Summer 2024 Middle East UN1001 section 001

CRITICAL THEORY: A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

CRITICAL THEORY: A GLOBAL

Call Number 10200
Day & Time
Location
TR 9:00am-12:10pm
141 Uris Hall
Points 4
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Hamid Dabashi
Type LECTURE
Method of Instruction In-Person
Course Description

The purpose of this foundational course is to introduce Columbia undergraduate students, in the context of their Global Core curriculum, to the seminal field of critical theory. The historical domain of this course is within the last century and its geographical spectrum is global. European critical thinkers are included in this course but not privileged. Thinkers from Asia, Africa, Europe, North, South, and Latin America, are examined here in chronological order and in equal democratic footing with each other. This course as a result is decidedly cross-cultural, one step forward towards de-alienating critical thinkers from around the globe and the issues they address without pigeonholing them as something “other” or “different.” The course is designed and offered in the true spirit of the “Global Core.” The purpose of the course is to reach for the common denominator of serious critical thinking about the fate of our humanity and the health of our social relations in an increasingly fragile world—where the false binaries of “the West” and “the Rest” no longer hold. The roster of critical thinkers we will examine is by no means exhaustive but representative. Any number of other critical thinkers can be added to this roster but none of those we will examine can be excluded from them. The course is divided into thirteen successive weeks and for each week a number of seminal, original, and groundbreaking texts are identified. Each week we will examine selected passages from these texts. The course is designed as a lecture course, and my lectures are based on the totality of these texts but students will be assigned specific shorter passages to read.

Web Site Vergil
Subterm 05/20-06/28 (A)
Department Summer Session (SUMM)
Enrollment 24 students (50 max) as of 1:06PM Thursday, December 12, 2024
Subject Middle East
Number UN1001
Section 001
Division Summer Session
Section key 20242MDES1001W001