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“The Weapon of Theory”: Critical Thought and Social Change
Offered by Ahmed Diaa Dardeer on Sunday mornings from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm and evenings from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm |
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How does political and social theory respond to change? What can theory tell us about social change? Conversely, what can moments of upheaval, revolution, and political and social change tell us about the theories they were attached to? Is there an intellectual history for revolution and counterrevolution?
In this course we will read texts of political and social theory in the light of the political and social events that shaped them, from the French Revolution of 1848 to the Egyptian uprising of 2011. We will study both revolutionary and counterrevolutionary representations. This effort will attempt to historicize these theories and understand them in the light of the specific histories that shaped them. In addition, we will explore what it entails to take these theories out of their historical contexts and apply them to others: what then is modified, revised, and/or preserved? In short this course is an exercise of putting theory in context and out of context.
While most of the assigned texts are theoretical texts, students are encouraged to research the historical context and compile a chronology of events. This also will be covered in class discussions.
The course will be supplemented by optional movie nights and read-along sessions
Why Apply:
Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
Political Cartoons: https://www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/images/caricatures/index.htm
Guy Gullickson, Unruly Women of Paris (excerpts)
Janet Beizer, Ventriloquized Bodies: Narratives of Hysteria in 19th Century France (excerpts).
Excerpts from the anti-‘Urabi Press (in both Arabic and English. French excerpts also available)
Vladimir Lenin, Materialism and Empirico Criticism
Vladimir Lenin, State and Revolution
(Prompts will include communist and Leninist anthems sung by Arab artists)
Louis Althusser, Lenin and Philosophy (excerpts)
Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth (excerpts)
Amilcar Cabral, “The Weapon of Theory.”
قرارات الدورة الرابعة للمجلس الوطني الفلسطيني 1968
قرارات الدورة الخامسة للمجلس الوطني الفلسطيني 1969
غسان كنفاني، عائد إلى حيفا
محمود درويش، مختارات
إلياس خوري، الجبل الصغير
Michel Foucault, “Useless to Revolt?”
The Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection
محمد عبد القهار، غارب
Note: Students are Encouraged to bring their own readings to this session.
In this course we will read texts of political and social theory in the light of the political and social events that shaped them, from the French Revolution of 1848 to the Egyptian uprising of 2011. We will study both revolutionary and counterrevolutionary representations. This effort will attempt to historicize these theories and understand them in the light of the specific histories that shaped them. In addition, we will explore what it entails to take these theories out of their historical contexts and apply them to others: what then is modified, revised, and/or preserved? In short this course is an exercise of putting theory in context and out of context.
While most of the assigned texts are theoretical texts, students are encouraged to research the historical context and compile a chronology of events. This also will be covered in class discussions.
The course will be supplemented by optional movie nights and read-along sessions
Why Apply:
- To get a grasp on schools of critical theory and radical thought in light of the social and political movements they were attached to.
- To theorize change, revolt, and revolution.
- To think of our present condition in the light of various theoretical schools and frameworks.
- To interrogate the various theoretical schools and frameworks in light of our present condition.
- Marx as a Political Analyst: Revolutionary Marxism and the Events of 1848
Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
- The Paris Commune: The Birth of Revolutionary and Counterrevolutionary Thought
- The Commune and Revolutionary Theory
Political Cartoons: https://www.marxists.org/history/france/paris-commune/images/caricatures/index.htm
- Race and Gender in the anti-Commune Discourse
Guy Gullickson, Unruly Women of Paris (excerpts)
Janet Beizer, Ventriloquized Bodies: Narratives of Hysteria in 19th Century France (excerpts).
- Rebels and ‘Arabis: The ‘Urabi Revolt
Excerpts from the anti-‘Urabi Press (in both Arabic and English. French excerpts also available)
- The Russian Revolution and Leninist Philosophy
Vladimir Lenin, Materialism and Empirico Criticism
Vladimir Lenin, State and Revolution
(Prompts will include communist and Leninist anthems sung by Arab artists)
- The Leninist Tradition Beyond the Russian Revolution
Louis Althusser, Lenin and Philosophy (excerpts)
- Decolonization, anti-Colonial Revolts, and Post-Colonial Theory
Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth (excerpts)
Amilcar Cabral, “The Weapon of Theory.”
- The Palestinian Revolution and the Culture of Resistance
قرارات الدورة الرابعة للمجلس الوطني الفلسطيني 1968
قرارات الدورة الخامسة للمجلس الوطني الفلسطيني 1969
غسان كنفاني، عائد إلى حيفا
محمود درويش، مختارات
إلياس خوري، الجبل الصغير
- 1968 and the ‘Post-structuralist’ Revolution
Michel Foucault, “Useless to Revolt?”
The Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection
- 2011 and Beyond: Is there an Intellectual History for the Arab Revolts?
محمد عبد القهار، غارب
Note: Students are Encouraged to bring their own readings to this session.
- Open Discussion, Wrapping Up, Final Projects
الترجمة جاية في السكة
Ahmed Diaa is a PhD candidate in Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia University. He holds a Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Columbia University, and a Master’s degree in Political Theory from the American University of Beirut. He is interested in questions of state and subjectivity in the context of colonial modernity, in an attempt to understand our current political and social condition. Ahmed is also interested in literature and arts, and especially in theatre. He is also keen on stressing that he is the person on the right hand side of the picture, though he is sure the person on the left has a unique perspective on humanities.
أحمد ضياء مرشح لنيل درجة الدكتوراة من جامعة كولومبيا في دراسات الشرق الأوسط، وحاصل على درجة ماجيستير في المجال ذاته من الجامعة ذاتها، ودرجة ماجيستير في النظرية السياسية من الجامعة الأمريكية في بيروت. وقد قادته محاولة فهم الحالة الاجتماعية والسياسية الراهنة إلى دراسة الأسئلة المتعلقة بالدولة الحديثة وتموضع الذات، خاصة في سياق الحداثة الاستعمارية. وعدا عن الاهتمامات الأكاديمية يهوى أحمد الآداب والفنون وبالأخص المسرح. وقد أصر أحمد على التنويه بأنه الشخص الواقف علي يمين الصورة له رؤية مميزة في العلوم الإنسانية. يعمل أحمد اﻵن في سيلاس بصفته الزميل اﻷكاديمي المقيم لحقل العلوم اﻹنسانية.
