Political Cultures and Counter Cultures
| Political Cultures and Counter Cultures | |
 | |
| Offered | 2011 |
| Campus(es) | Duke East |
| Instructor(s) | Carl Najdek |
| TA(s) | Matt (Matt Yeah) Cole |
Contents |
Course Description
Since the beginning of recorded history, politics has been a struggle between two opposing forces: elite and popular power. While elite history is recorded in the actions of kings and the growth of empires, the politics of the lower classes is expressed in an era's popular culture. Examine grassroots movements and their efforts to subvert political regimes throughout history. Analyze Greek tragedy, Shakespeare's Elizabethan propaganda, Whitman's Democratic Romanticism, Beat poetry, 1960s protest music, and the current blogosphere in conversation with political theorists such as Plato, Rousseau, Emerson, Marx, and Harvey. Follow the transformation of political cultures from the ancient to the modern world by analyzing the development of popular culture from Dionysian festivals to the modern blogosphere.
This course was created by Carl Najdek (also known as a giant Care Bear), and he taught it first at Duke East Term 2 2011. It also had Matt, the bangin' hipster TA. On the first night, all Louis the AC had to say was "One is a hippie, the other's a hipster". Apparently this was changed from "One is a curmudgeon, the other is... Matt". These two created the power team to expose a knowledge-hungry tipster to the joys of Rousseau, Horkheimer and Adorno, Karl Marx, and Plato. Because Carl is a giant Care Bear, readings were often done outside or at Francessca's on Ninth Street.
Past Classes
If you took PCult, feel free to add at the end of term!
2011
Term II
The legendary inaugural PCult class was one lucky group. The... interesting.... members of the class can only be described through their quotes (sited from the termbook):
- Sarah Welsh- My beard would be curly, therefore it would be infinitely better.
- Logan Laird- That's like an automatic win.
- Stephanie Cook- Thine glock hast best not blow in the winds of mine spectral lands.
- Emily Bergquist- That's going on the wall.
- Hyung- (....)
- Liz River- Carl! You tricked us into having fun!
- Jordan Harrison- Just make up something clever.
- Claire Shin- Bloodthirsty ambition is frowned upon.
- Claire Hildebrandt- One hundred!
- Chris Patton- Your people wear pants.
- Will Hyry- If you signal, it's considered a sign of weakness.
- Joe Milholland- SUPER COW!
- Mike Cooper- We're not selling babies anymore.
- Robbie Powell- A boy with gold in his soul.
- George Saussy- Imagine if Godzilla were to frolick...
All the instructors had to say was:
- Carl Najdek- EAT BOURGEOIS BABIES
- Matt Cole- Your mom's a shadow of a form!
This class was one of the more "spirited" groups, and was known to:
- Tip cars
- Compare things to microwaves
- Work Ke$ha into every conversation
- Watch videos about Cleveland
- Watch videos about anything
- Have bangin' evening sessions
- Wonder why the llama was not in our classroom
- Make hipster jokes
- Receive five points for aforementioned hipster joke
- Rap Super Bass
- Write on the walls
- Act out Macbeth in a new galaxy
- Learn how petty theft equals llama llove
- Deal with crazy philosophers
- Hide when it was time to go inside
- Play Marco Polo
- Fall asleep in the reading rooms
- Have mind blowing experiences on a regular basis
- Cheer any time the TA (and sometimes instructor) walked into the room
- Nietzsche.... yeah
