Political Science 301  ART & THE STATE

Fall 2002

Goals of Course:  All nations have policies which shape the conditions under which works of art are produced and consumed. Sometimes cultural policies are conscious and explicit, as in the patronage of the American National Endowment for the Arts, or the court of the Medici princes. Arts policies are often indirect, as in tax laws which encourage speculative investment in fine paintings, or weak police forces which permit smugglers to plunder third world art treasures. This course will examine culture as a political issue by exploring controversies over public arts programs, efforts to control pornography, and the role of culture in international politics. We will be especially concerned with such questions as the political censorship of the arts, the implications of state subsidies for performers and writers, and the differences between state and private propaganda. A comparative and historically informed perspective on these issues should help students more effectively grasp their significance as these questions arise in contemporary America.

Class Meetings:  Tuesdays 10-11:50, and Thursdays 10-10:50 in 123 Pacific.

Instructor: Richard Kraus. Office: 821 PLC. Office hours: Wednesdays 2-4, Thursdays 11-12, or by appointment. Phone: 346-4894. E-mail: rkraus@oregon.uoregon.edu.

Graduate Teaching Fellows: 

Rich Crook. Office hours Fridays 10-12, in 831 PLC. 6-4130. rcrook@darkwing.uoregon.edu

Clinton Smith. Office hours Tuesdays 1-3, or by appointment. in 261 PLC. 6-4128. csmith5@darkwing.uoregon.edu

Texts:

1. Marjorie Heins, Not in Front of the Children.

2. Sanford Levinson, Written in Stone.

3. John Berger, Ways of Seeing.

4. Tyler Cowen, In Praise of Commercial Culture.

5. Toby Miller, et al.,  Global Hollywood.

6. Several items on the internet, as indicated on the reading list. These items are linked to my website: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rkraus/art&the.htm .    Please let me know if a link does not work properly.

NOTE: Textbooks are available at Mother Kali's Bookstore, 720 East 13th Avenue

Recommended: If you are especially interested in the issues raised by this course, you might enjoy Arts Journal Daily, a compendium of cultural news at http://www.artsjournal.com. 

Evaluation: There will be two mid-term examinations, on October 24 and November 14. The final examination will be a take-home exam, due anytime between the last class and 11:30 am on December 13. Study Guides will be available several days before each mid-term. Each examination contributes one third to your final grade. Documented medical emergencies are the only acceptable bases for requesting make-up exams.

Basis for Grading:  Command of course materials, originality of thought, style of presentation (including care of preparation for papers).

 

SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND EXAMS, Fall, 2002

Week 1 [October 1, 3]. Censorship

Marjorie Heins, Not in Front of the Children, Introduction through chapter 5.

Week 2 [October 8, 10]. Pornography

Marjorie Heins, Not in Front of the Children, chapter 6 through conclusion.

Week 3 [October 15, 17]. Art and Ideology

1. John Berger, Ways of Seeing.

2. Theodore W. Adorno, The Culture Industry.

3. Thomas Frank, The Conquest of Cool.

4. The Guerrilla Girls.

Week 4 [October 22]. Public Art

Sanford Levinson, Written in Stone.

October 24:  Mid-term exam #1

Week 5 [October 29, 31]. Arts as Commodities

1. Tyler Cowen, In Praise of Commercial Culture, chapters 1-3.

2. Peter  Landesman, A 20th-Century Master Scam.

  Week 6 [November 5, 7]. State Subsidies for Culture

1. Tyler Cowen, In Praise of Commercial Culture, chapters 4-5.

2. A New Deal for Arts

Week 7 [November 12]. U.S. Arts Policies since World War II

1. Dan Georgakas, Hollywood Blacklist.

2. James Petras, The CIA and the Cultural Cold War Revisited.

3.  National Endowment for the Arts.

4. Oregon Arts Commission Commissioners.

November 14: Mid-term exam #2

Week 8 [November 19, 21].  Arts Diplomacy and the Global Division of Cultural Labor

1. Kjell  Espmark, The Nobel Prize in Literature.

2. David Rothkopf, In Praise of Cultural Imperialism

3. Toby Miller, Global Hollywood, chapters 1-2.

Week 9 [November 26]. National Arts versus Global Culture

1. Toby Miller, Global Hollywood, chapters 3-conclusion.

2. Komar and Melamid, The World's Wanted Paintings.

  November 28: Thanksgiving vacation

 Week 10  [December 3, 5]. Arts Plunder and Restitution

1. The Parthenon Marbles (read "What are the Parthenon Marbles?" and "The History of the Marbles")

2. U.S. State Department. International Cultural Property Protection

3. Fighting the Illicit Traffic  of Cultural Property.

December 13: Take-home Final Examination due at 11:30 am. If you submit your exam on December 13, turn it in at Prof Kraus’s office, 821 PLC, from 11-12. For earlier submissions: put your exam in Prof Kraus’s mailbox outside 936 PLC.

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