CUS 322
Issues
of Public Culture and Identity
Spring
2003
Instructor: Mr IP Iam Chong 葉蔭聰 (聰頭)
E-mail: [email protected]
/ [email protected]
URL: http://www.geocities.com/hegelchong/teaching_material/
Lecture Time: Thursday 12:30-14:20 Tutorials:
3 groups
Contact no.: 2616-7443
This course covers a variety of theoretical and empirical issues related to public culture and identity politics and focuses on their spatial implications. The discussion begins from the (western) classical dichotomy between “public” and “private” and links it up with the modern debates about “public sphere” and its decline. In the latter part of the course, it explores a few critical issues of identity, including sex and gender, local culture and public art, mass media and global/ local space. Students are encouraged to strengthen their sensibility to the spatial dimension of these issues.
1.
Tutorial (35%)
Each
student is required to make presentation of some ar ticles, reflect upon their
field observations and facilitate the group discussion.
2.
Group Project (35%)
You will form small teams of 3-6 students each to work on a project of
evaluating a public space (e.g. public square, corridor, toilet, etc. ) from
the perspectives of users. There are two parts included in this project:
-Part
I (deadline 20/3): background analysis and users’ evaluation
You
are suggested to describe the way and the pattern of people using a public
space. Then you can collect users’ opinions and feeling about that space. I
will give you my comments for your reference.
-Part II (deadline 7/5): proposal
Please propose some strategies and measures for improving that public space. The objectives and explanations for your suggestions are required.
OR
Option B
Develop an individual term paper or a group project from your tutorial presentation. You are required to submit an abstract on or before 6/3. I strongly suggest you discuss with me about this as early as possible.
*Photos, animation, graphics and video can be used but are not required.
*Late submission of Part I or II will be subject to penalty.
3.
Final Examination (30%): essay-form questions
Part
I: What is “public”? What is “private”?
The
terms “public” and “private” become critical for understanding our social life
and self-understanding. This part attempts to trace a wide variety of
historical “origins” of “public/private” in the western history and our
everyday life, including Greek polis, middle-age cities, (public) toilet,
fashion style (private or public?), personal computer, … …
-Arendt,
Hannah. 1958. “The Public and the Private Realm.” The Human Condition.
Chicago: Chicago UP.
-蔡英文2002《政治實踐與公共空間：漢娜．鄂蘭的政治思想》台北：聯經
-Toilet:
Postcolonial Studies: Culture, Politics, Economy vol. 5, no. 2 (July 01,
2002)
-Bathroom:
Kramer, Klaus. 2001. 《歐洲洗浴文化史》海口：海南出版社。
“Public sphere” is one of the most important political concepts for understanding modern world. It is imagined as a rational domain for communication and action. Yet, these bourgeois imaginations are always subject to the capture by the state and capitalism. The use and misuse of the term “public” become more complicated by the flourishing of the state-led public square and facilities, and commercial space for the general public such as shopping mall and theme park.
-Habermas, Jurgen. 1989. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: an inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. Cambridge: MIT Press.
-哈伯馬斯1999《公共領域的結構轉型》上海：學林出版社。
-魯道夫．迪．瓊1986〔1995〕＜再次俘獲街道＞《空間與社會理論譯文選》台北。
-Kostof, Spiro. 1994. “His Majesty the Pick: The Aesthetics of Demolition.” In Streets: Critical Perspectives on Public Space. Berkeley: U of California Press, 9-22.
Jurgen
Habermas’ rational order of “public sphere” never maintains its purity and is
always interfered by various identities of class, gender and sex. The
challenges of identity politics to the imagination of “public sphere” open up
new possibilities of politics. The public space, domain and agenda are
enormously transformed by the marginal groups excluded from the so-called
“general public”. This part also provides some theoretical tools for
understanding “identity” and its relation to “public”.
-Fraser,
Nancy. 1989. Unruly practices: power, discourse, and gender in contemporary
social theory. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota Press.
-Young,
Iris Marion. 1990. “The Ideal of Impartiality and the Civic Public.” Justice
and the Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton UP.
-Calhoun,
Craig. 1997＜民間社會與公共領域＞陳清僑編《身份認同與公共文化：文化研究論文集》香港：牛津大學出版社。
-Chatterjee,
Partha 2000《發現政治社會：現代性、國家暴力與後殖民民主》台北：巨流圖書公司。
Community
participation is one of the responses to the decline of public sphere. The
meaning of “public” remains an open-ended question and self-organized
communities, not confined to a specific geographical boundary, provide
different answers to it. Hence, the issue of community participation turns into
an issue of social and political significance. Some cases of community design
and participatory planning are taken as example for illustrating the major
features of identity politics.
-尼克．華茲1994《社區建築：人民如何創造自我的環境》台北：創興出版社。
-Towers, Graham. 1995. Chapter 1 and 2, Building Democracy:
Community Architecture in the Inner Cities. London: UCL Press.
-列絲麗．堪尼斯．威斯曼1992[1995]＜公共空間的私人用途＞《空間與社會理論譯文選》台北。
-Weisman, Leslie Kanes. 1992. Discrimination by Design: a
Feminist Critique of the Man-Made Environment. NY: U of Illinois P.
(a)
Sexual-gender identities and education
A
guest speaker is invited to share his/ her views of education, sexual
liberation and gender politics.
(b)
Public art and local culture
Arts
are not longer the games for the cultural and social elite. Some local
“artivists” attempt to open up an art space for interacting with certain groups
of people or even the general public. A public artist is invited to give us a
talk about this topic.
(c)
Media and public culture
Our
leisure time is highly dominated by mass media and TV drama might be an
important part of everyday life for many Hong Kong people. A scriptwriter will
introduces his/ her working experience to us.
(d)
Global city and local place
Hong
Kong is a city undergoing a rapid process of urban renewal and many local
communities and places are going to be displaced or even eliminated by
large-scale redevelopment project. A guest speaker will give us a talk on his/
her field observation of the people living in an old district (e.g. Wanchai).
*
One or two lectures will be given after these special topics