” or
“society”) as objects and ecological actors. In this course, we will consider various
approaches taken in recent years to thinking about our relations to the worlds we
inhabit. We will attempt to think not only outside a focus on “us” as humans in the first
place, but even outside a focus on sentient life or life in general. Examining
contemporary theories of matter, community, and environment, we will discuss and
analyze work by historians, philosophers, evolutionary biologists, literary scholars, and
sociologists, among others.
The semester will be split into three parts. We will start big, with texts that attempt to
represent large-scale totalities comprised of nonhuman and human actors alike. How, we
will ask, do these texts imagine and represent such wide worlds of complex relation?
What motivates this sort of big thinking, and does it seem new? And how might these
texts alter our understanding of modernity, history, environmentalism, or politics? Next,
we’ll zoom in on what constitutes the totalities that preoccupy the first part of our
syllabus: humans, nonhuman organisms, and matter itself. What does it mean, we will
ask, to be human for the writers on our syllabus, and what are the limits of that
humanity? What does it mean to be an “animal” or an object? What forms of existence
have a role in our communities and environments, and why might that matter for, say,
ontology, or ethics, or art? Finally, later in the semester, we will take a look at work that
is less explicitly interested in the boundaries between nature and society, environment
and community, life and matter, but that still contributes to the conversation around
these subjects. To what extent, we will ask, can we view such work in conversation with
what we read earlier in the semester? Does it amount to a rejection of any of the ideas
we’ve encountered? Could it be strengthened by those ideas?
Readings:
You are required to obtain two books for this course, in any edition: Jane Bennett’s
Vibrant Matter and Timothy Morton’s The Ecological Thought. All other texts will be
available either online or in PDF form on the class Moodle. You are expected, however,
to come to each class with well-marked paper copy of that day’s reading—we will be
drawing extensively from the texts in discussion, so being without a copy will put you at
a disservice in class.
Classroom Environment and Expectations:
Due to the wide-ranging, interdisciplinary, and often difficult nature of our inquiry, I
hope to keep classes as flexible and democratic as possible. Throughout the semester, I
will look to you to help me alter participation structures, classroom environment or
format when necessary. Which is to say that you will be actively involved not only in
learning the material and developing ideas, but also in determining what our day-to-day
activities look and feel like. One stipulation, however, is that we maintain a respectful
classroom environment. This does not mean you cannot or should not disagree—it does
mean, however, that we’ll work together to create a space where we all feel comfortable
putting forth ideas that are still in formation.
Absences:
You are expected to attend every class and to be in dialogue with me about potential
absences. If you know that you will be absent for class ahead of time, please let me know
as soon as possible, particularly in the event of religious holidays, which count as
excused absences. Excessive absences will affect your participation grade, and I reserve
the right to drop your final grade by a third of a letter grade for every unexcused absence
greater than 3 (so, if you miss 4 classes and get an A, your final grade will be an A-; if
you miss 6 and get an A, your final grade will be a B).
Assessment:
Participation (25%): Frequent, engaged, and respectful participation will be crucial in this
course. You are expected to come to every class session having carefully considered the
day’s reading, ready to participate, and with that reading in hand.
Reading responses (35%): You will be required to produce six 1-2-page reading responses
over the course of the semester. Reading responses may vary, but the best of them will be
thoughtful, interesting reflections on the text—they should include some information on
the author’s overarching argument, but they should spend most of their time making and
supporting an interesting analytical point or generating an idea about the text. To this
end, don’t hesitate to quote liberally, or to analyze those quotations in detail. The goal
here is to identify patterns and tendencies of the text—and from here, to tell us something
interesting about how it functions. Because these responses are meant to guide class
discussion, you can only hand them on the days we are reading that text. Which is to say, if
you want to do a reading response on The Ecological Thought, you must hand in a paper
copy in class on Monday, 9/21 or Wednesday, 9/23. If you want to do a response on
When Species Meet, you’d have to bring it to class on Wednesday, 10/7.
Final project (40%): Every student will have to produce a final project dealing with any
topic related to the course. This will come in three stages: the first will be a page-long
paper proposal, the second will be a brief class presentation, and the third will be a final
paper. Final papers will be analytical, and can be on anything that aligns with your
interests—you may apply the ideas and texts covered in the course to a real-life event or
phenomenon, to a work of literature, film, or visual art that seems (or does not seem)
applicable, to other philosophies and sciences, etc etc, or you may focus exclusively on
material from the syllabus. If you are unsure about a direction for this project, don’t
hesitate to contact me.
Honor Code:
All students are expected to abide by the University’s honor code. The following
violations of the honor code are pulled directly from the Wesleyan student handbook
(http://www.wesleyan.edu/studentaffairs/studenthandbook/20152016studenthandboo
k.pdf):
1. The attempt to give or obtain assistance in a formal academic exercise without
due acknowledgement. This includes, but is not limited to: cheating during an
exam; helping another student to cheat or to plagiarize; completing a project for
someone and/or asking someone to complete a project for you.
2. Plagiarism: (wesleyan.edu/studentaffairs/studenthandbook/standards
regulations/studentconduct.html)—the presentation of another person’s words,
ideas, images, data, or research as one’s own. Plagiarism is more than lifting a
text word-for-word, even from sources in the public domain. Paraphrasing or
using any content or terms coined by others without proper acknowledgment also
constitutes plagiarism.
3. The submission of the same work for academic credit more than once without
permission.
4. Willful falsification of data, information, or citations in any formal exercise.
5. Deception concerning adherence to the conditions set by the instructor for a
formal academic exercise
If you have questions about any of these violations, please let me know.
Accommodations Policy:
Wesleyan University is committed to ensuring that all qualified students with disabilities
are afforded an equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from its programs and
services. To receive accommodations, a student must have a documented disability as
defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the ADA Amendments Act
of 2008, and provide documentation of the disability. Since accommodations may
require early planning and generally are not provided retroactively, please contact
Disability Resources as soon as possible. If you believe that you need accommodations
for a disability, please let me know as soon as possible, but also contact Dean Patey in
Disability Resources, located in North College, Room 021, or call 860/685-5581 for an
appointment to discuss your needs and the process for requesting accommodations.
Contacting me:
I will email you about emergency cancellations or any changes with regard to meetings
or assignments. Accordingly, make sure that you check your email regularly, and always
before heading to class.
Course Schedule:
How Do We Think Totality?
Week 1. Introductions
9/7: In class: excerpts from Raymond Williams, Keywords: “Nature,” “Society.”
9/9: Dipesh Chakrabarty, “The Climate of History: Four Theses” Critical Inquiry
35 (Winter 2009)
Week 2. Networks and Compositions
9/14: Bruno Latour, We Have Never Been Modern, chapters 1 and 2
9/16: Latour, “An Attempt at a ‘Compositionist Manifesto’” in New Literary
History 41 (2010): 471-490.
Week 3. “The Mesh”
9/21: Timothy Morton, The Ecological Thought. Introduction, Chapter 1
9/23: Morton, chapter 3
Week 4. Material Assemblages
9/28: Jane Bennett, Vibrant Matter, chapters 1-3 (pg. 1-38).
Deleuze and Guattari, A Thousand Plateaus, “Rhizome” (pg. 3-25)
9/30: Bennett, chapters 5-end (pg. 62-end)
Human, Animal, Object
Week 5. Living Alongside, Within, and Off of Others
10/5 Lynn Margulis, selections from Aquiring Genomes
10/7 Donna Harraway. When Species Meet. “When Species Meet: Introductions”
and “Parting Bites: Nourishing Indigestion”
Week 6. The Anthropological Machine
10/12 Agamben, “The Open,” pg. 1-47. Jakob Von Uexkull, A Foray into the
Worlds of Animals and Humans, Introduction (pg. 44-52).
http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~ewa/Agamben,%20The%20Open.pdf
http://xenopraxis.net/readings/uexkull_foray.pdf
10/14 Agamben, pg. 48-92.
Heidegger, Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics, pt. 2, ch.3, sections 46-47
(pg. 192-199)
http://www.morelightinmasonry.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/
Heidegger-The-fundamental-concepts-of-metaphysics.pdf
Week 7. Human-Animal Intimacy
10/19 Derrida, “The Animal that Therefore I Am,” pg. 469-400
http://www.englweb.umd.edu/englfac/KChuh/Clark.Seminar.Doc.1.D
errida.TheAnimalThereforeIAm.pdf
10/21 Derrida, pg. 401-end.
*Paper topics due in class
Week 8. Difference
10/26: Fall Break (no class)
10/28: Darwin, Descent of Man. Chapter 3 (pg. 33-66)
http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F941.1&view
type= image& pageseq=1
Elizabeth Grosz, Becoming Undone, The Inhuman in the
Humanities: Darwin and the Ends of Man,” “The Future of Feminist
Theory: Dreams for New Knowledges,” and “Differences Disturbing
Identity” (11-25, 74-98)
Week 9. Rethinking the Object.
11/2: Levi Bryant, “The Ontic Principle: Outline of an Object-Oriented
Philosophy.”
http://www.repress.org/bookfiles/OA_Version_Speculative_Turn_9780
980668346.pdf
11/4: Alfred North Whitehead, selections from Process and Reality; Steven
Shaviro, The Universe of Things, “Panpsychism and/or Eliminativism” (pg.
65-84)
Applications: Rethinking the Intimate, the Communal, the Political
Week 10. New Representations.
11/9: Paper Workshops
11/11: no reading for today’s class—proposed trip to Storm King.
Week 11. Spheres of Intimacy.
11/16 Peter Sloterdijk, Bubbles. “Introduction: The Allies; or, The Breathed
Commune.”
11/18 Peter Sloterdijk, Bubbles: Chapter 5, “The Primal Companion.”
Week 12. Harmony and Imbalance
11/23: Michelangelo Frammartino, Le Quattro Volte
11/25: No class (Thanksgiving break)
Week 13. The Politics of Representing Communities.
11/30 Jacques Rancière, The Politics of Aesthetics, introduction and chapters 1-2,
pg. 1-30.
12/2 “Ten Theses on Politics”
(Theory & Event. 5.3, 2001).
Week 14. Paper Presentations.