I am happy to announce that the new Bard in Berlin program is open to Critical and Visual Studies students who would like to study abroad during the summer, fall or spring terms.

"The program is based in artistic practice, including studio arts, performance, media, and the interplay among them. History and theory courses take an interdisciplinary approach to draw upon the wealth of Berlin's museums, monuments, galleries, performances, and non-traditional venues."

The courses offered are invigorating and well designed to fit in with the aims of Pratt's degree.

They offer courses such as: 

German Art and Identity

Landscape, Land Art, and the City

Social Choreography and the Politics of the Public Sphere 

You can find a full course list here.

Housing is arranged on the Bard Berlin campus for all overseas students.

Why Berlin you might ask?

"Culturally rich and artistically diverse, Berlin is an exciting city to explore.  Bard Abroad in Berlin's cultural program exposes students to a wide variety of artistic, historical and cultural experiences."

Interested? Check out their website to get more information.

http://www.bard.edu/bardabroad/berlin/academics/ 

Pratt Institute
Main Brooklyn Campus
200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Campus Map & Directions:

http://www.pratt.edu/about_pratt/visit_pratt/


ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
 
For more information about our B. A. major, please visit
http://www.pratt.edu/academics/liberal_arts_and_sciences/critical_visual_studies/

Pratt Institute Admissions
http://www.pratt.edu/admissions/

Pratt Institute
Main Brooklyn Campus
200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Campus Map & Directions:

http://www.pratt.edu/about_pratt/visit_pratt/



ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
 
For more information about our B. A. major, please visit
http://www.pratt.edu/academics/liberal_arts_and_sciences/critical_visual_studies/

Pratt Institute Admissions
http://www.pratt.edu/admissions/

*A critical understanding of culture that is grounded in philosophy, history, the social sciences, and humanities.

*Comprehension of critical social theory, analytical structures, techniques of communication, and familiarity with a range of research methods and perspectives in understanding the natural and social worlds.

*An understanding of the interconnections and dependencies of the various and diverse fields of human inquiry, artistic endeavor, and cultural, social, and political life.

*An appreciation of the aesthetic achievements of cinema/film, literature, poetry, and the visual arts.

*A critical sense of your ethical, social, and political responsibilities and of the world’s diverse cultures and communities.

*Meaningful access to the historical past both for its own sake and to think creatively about the future, i.e., to learn to learn.

*The ability to develop and critically integrate written, oral, visual, and spatial expression.

*The flexibility to pursue both in-depth studies as well as opportunities to make links between academic work and the working world through internships in cultural institutions, especially non-profit arts and public service agencies.

*A faculty whose scholarship and teaching is on the cutting edge of social and cultural criticism and analysis.

Lectures, Forums and Speaker Series as well as the department’s regular Scholar-In-Residence appointment bring renowned scholars, intellectuals, and artists from around the world together with our students in large lectures and intimate seminars. Past speakers and Scholars-In-Residence include: Susan Buck-Morss, Patricia Clough, Alain Badiou, Stanley Aronowitz, Susan Meiselas, Gyan Prakash, Randy Martin, Martha Rosler, Nora Alter, Vicente Rafael, Gina Dent, Saidiya Hartman, Sukhdev Sandhu, Deborah Willis Anna Grimshaw, Robin Blackburn, Juan Cole, Tina Campt, Jim Czarnecki, Claudio Lomnitz, David Harvey, Nona Shepphard, Brendan Fernandes, Silvia Federici, and Franco Berardi Bifo.

First Level: The first two years of the curriculum will give our students a broad and solid foundation in the Liberal Arts and Sciences, as well as allowing you to begin exploring your own individual interests.

Semester I
The first semester immerses our students into the foundations of the Liberal Arts: critical analysis, history, philosophy, science, and literature. Students share a common experience in the first semester that will establish a unique basis for your studies:

CST.100 First Year Seminar - 3.0 credits
CH.300 World History I - 3.0 credits
PHIL.208 or PHIL.209 History of Philosophy - 3.0 credits
ENGL.101 Introduction to Literary and Critical Studies I - 3.0 credits
MSCI.210 Science and Society - 3.0 credits
CST.190 Beyond Google I: Basic Information Literacy - 1.0 credit
Total Credits 16.0

Semester II
Semester Two completes the introduction to history, critical studies, literature and writing. It allows students the flexibility to choose electives from across the department, the school, and the institute. To ensure a distribution of elective credits, in semesters 2, 3, and 4 students may take no more than 6 non-required credits in any one disciplinary field of Social Science, History, Philosophy, and, Math and Science and no more than 15 credits from any single division at Pratt (i.e. SLAS, Art & Design, and Architecture).

ENGL.103 Introduction to Literary and Critical Studies II - 3.0 credits
CH.400 World History II - 3.0 credits
Open Elective credits 9.0 - 3.0 credits
Total Credits - 15.0

Semester III
In Semester Three, students take the new Symposium course and continue their distribution of electives.
SS.225 Symposium - 3.0 credits
Open Elective - 12.0 credits
Total Credits - 15.0

Semester IV
In semester 4, students participate in the guided advisement of Moderation. They also take their required Theory and Practice course and continue to take electives. “Moderation” provides students with the opportunity to reflect on their studies during semesters 1-3, identify their interests and begin to focus on the concentration that will structure the final two years of their program. Moderation requires students to examine their initial experiences in the program, their goals, and their interests, to evaluate their performance and their commitment to a course of study and to chart their final two years of college with the help of a faculty committee.

Theory and Practice requirement - 3.0
SS.299 Moderation - 2.0
Open Elective credits - 9.0
Total Credits - 14.0

First Level (Years 1 and 2) Total Course Credits: 60



Second Level: In their third and senior years, students are immersed in their guided electives, minors, internships, and their senior project or honors thesis. The project or thesis is undertaken with a committee chosen from and approved by the faculty. With the help of their Moderation advisers, students develop a course of study tailored to their individual interests and faculty expertise.

Semester V
CST.390 Beyond Google II: Thesis and Information Research - 1.0 credit
Guided elective - 9.0 credits
Open elective - 6.0 credits
Total Credits - 16.0

Semester VI
Guided electives - 9.0 credits
Open electives - 6.0 credits
Total Credits - 15.0

Semester VII
Guided elective - 3.0 credits
Open electives - 9.0 credits
CST.440 Senior Seminar - 3.0 credits
Total Credits - 15.0

Semester VIII
You may choice two options, either a 6 credit Senior Thesis or a 3 credit Senior Thesis
CST.480 Thesis/Senior Project* - 3.0 credits
Open Electives - 12.0 credits
OR
CST.480 Thesis/Senior Project* - 6.0 credits
Open Electives - 9.0 credits

Total Credits - 15.0
Second Level (Years 3 and 4) Total Credits 61
___________
Total Credits for Degree - 121

*Senior projects carry 3 credits while more formal and in depth academic thesis carries 6 credits. If a student undertakes a 3 credit project, then they will take 12 elective credits. If a student undertakes a 6 credit thesis, they will take 9 credits.

 Visit the link below for admissions requirements or to apply online. We look forward to reviewing your applications!
http://www.pratt.edu/admissions/applying/

For more information, please visit our official page at:
http://www.pratt.edu/academics/liberal_arts_and_sciences/critical_visual_studies/

BA Program in Critical & Visual Studies
Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies
School of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Pratt Institute
200 Willoughby Ave.
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11205

Study abroad program for The Copenhagen/Denmark Institute for Study Abroad (DIS)

The study abroad program for The Copenhagen/Denmark Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) will present an information session on Tuesday, February 14 at 12:30 PM in Steuben Hall, 4th floor.

The Saturday interview: Stuart Hall
"The left is in trouble. It's not got any ideas, it's not got any independent analysis of its own, and therefore it's got no vision. It just takes the temperature: 'Whoa, that's no good, let's move to the right.' It has no sense of politics being educative, of politics changing the way people see things."temperature: 'Whoa, that's no good, let's move to the right.' It has no sense of politics being educative, of politics changing the way people see things."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2012/feb/11/saturday-interview-stuart-hall?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038

Critical & Visual Studies at Pratt Institute via Pratt Institute News

Pratt Institute has been recognized for its sustainability-focused education and for its commitment to the greening of its campus buildings and grounds. It was named one of the country’s most environmentally responsible colleges by The Princeton Review, the nationally known education services company, in its new “Guide to 311 Green Colleges,” a new resource created for college applicants.

Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center and one of the key figures in Cultural Studies as well as sociology and the labor movement, will be speaking with Michael Pelias (LIU - Philosophy) on
Friday, December 9th,  from 5:15-7:30, at Pratt Institute Room: 107/ENG Bldg (formerly 110, the lecture room straight ahead from the stairwell upon entering the Engineering building...)

The lecture/presentation "The State of Academic Unionism" is hosted by Pratt Faculty's union, UFCT Local 1460.

Please RSVP ASAP as seating will be limited. Moreover, students, friends, and guests are welcome, but the organizers will need to know just how many to accommodate.
RSVP to Kye Carbone at kyecarbone@gmail.com

Stanley Aronowitz has taught at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York since 1983, where he is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban Education. He received his B.A. at the New School in 1968 and his Ph.D from the Union Graduate School in 1975. He studies labor, social movements, science and technology, education, social theory and cultural studies and is director of the Center for the Study of Culture, Technology and Work at the Graduate Center.
He is author or editor of twenty-five books including: Against Schooling: For an Education that Matters (2008); Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future (2006); Just Around Corner (2005); How Class Works (2003); The Last Good Job in America (2001); The Knowledge Factory (2000); The Jobless Future (1994, with William DiFazio); and False Promises: The Shaping of American Working Class Consciousness (1973, 1992).
Stanley is founding editor of the journal Social Text and is currently a member of its advisory board. Most recently, he co-founded Situations: Project of the Radical Imagination and serves as co-editor in the journal's editorial collective. He also serves on the advisory board of WorkingUSA: The Journal of Labor and Society, and has sat on the editorial boards of Cultural Critique and Ethnography. He has published more than two hundred articles and reviews in publications such as Harvard Educational Review, Social Policy, The Nation, and The American Journal of Sociology. Prior to coming to the Graduate Center he taught at the University of California–Irvine and Staten Island Community College (now The College of Staten Island). He has been visiting professor or scholar at University of Wisconsin–Madison, the University of Paris VIII, Lund University (Sweden), and Columbia University.

http://www.stanleyaronowitz.org/new/about

Michael Pelias teaches Philosophy at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus. His courses include the ancients, Machiavelli to Nietzsche, Philosophy and Film, Philosophy of Money, and Continental Philosophy since Hegel. He is the co-mananging editor of Situations: Project of the Radical Imagination, a member of the 15th Street Manifesto Group and a member of the Long Island University Faculty Federation's negotiating committee.

Andrew W. Barnes, Ph.D.
Dean
School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Pratt Institute
200 Willoughby Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11205
718.636.3570

Patricia T. Clough, author of The End(s) of Ethnography and Auto-Affection: Unconscious Thought in the Age of Teletechnology gave a series of talks in the Spring of 1998 as the Scholar in Residence. The video of the event has been lost, but the audio tapes have been preserved. "What Cultural Studies did to Marxism" is the second talk in the series and was given on March 19, 1998.


Patricia T. Clough, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for the Study of Women and Society, City University of New York Graduate Center.  She was the Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies  Scholar in Residence in Spring 1998, Pratt Institute.
Her first talk in the series, "Psychoanalysis, Autoaffection, & Tele-technology," presented on February 19, 1998 can be heard here:
http://www.archive.org/details/PatricaT.CloughPsychoanalysisAutoaffectionTele-technologyFebruary19

Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center and one of the important figures in the rise of Cultural Studies in the United States, held a series of talks with the faculty during the Fall of 1998. This is a video of his first talk in which he describes the origins of Cultural Studies, its reception in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s, the founding of the Center for Cultural Studies at CUNY and now Center for Work, Technology & Culture, the key role of study groups, and the risks in the acceptance of Cultural Studies by American academia.

Stanley Aronowitz --- On the Origins of Cultural Studies

Faculty Seminar, Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies, School of Liberal Arts and Sciences,
Pratt Institute, 1998.

To be sure, there is no doubt that the development of cultural studies has been influenced by both the impetus to depart from traditional disciplinary demarcations and, especially recently, by the imperative of institutionalization that is perceived by proponents of cultural studies to oblige them to integrate themselves more securely within the disciplines, specifically the humanities.  And, particularly in English and, to a lesser degree, comparative literature, cultural studies tends to become a weapon in internecine wars, especially of those who wish to practice studies of popular culture and what has been described as 'theory.'  Of course, these confinements subvert the whole project of cultural studies, which, as I will argue, seeks to transgress the boundaries between humanities and the sciences, and even to transcend the boundaries of formal academic sites.  At its best, cultural studies is not interdisciplinary; it is anti-disciplinary. --- Aronowitz, Roll Over Beethoven: The Return of Cultural Strife, p. 7-8.