The B. A. in Critical and Visual Studies
Pratt’s Interdisciplinary Liberal
Arts major
The faculty in the Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies has been working diligently over the last two years to revise our major and now we can begin to tell you about the truly exciting changes we making starting this Fall!
Critical and Visual Studies is Pratt's Liberal Arts B. A. major and we are revising it to be even more in keeping with the intellectual openness and creativity of our students and faculty.
In the coming weeks we will be announcing the many of the details here, but here in short is what you can expect in the coming year:
A.
Reduction
of the required credits for the degree from 133 to 121, giving our students more time to reflect or to go deeper into their subjects.
B.
Clustering the fundamental Liberal Arts courses in the first year of
study so that our students have a broad and deep foundation for their studies.
C.
The introduction of 4th
semester Moderation or Sophomore Review. Our students will work closely with faculty to develop their course of study and choice of minors.
Moderation gives students the ability to structure and focus their
studies through guided advisement in their 3rd
and 4th
years, leading to their 3-credit Senior Project or 6-credit Honors Thesis. With the introduction of Moderation
and Thesis advisement, you will now have an organic link between your
studies and your project or thesis.
D. Our "Praxis" courses, always a mainstay of student and faculty interest,
combined into a suite of Theory and Practice courses intended to
introduce you to a specific cultural institution both academically
and practically. Each course culminates in a group production
of a cultural event. An important objective is to offer you
courses taught by professors who are themselves academically trained
practitioners.
CST. 110 Praxis I: From Work to Text
CST. 210 Praxis II: Siting Culture
CST. 310 Praxis III: Culture in Motion
CST. 410 Praxis IV: Cultural Contexts
SS.490 The Art Museum: Theory and Practice
SS.470 Film Festival: Practice and Theory in conjunction with the WALLABOUT Film Festival
TheWallabout Film Festival: produced and curated by an interdisciplinary group of students from Pratt Institute. Showcasing films by innovative student filmmakers from around the world, Wallabout is a platform for students to screen their work to a diverse community of peers, artists and industry professionals. It has become an important platform for student filmmaking and an addition to the vibrant creative culture of Brooklyn.)
E. Five new courses:
CST. 190 Beyond Google I: Basic Information Literacy (1credit) Beyond Google examines the central issues in Information Literacy (the ability to critically retrieve, use, and evaluate information). Topics include an introduction to information literacy best practices, research strategies, search engine limitations, online and print resources, and citation styles. Students will gain an understanding of copyright, fair use, plagiarism, and information ethics. The culture and theory of contemporary information-related issues will be covered as well.
SS.225 Symposium ( 3 credits) The Symposium allows students to become acquainted with the range of fields covered by the department. Students will gain knowledge of the methods and approaches available to them as they prepare for Moderation, as well as deeper insights into the work and subjects pursued by faculty and other scholars in their fields. Students in the Critical and Visual Studies are required to take this course the semester before their advancement to Moderation.
SS.299 Moderation (2 credits) “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.
CST. 390 Beyond Google II: Thesis and Project Research (1 credit) Beyond Google II provides a review of research techniques, resources, and ethics. This is an advanced course focused on identifying and using information sources relevant to project and thesis research. This course will use the research topics of the students as its focus, with the goal of advanced Information Literacy in general and in their areas of research. Topics include an introduction to information literacy best practices, research strategies, search engine limitations, online and print resources, and citation styles. Students will gain an understanding of copyright, fair use, plagiarism, and information ethics. The culture and theory of contemporary information-related issues will be covered as well.
CST.9400.01, CST.9401.01, CST.9402.01 Internship This course provides students with a structure for experiential learning through internships with local arts organizations, governmental and non-governmental agencies, non-profits and elsewhere in the culture industry. The internship provides an opportunity to acquire knowledge of these sites and to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of existing institutions as well as their possibilities. Students may register for 1 credit (CST.9401.01) or 2 credits (CST.9402.01) or, during summer term(s), for 0 credits (CST.9400.01).
"Authoritarianism No More!" Professor Kumru Toktamis on the events in Turkey
Critical Analysis 9:16 AM
Authoritarianism No More!
kumru toktamis
It has never been hard for those in
power to find jargon to belittle and discredit their opposition. But
the subversive creativity of the opposition in co-opting such
expressions has often bolstered the legitimacy of their claims.
When Turkish Prime Minister R. T.
Erdogan called the demonstrators at Taksim Square in Istanbul
capulcus (bandits, looters) in early June, he awarded them
with what has become a historical and global badge of honor, complete
with a new Wikipedia “chapulling.” The appropriation of a
formerly pejorative term exemplifies the anti-authoritarian core of
the ongoing uprising and turmoil in Turkey.
Subtle or overt forms of
authoritarianism have always been a defining characteristic of the
post-Ottoman polity in the territories of the Eastern Mediterranean –
particularly in the Republic of Turkey, founded by a bureaucratic
-military elite amidst opportunities created by the intra-allied
conflicts and fatigue of the Great War. This modernizing elite and
their populist anti-colonial narrative provided the legitimizing
framework for the Turkish state for throughout the 20th
century. The country survived the Cold War era under a formal
parliamentarism with military tutelage, where authoritarian ideals of
heavy handed etatisme, model citizenship, suppression of
ethnic and religious minorities and homogenization of the population
in pursuit of a 19th century notion of modernity tainted
the all political parties and foreseeable oppositions alike.
The conflict over rising Islamism in
the political landscape of Turkey has always been a negotiation about
the urban texture of the country. The nationalist, laicist, modernist
founding elites have continually expressed their discomfort with the
visibility of traditionally clad Muslim individuals and families,
especially women in headscarves in urban public spaces such as
schools, hospitals and courtrooms. The bastion of Turkish laicism --
unlike secularism -- demanded that such expressions be backward,
folksy and untypical of the modernizing ideals of the Republic. As
the visibility of islamists increased in the cities -- not only as
shantytown dwellers or students, but in professional positions and
eventually as urban nouveau riche -- the Islamists and their
political party the AKP were associated with provincial
fundamentalism. However, AKP leader R.T. Erdogan was neither: born
and raised in Istanbul, he came from among those in the city’s
neighborhoods who were not welcome in public spaces and professional
life. He shared the street smarts, cunning and ambition of denizens
of Istanbul, yet belonged to the social segment that was not
recognized and acknowledged. But that was last century.
R. T. Erdogan and his AKP came to the
fore on a wave of freedoms and rights against the authoritarian
culture, policies and politics. Challenging the etatiste
laicism (which unlike secularism involved the active use of
governmental power to suppress and homogenize religious leadership)
that curbed freedoms of expression of the political right and left,
but most importantly the crucial role of the military as the guardian
of the Republic, the AKP managed to gain the support of the rural and
urban poor, as well as the approval of liberals and liberal
socialists. Moreover, the AKP’s economic agenda connected with
emerging globalization through privatization and commercialization of
government control, thus enabling the AKP to be recognized as a
reliable partner of global and regional financial interests.
As a party with clear religious roots
that survived several attempts to outlaw it – unlike its
predecessors of similar ilk – the AKP pragmatically emerged as the
leading party with unprecedented popular support, gaining nearly 50%
of the vote in three consecutive elections (34% in 2002, 47% in 2007
and 50% in 2011), emerging as a model party of moderate Islam and
pro-capitalism. While it owed most of its electoral success to social
policies such as healthcare and housing, the almost irrational
insistence of the small yet influential laicist elites who
insistently cried that their country was being taken over by radical,
Islamic fundamentalism and called the military to take charge did not
help the opposition to develop a viable agenda to overcome the
cultural, political and economic problems that accompanied the AKP’s
emergence to power.
While the AKP may have reached its
liberal pinnacle as the trailblazer of expanding political freedoms
with the election of Abdullah Gul as the head of the Republic in
2007, its love affair with capitalist enterprise continued
relentlessly, mostly along the paths of cronyism.
As liberal trailblazers, the AKP has
been more successful in modernizing and revising Turkish legal codes
to harmonize public administration and human rights with European
Union Codes than any of the earlier modernizing elites. As a
historical irony, while advancing the westernization/modernization
agenda of the founders of the Republic, the AKP dismantled the power
bases of the same elites by removing military representatives from
civilian institutions such as the Council of Higher Education and the
High Council of Radio and Television.
As “Islamic Calvinists,”1
the AKP pursued the Republic’s third wave of “constructing the
domestic bourgeoisie” – the first being a state-engineered
market economy during the Great Depression and the second the
elimination and replacement of wealth accumulation by the non-Muslim
minorities in the 1950s. This third wave of capitalist expansion
mostly followed the blueprints of the post-1980 military coup by
drawing provincial resources toward the center via financial programs
and policies. This made clear that a cultural-Islamist agenda was not
a priority for the AKP. The party and its supporters were more
interested in maximizing profit by expanding the scope of domestic
consumerism and regional financial markets.
The consolidation of the AKP’s power
inadvertently created its own cultural, political and economic
inconsistencies and contradictions. The expansion of the free-market
economy and increase in the per-capita income from $2,800 to $10,000
within a decade brought with it unparalleled economic inequalities.
The rise of conservative capitalists with ostentatious wealth and
display of consumerism in urban areas proved to be highly irritating
for both economic and cultural reasons. While traditional urban
elites already feared displacement from their positions of prestige
and power, the urban working poor felt betrayed, having followed the
AKP’s political agenda with common-sense piety and faith based on a
sense of justice.
Politically, the hopes of expanded
freedoms and liberties were dashed as the trials of wanna-be-
leaders of military coups, such as Ergenekon, soon turned into
political circuses aimed at intimidating all forms of opposition. By
2011, Turkey became the leading country in the world for jailing
journalists, alongside Iran and China. AKP-style pragmatism was also
revealed to be crucial in instrumentalizing Kurdish aspirations, as
the peace process with the Kurdish rebels became a political trump
card to hijack Kurdish support for R.T. Erdogan’s ambition to
propel himself into the Presidency and expand the powers of what has
heretofore been a largely symbolic office as Head of the Republic.
Culturally, neither the AKP nor its
leader were the kind of Islamists the irrational laicists portrayed
them to be. Rather than pursuing an agenda of islamization, they have
mainly been interested in replacing the traditional urban elite and
displacing their prestige and power into the hands of a newly
emerging “conservative bourgeoisie.” They represented an emerging
capitalist class that wanted to be able to be as visible and as
consumerist as the older elites. However, this did not prevent the
party from making gestures toward their more pious electoral base,
such as legislating limitations on abortion (not required by any
religious strictures whatsoever) and on alcohol (in a country where
alcoholism is not a social problem). Such attempts are championed by
only small religious constituencies and have angered many.
The AKP had already become an extension
and promoter of the previously prevailing authoritarianism in Turkey
(sans military support) by the time its leader decided to micromanage
the commercialization of a public park in the old city of Istanbul.
… AND RESISTANBUL at the GEZI PARK
The AKP’s brand of culture wars, as
represented in superficial and virtual branding of Islam; rapidly
illiberalizing democracy, evident in the ways it treats its
opposition; and crony capitalism that aims to enrich its supporters
while promising a trickle-down expansion of welfare to the popular
segments of the society all seem to have reached an impasse: the AKP
is now the voice of authoritarianism in Turkey.
Authoritarianism is a legacy of the
old-world, pre-19th century empires that persists in the
modern politics of their successors. The AKP’s dilemma is that as
it was expanding boundaries of freedoms and liberties for its own
followers it inadvertently called forth its future opposition. As
with any other pragmatic political agenda, while it was benefiting
from the ineptitude of the traditional power centers, it still lacked
“technocratic depth”2
and had to rely mostly on the charisma of its leadership and its
immediate interest-based policies.
The opposition at Taksim Square/Gezi
Parki started as a reaction to a highly controversial and technically
under-baked project for the privatization of a historic public space
on a commercially vibrant square. The initial participants in the
movement revealed it to be a typical urban social movement for
individual rights and freedoms defending public space, with no
particular political affiliation. Thanks to the police brutality and
the PM’s blatant brazenness, the mobilization soon snowballed into
massive opposition to the regime and whatever it is representing to
citizens from different walks of Turkish society and culture.
Environmentalists asking for more green, LGBT groups for more
recognition and rights are now side by side with Muslim activists who
has long supported a non-authoritarian, non-military political and
legal system. Representatives of traditional nationalist elites who
want to defend the pillars of secularism in the country are
accompanied by maybe the largest and most staunch supporters of the
uprising, the unruly soccer fans whose eventual mobilization seemed
to be crucial for the early withdrawal of the police forces from the
square. There are posters reminding the public that the square was
once an Armenian cemetery, alluding to all projects of re-imaging a
legendary past. Socialists, Marxists, members of trade unions, women,
children, upper-middle class families all have managed to find a
place and a voice in the growing opposition which defies all
previously existing political alliances and agendas. Thanks to PM
R.T. Erdogan’s idea of progress via micro-managing, Taksim is now
the site of a historic stand-off between his regime and a loose
coalition of social, political and cultural opposition.
Tahrir Square in Cairo had a very clear
agenda of over throwing a dictator. Zuccotti Park in NYC was a
poignant warning to financial capitalism. The multi-vocality of these
mobilizations was their strength and pitfall, all at the same time;
they all resonated with larger segments of their respective societies
and manage to draw them into action. They proved that ambiguity of
goals can be a productive tool for collective activism; larger
segments of the society can attribute their own understanding of
protest and join in. Just as in Tahrir and Zuccotti, at Taksim the
protest itself has become the message, and those in power respond to
that message, most of the time creating more room for further action.
Such a dialogical relationship between the protests and the
governments and security forces helps them to expand, as they further
identify their raison d’etre and clarify their priorities.
At the same time, the very
multi-vocality of this process – wherein each new social segment,
organized group or interested participant walks in with their own
framing of interests and goals – at times challenges other
activists’ positions and claims. At this point, the brazenness of
the Turkish PM gives the activist a unifying rallying point, but
there is no clarity as to what extent his government should be
targeted. There seem to be several conflicting responses coming the
from diverse groups that make up the movement; while some are
resorting to humor and parody, others seem to be calling up the
spirit of the founder of the country, Ataturk, another figure of
yester-centuries authoritarianism. Some participants are persistent
in focusing on longstanding issues of capitalist exploitation and the
perils of globalization, while others are focusing on the dangers of
police brutality and human rights violations.
Thirty-five years ago, during the
nascent days of the feminist movement in Turkey, when a beloved
friend and a Muslim activist woman had asked me “in a country that
is 99% Muslim, how do you expect feminism to take hold?” My
response was, “In a country where most of the Muslims who end their
day of religious fasting with a shot of raki [a traditional alcoholic
beverage with anisette], how do you expect an islamist regime?”In
Turkey, as elsewhere, traditions have always been reproduced and
reinvented in a dialogical manner. The Islamist AKP rebranded the
spirit of capitalism and globalization; by micro-managing morality it
has opened new venues for atheist and agnostics to speak their minds;
and with increased visibility of the noveau riche in urban areas it
has distressed its own pious electoral base. Istanbul is a
historically resilient geography where the city has witnessed how
those once considered to be looters by the residents of its palaces,
eventually became its new masters.
Occupy Gezi, is not just a great idea
or an experience. Whatever its outcome might be, it signals the end
of authoritarianism as the glue binding the culture and society.
There may even be a short reversal of fortunes for the activists, and
the AKP may resort to more repressive, top-down policies. But, after
Taksim, authoritarianism shall no longer be the defining
characteristic of Turkish politics and culture. Chapulcu, as
the anti-authority figure, will remain as the promoter of democracy.
6/9/13
Brooklyn-NYC
1
Omer Taspinar,
http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/04/24-turkey-new-model-taspinar
2
As observed in Der Spiegel by US ambassador Eric Edelman in
2004.
www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-tribune-of-anatolia-america-s-dark-view-of-turkish-premier-erdogan-a-732084.html
Professor Kumru Toktamis is Adjunct Professor of Social Science and Cultural Studies at Pratt Institute.
Zachary Slanger and Grethen Spiegel presented with 2013 Academic Achievement Award
Announcement 5:41 PM
At Pratt's Convocation ceremony on Monday, seniors Zachary Slanger and Gretchen Spiegel were presented with the Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies Academic Achievement Award for their consistently outstanding academic work during their four years in the Critical & Visual Studies major.
Zachary's senior thesis project, Perverse Strategies, examined the notion of the perverse, especially in relation to the work of the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. In Living in Exile: On Nostalgia and the Ethics of Remembrance, Gretchen explored the ethical dimensions and quandaries of memory, identity and nostalgia as both active individual and collective practice as well as a potentially reactionary social force.
Zachary's senior thesis project, Perverse Strategies, examined the notion of the perverse, especially in relation to the work of the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. In Living in Exile: On Nostalgia and the Ethics of Remembrance, Gretchen explored the ethical dimensions and quandaries of memory, identity and nostalgia as both active individual and collective practice as well as a potentially reactionary social force.
CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH!
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| Appropriately perverse and nostalgic image? |
The faculty of the Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies is pleased to announce its Senior Thesis Award winners for Spring 2013! Congratulations to all of our Seniors!
Distinction
Alexander J. Danckwerth.
From Weimar to Deleuze: The Early Time-Image of the German Film. (Excerpt below.)
Andrea González.
Post War Violence in Guatemala: The Case of Linchamientos. (Excerpt below.)
Honors
Amanda Picotte.
The “Dark, Evil, Enemy Within” - Violent Implications of Ideology and Rhetoric in Reagan’s War on Drugs.
Zachary Slanger.
Perverse Strategies.
Research and Methodology
Andrea González.
Post War Violence in Guatemala: The Case of Linchamientos.
Foundation for Graduate Work
Drohan J.W. DiSanto.
Relational Aesthetics and Site-Specificity.
Lara
Kleinschmidt.
“Sometimes, there’s a man. And I’m talkin’ about the
Dude here”: Achieving, Abiding, and Lebowski as a Way of Life.
Faculty Thesis Recognition Award
Katrina Bayoneto.
Confronting Nightmares: Dystopian Science Fiction Films of the Late 1990s.
Catherine Frazier.
Residual Anxiety: On Fine Artists and the Market.
Catherine Frazier.
Residual Anxiety: On Fine Artists and the Market.
Chelsea Miller.
"American Satirical Audiences Better Informed, the Relationship Between Satire and Cultural Awareness"
Gretchen Spiegel.
Living in Exile: On Nostalgia and the Ethics of Remembrance.
Andrea González. Post War Violence in Guatemala: The Case of Linchamientos.
My thesis explores the visual aspects of violence in Guatemalan indigenous communities. Specifically, I explore the role of the visual, and what I refer to as the aesthetic of cruelty, as it is enacted in the recent resurgence of linchamientos (lynchings) in the case of Guatemala.
The recent emergence of violence in Guatemala's public sphere demands that we rethink both the reasons behind this violence and the future role of local and national conceptions of justice. This recent resurgence of violence speaks to the need to reclaim a commitment to human rights, especially in an environment ravaged by both “invisible” and “visible” forms of violence. The case of Guatemala is a powerful lens by which I will explore this dynamic. In this thesis I will show how the contemporary visual culture of violence in Guatemala is bond to the history of Guatemalans; specifically extralegal forms of violence that emerged in the country Guatemala during and after the civil war (1960-1996). I will explain why, after the civil war, linchamientos emerged as a new form of extralegal violence in indigenous Mayan communities in many parts of the countryside.
The recent emergence of violence in Guatemala's public sphere demands that we rethink both the reasons behind this violence and the future role of local and national conceptions of justice. This recent resurgence of violence speaks to the need to reclaim a commitment to human rights, especially in an environment ravaged by both “invisible” and “visible” forms of violence. The case of Guatemala is a powerful lens by which I will explore this dynamic. In this thesis I will show how the contemporary visual culture of violence in Guatemala is bond to the history of Guatemalans; specifically extralegal forms of violence that emerged in the country Guatemala during and after the civil war (1960-1996). I will explain why, after the civil war, linchamientos emerged as a new form of extralegal violence in indigenous Mayan communities in many parts of the countryside.
.....
The linchamientos that are propelled by Mayan and ladino communities, known as “popular lynchings” (Snodgrass) emerge as the reaffirmation of a struggle made visible. Communal bonds were devastated during the Civil War. As Girard recalls, the “sacrificial crisis” is founded in the cultural order, when there is lack of cultural distinction. A culture so based on the image of their patrons, on the verges of depletion makes visibility out of violence: “violence has become a collective ritual that comes to solvent the total loss of community cohesion that very much was based on the use of the image.”
Linchamientos are protests by means of “divine, sovereign” violence (Benjamin) to manifest existence. The shift of violence in the postwar years responds to a new form, for the state of exception to turn into a state of necessity, which can shift inhumanity into humanity. This is the notion of “crime as distinctiveness” that Snodgrass mentions.
The legacy of the Civil War as Snodgrass describes is mainly invisibility. Linchamientos make visible the space of the state of exception by its focus on the body. And for Agamben, these linchamientos embody a lacuna:
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| http://static.tvazteca.com/imagenes/2011/25/Cronolog-linchamientos-926713.jpg |
Linchamientos are protests by means of “divine, sovereign” violence (Benjamin) to manifest existence. The shift of violence in the postwar years responds to a new form, for the state of exception to turn into a state of necessity, which can shift inhumanity into humanity. This is the notion of “crime as distinctiveness” that Snodgrass mentions.
The legacy of the Civil War as Snodgrass describes is mainly invisibility. Linchamientos make visible the space of the state of exception by its focus on the body. And for Agamben, these linchamientos embody a lacuna:
It is as if the juridical order (il diritto) contained an essential fracture between the position of the norm and its application, which, in extreme situations, can be filled only by means of the state of exception, that is, by creating a zone in which
application is suspended, but the law (la legge), as such, remains in force.
After the Civil War, the “ideological polarization” that already existed has been
magnified. Guatemalan identity is a perforated concept. In her testimony, Rigoberta Menchú remembers us how the barriers between Mayan communities and ladinos has been instrumental for the elite class that runs the country, to keep the groups oppressed. Linchamientos express visibly the Mayan struggle towards recognition from the power apparatus; they embody the tension point with the state. On one hand, their exclusion is included by its own exception (Agamben); there is a resistance to the elimination of the state of exception. On the other hand, in the space that linchamientos create, there also exists a resistance to this resistance. The visual culture of linchamientos shows “the paradoxical nature of violence” (Girard) where evil and the one who combats evil are the same. It is as if violence came from without. In this regard, Agamben writes,
magnified. Guatemalan identity is a perforated concept. In her testimony, Rigoberta Menchú remembers us how the barriers between Mayan communities and ladinos has been instrumental for the elite class that runs the country, to keep the groups oppressed. Linchamientos express visibly the Mayan struggle towards recognition from the power apparatus; they embody the tension point with the state. On one hand, their exclusion is included by its own exception (Agamben); there is a resistance to the elimination of the state of exception. On the other hand, in the space that linchamientos create, there also exists a resistance to this resistance. The visual culture of linchamientos shows “the paradoxical nature of violence” (Girard) where evil and the one who combats evil are the same. It is as if violence came from without. In this regard, Agamben writes,
In the modern era, misery and exclusion are not only economic or social concepts but eminently political categories…In this sense, our age is nothing but the implacable and methodical attempt to overcome the division dividing the people, to eliminate radically the people that is excluded.
Linchamientos make visible the created differences of the peoples of Guatemala in relation to the judicial system. These differences take place in “the domain of the corporeal and the realm of the images” (Carlin). Different peoples (Agamben) and subaltern interests collide in this space. This is the spacemade visible in the body, of the Mayan struggle, also where ladinos and Mayans struggle between themselves and against the state; in a zone where basic human rights aren’t guaranteed. Linchamientos keep redrawing the line of the state of exception (Agamben); one side to maintain it, the other to eliminate it."
Alexander J. Danckwerth. From Weimar to Deleuze: The Early Time-Image of the German Film.
The school of films known as German expressionist has long been historically pinned to very specific and particular meanings. The following is an attempt to think of the films of Germany’s Weimar Republic in a new manner, both in the context of their film-historical understanding and significance as well as within the specific framework of Gilles Deleuze’s two volumes on cinema, Cinema 1: The Movement-Image and Cinema 2: The Time-Image. I will argue that Deleuze only hints at the potential significance of these films due to his reading of them partly being informed (and as such, limited) by Siegfried Kracauer and Lotte Eisner’s seminal texts, From Caligari to Hitler and The Haunted Screen. These two texts are largely responsible for the historically accepted ‘version’ of what those films must have meant, hence the purpose of this paper in trying to think of them in a “new manner.”
I will first examine the fallacies of the film and art-historical readings of Weimar cinema by Kracauer and Eisner to show how they have created a rigid and impenetrable “historical imaginary” of the films (as posited by Thomas Elsaesser.) This reading ultimately limits the potential of the films to be critically analyzed and understood in other ways, outside of locating some dark element in the German soul reflected in the films that foreshadows the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich. Then I will show how Deleuze’s appraisal of these films follows in line with Kracauer and Eisner’s readings, and that despite his call to “look in pre-war cinema, and even in silent cinema for the workings of a very pure time-image which has always been breaking through,” he himself never returns to the films (which sit firmly in his “classical,” pre-World War II grouping) to unlock the further potential they have within his own cinematic project and for cinema in general.
I will first examine the fallacies of the film and art-historical readings of Weimar cinema by Kracauer and Eisner to show how they have created a rigid and impenetrable “historical imaginary” of the films (as posited by Thomas Elsaesser.) This reading ultimately limits the potential of the films to be critically analyzed and understood in other ways, outside of locating some dark element in the German soul reflected in the films that foreshadows the rise of Hitler and the Third Reich. Then I will show how Deleuze’s appraisal of these films follows in line with Kracauer and Eisner’s readings, and that despite his call to “look in pre-war cinema, and even in silent cinema for the workings of a very pure time-image which has always been breaking through,” he himself never returns to the films (which sit firmly in his “classical,” pre-World War II grouping) to unlock the further potential they have within his own cinematic project and for cinema in general.
....
I also want to point out that even with the analysis I have attempted, there is much more that could be said about these specific films in the context of Deleuze’s film theory, as the cinema books themselves contain such amazing depth. As such, I have only laid out a preliminary introduction to what an application of Deleuze’s theory to a specific set of films can do for both the films and the theory. For example the significance of Hitler in Deleuze’s cinema books and the notion of Hitler’s methods as metacinematic is another intensely rich topic to be explored within this field, but would require its own equally lengthy treatment to do it justice. But, hopefully with the incentive giving the German expressionist films a new treatment with Deleuze, that question can also be delved into. Much like the presence of the time-image in these films, the importance of Nazi Germany as exemplary of a metacinematic real life function also seems to be peeking around many of the corners in Deleuze’s cinema books.
More exciting than the prospect of applying Deleuze’s already-made ideas and signs to a study of film’s history is the idea that the theory can be extended in new and previously un-thought of ways, which is already taking place contemporarily with both filmmakers and theorists advancing Deleuze’s ideas (mostly in the realm of digital and cyber video that is only touched on at the end of Cinema 2.) At the same time it is important to flush out the connections in early cinema as well, to gain the most complete vision of the time-image. The pure images of time and thought, the images that must be read as much as seen are the ones that Deleuze ends his books with. He feels these are the images that constitute the most cinematically engaged films of his time and will access new images later times. Yet he is always aware of the fluid nature of the cinematic signs he identifies; “from classical to modern cinema, from the movement-image to the time-image…it is always possible to multiply the passages from one regime to the other, just as to accentuate their irreducible differences” (Deleuze Cinema 2 279.) It is this subtle awareness in his own theories that makes it easier to suggest Deleuze did not miss a connection between the time-image and Weimar cinema but rather leaves readers with a vast number of open ideas to explore, images to connect, and concepts to furnish with the ideas he provides.
More exciting than the prospect of applying Deleuze’s already-made ideas and signs to a study of film’s history is the idea that the theory can be extended in new and previously un-thought of ways, which is already taking place contemporarily with both filmmakers and theorists advancing Deleuze’s ideas (mostly in the realm of digital and cyber video that is only touched on at the end of Cinema 2.) At the same time it is important to flush out the connections in early cinema as well, to gain the most complete vision of the time-image. The pure images of time and thought, the images that must be read as much as seen are the ones that Deleuze ends his books with. He feels these are the images that constitute the most cinematically engaged films of his time and will access new images later times. Yet he is always aware of the fluid nature of the cinematic signs he identifies; “from classical to modern cinema, from the movement-image to the time-image…it is always possible to multiply the passages from one regime to the other, just as to accentuate their irreducible differences” (Deleuze Cinema 2 279.) It is this subtle awareness in his own theories that makes it easier to suggest Deleuze did not miss a connection between the time-image and Weimar cinema but rather leaves readers with a vast number of open ideas to explore, images to connect, and concepts to furnish with the ideas he provides.
Distinction
Alexander J. Danckwerth.
From Weimar to Deleuze: The Early Time-Image of the German Film. (Excerpt below.)
Andrea González.
Post War Violence in Guatemala: The Case of Linchamientos. (Excerpt below.)
Honors
Amanda Picotte.
The “Dark, Evil, Enemy Within” - Violent Implications of Ideology and Rhetoric in Reagan’s War on Drugs.
Zachary Slanger.
Perverse Strategies.
Research and Methodology
Andrea González.
Post War Violence in Guatemala: The Case of Linchamientos.
Foundation for Graduate Work
Drohan J.W. DiSanto.
Relational Aesthetics and Site-Specificity.
Lara
Kleinschmidt.
“Sometimes, there’s a man. And I’m talkin’ about the
Dude here”: Achieving, Abiding, and Lebowski as a Way of Life.
Faculty Thesis Recognition Award
Katrina Bayoneto.
Confronting Nightmares: Dystopian Science Fiction Films of the Late 1990s.
Chelsea Miller.
"American Satirical Audiences Better Informed, the Relationship Between Satire and Cultural Awareness"
Gretchen Spiegel.
Living in Exile: On Nostalgia and the Ethics of Remembrance.
2013
SENIOR THESIS READING
Dekalb Hall Gallery
April 16, 2013
5 - 6:30pm
The seniors will be speaking about and reading from their theses.
Reception to follow.
Alexander J. Danckwerth. From Weimar to Deleuze: The Early Time-Image of the German Film.
Drohan J.W. DiSanto. Relational Aesthetics and Site-Specificity.
Catherine Frazier. Residual Anxiety: On Fine Artists and the Market.
Lara Kleinschmidt. “Sometimes, there’s a man. And I’m talkin’ about the Dude here”: Achieving, Abiding, and Lebowski as a Way of Life.
Andrea González. Post War Violence in Guatemala: The Case of Linchamientos.
Chelsea Miller. The Aestheticization of Politicians.
Amanda Picotte. The “Dark, Evil, Enemy Within” - Violent Implications of Ideology and Rhetoric in Reagan’s War on Drugs.
Zachary Slanger. Perverse Strategies.
Gretchen Spiegel. Living in Exile: On Nostalgia and the Ethics of Remembrance
5TH ANNIVERSARY
WALLABOUT FILM FESTIVAL
THURSDAY, APRIL 18
Curated
by a group of interdisciplinary students from Pratt Institute, and
supported by the Critical and Visual Studies program, the Wallabout Film
Festival celebrates its 5th anniversary next month!
Wallabout
will present the work of innovative student short filmmakers from
around the world on Thursday, April 18 at Williamsburg's indieScreen
with two shows - 6:30pm and 8:30pm - followed by a party and awards
ceremony.
indieScreen:
289 Kent Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
$12 regular, $10 students/seniors per program or $18 regular, $15 students/seniors for both
To purchase tickets:
Support Wallabout:
Wallabout
is also running a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdtilt to help fund the
event. Please consider making a contribution and/or spreading the word
to others who may be interested:
For more information about Wallabout, please visit:
--
Basil Tsiokos
what (not) to doc
Programming
Associate, Documentary Features, Sundance Film Festival Shorts &
Panel Programmer, DOC NYC Documentary Film & Festival Consultant
Curator, Indiewire @ Hulu Documentaries
Twitter: @1basil1
IM: basiltsiokos
Breaking Vows: An Irreverent Conversation around Monogamy, Celibacy, Chastity, and Marriage.
Lead by
Lisabeth During
Professor of Social Sciences & Cultural Studies at Pratt Institute.
Saturday, April 13, 2013 from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM (EDT)
Hotel Particulier.
6 Grand Street
Address Line 2
New York, NY 10013
Marriage is the topic of the hour, gay or straight it seems to be getting good press almost everywhere. Hotel Particulier invites you to an irreverent conversation with Lisabeth During and Scot Nakagawa, to think together and talk about making and breaking vows, and about the implications of the fight for same-sex marriage.
In correlation with our dossier: Yes I do (k)not.
Lisabeth During teaches philosophy and film theory at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. She studied theology at Cambridge and is completing a book called 'The Chastity Plot: Studies in an Ascetic Ideal'. Marriage (along with chastity and virginity) has been on her mind for a number of years.
Scot Nakagawa is a senior partner at ChangeLab, a grassroots political lab that explores structural solutions to achieve racial justice. His current blog, Race Files, addresses race and racism in U.S. politics and culture. An unusual entry, expressing his position on same-sex marriage, recently shook the debate around marriage equality.
Saturday April 13, 2013
3pm-5pm
Limited capacity
Ticket $12, includes coffee or tea; petits fours, tax and gratuity.
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/yes-i-do-knot-breaking-vows-an-irreverent-conversation-around-marriage-tickets-6047852289?aff=eivtefrnd
Campus Map & Directions:
Pratt Institute Admissions
Lead by
Lisabeth During
Professor of Social Sciences & Cultural Studies at Pratt Institute.
Hotel Particulier.
6 Grand Street
Address Line 2
New York, NY 10013
Marriage is the topic of the hour, gay or straight it seems to be getting good press almost everywhere. Hotel Particulier invites you to an irreverent conversation with Lisabeth During and Scot Nakagawa, to think together and talk about making and breaking vows, and about the implications of the fight for same-sex marriage.
In correlation with our dossier: Yes I do (k)not.
Lisabeth During teaches philosophy and film theory at Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY. She studied theology at Cambridge and is completing a book called 'The Chastity Plot: Studies in an Ascetic Ideal'. Marriage (along with chastity and virginity) has been on her mind for a number of years.
Scot Nakagawa is a senior partner at ChangeLab, a grassroots political lab that explores structural solutions to achieve racial justice. His current blog, Race Files, addresses race and racism in U.S. politics and culture. An unusual entry, expressing his position on same-sex marriage, recently shook the debate around marriage equality.
Saturday April 13, 2013
3pm-5pm
Limited capacity
Ticket $12, includes coffee or tea; petits fours, tax and gratuity.
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/yes-i-do-knot-breaking-vows-an-irreverent-conversation-around-marriage-tickets-6047852289?aff=eivtefrnd
Pratt Institute
Main Brooklyn Campus
200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
200 Willoughby Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Campus Map & Directions:
ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For more information, please visit
Pratt Institute Admissions
Thursday, 12:30pm - Professor James Maffie: Weaving the Aztec Cosmos: The Metaphysics of the Fifth Age
Aesthetics 9:47 PM
The Departments of
History of Art & Design
and
Social Science & Cultural Studies
present
Professor James Maffie
Weaving the Aztec Cosmos:
The Metaphysics of the Fifth Age
Thursday, March 21, 2013
12:30pm
Engineering, Room 305
Social Science and Cultural Studies Spring Speakers Series
co-sponsored with the Department of Humanities and Media Studies
Presents
Nona Shepphard
Associate Director and Creative Director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA)
in conversation with
Prof. Gregg Horowitz
Chair, Department of Social Science & Cultural Studies
http://archive.org/details/NonaSheppardGreggHorowitzEdit2282013
http://archive.org/details/NonaSheppardGreggHorowitzEdit2282013
