Politics-Art-Action: The Question of Community (2018 Spring)

Politics-Art-Action:
The Question of Community
2018 Spring

Joyce C.H. Liu
Office Hours:
Office: F104C
Phone: 03-5731611

SRCS, NCTU
Mon.13：20—16：20
Room：F106A, HA2 buliding

Course Purpose

Course Calendar

Reference and Links

Assignment Requirements

Related Issues

Joyce, C.H. Liu, Homepage

SRCS, NCTU

Update: 2018/02/13

中文 / English

Course Purpose

We will take this course as a joint-research project. The core problematics of this project is to address the questions of the community: Why does community become difficult and even impossible? How does the internal border politics of any community easily contribute to the effect of unequal citizenship and new racism? Would any political intervention be feasible in order to make the community possible again? How do we re-assess the meaning of the political and re-envision the composition of a community? What could be the possible forms of civic activism, intellectual emancipation and free associations of communities beyond the scope of nation-state?

In order to address the above questions and to identify contemporary critical issues, Unit I will start from general discussions about the question of the community. The keywords are: border politics, unequal citizenship, internal coloniality, and the concept of political. Unit II will then tackle with the problem of the complex genealogy of contemporary ideology, imbedded with the remnants of colonial history and cold war cultural politics, as well as the operation of zoning politics in the contemporary neoliberal age. Depending on the need of the participants’ projects, we will then address the following issues:
(1) Questioning citizenship
(2) unequal citizenship and new racism
(3) nationalism and populism
(4) concentration of power, censorship, border control
(5) crony capitalism, power sharing, clientalism
(6) Civic Activism and Civic Participation. According to the selected issues above

We will also discuss the relevant writings by Sigmund Freud, Louis Althusser, Jean-Luc Nancy, Jacques Ranciere, Geogio Agamben, Etienne Balibar, Alain Badiou, and other scholars from NEA, SEA and South Asia.

We plan to end our course in Unit III with discussions as to how to re-create the concept of community? How to think a free association of trans-local and cross-regional communities? How to link different corners of our societies, beyond the horizon of nation-state, and to connect and contribute intellectual/artistic laborers so that we can address our common agenda and conduct our research projects? We will also focus on several case studies and to think how can civic activist action intervene, re-figure or emancipate the community, such as theatrical action, curatorial action, documentary, or visual project.

NB.
1. This course will be conducted in bilingual form.
2. The readings marked with * are required readings, + are selective readings.

Syllabus

Course Calendar

各週進度

1. 2/26 Introduction & Invited Speech

Professor Yoshikazu NAKATANI (Ritsumeikan University): "Global Syndrome of Neopopulism : a Symptom in the Era of 'After Globalization' "

* The first class is scheduled in the morning 10:00-12:30.

Unit I: The Aporia of Community 共同體難題

2. 3/05 The Aporia of Community I：Inoperative Community 共同體難題：共同體的無法溝通

1. Jean-Luc Nancy, “Inoperative Community.” Inoperative Community, pp. 1-42. 中譯本：《無用的共通體》，1-99頁。*

2. Maurice Blanchot. “Negative Community.” The Unavowable Community. 1-28; 布朗肖，〈否定的共通體〉。*

3. Karl Marx, Segments on Free Association 自由人聯合體*

4. Alain Badiou: Idea(s) of communism -- “The alleged power of capitalism today is merely a reflection of the weakness of its opponent.” Darko Vujica speaks with Alain Badiou about the past and future of communism. *

3. 3/12 The Aporia of Community II: part of no part, bio-politics, bare life 共同體難題：無分之分，政治化生命，裸命

1. Jacques Ranciere. “The Distribution of the Sensible,” The Politics of Aesthetics. (Le Partage du sensible: Esthetique et politique, 1998) (2000) London & New York: Continuum, 2004. 12-19.*

2. Jacques Ranciere, “Ten Theses on Politics.” Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics. edited & trans. by Steven Corcoran. New York & London: Continuum, 2010. 27-44. *

3. Giorgio Agamben, “Sacred Life,” “The politicization of life,” “The Camp as the ‘Nomos’ of the Modern,” “Threshold,” Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life. (1995) Stanford University Press, 1998. 81-86, 119-125, 166-180, 181-188.*

4. 3/19 The Aporia of Community III: In-Equality 共同體難題：不平等

1. Balibar, E. (2001) “Citizenship without Community,” We the People of Europe? (Nous, citoyens d’Europe? Les frontieres, l’Etat, le peuple, Paris: La Decouverte.) pp. 51-77.*

2. Balibar, E. (2001) “Democratic Citizenship or Popular Sovereignty? Reflections on Constitutional Debates in Europe” We the People of Europe? (Nous, citoyens d’Europe? Les frontieres, l’Etat, le peuple, Paris: La Decouverte.) pp. 180-202.*

3. Jacques Ranciere, “Who is the subject of the rights of man?” South Atlantic Quarterly 103: 297–310.*

4. John P. Clark, “Introduction: In Search of the Impossible Community.” The Impossible Community: Realizing Communitarian Anarchism. New York, London, New Delhi, Sydney, 2013. Pp. 1-27.+

Unit II: Contemporary Political Issues 當代政治議題

5. 3/26 Partitions: North Korea vs. South Korea 分斷：南北韓問題

Invited Roundtable: a research team from South Korea

6. 4/02 Unequal Citizenship: Strangers 不平等公民：外地人

1. Balibar, Etienne. “Strangers as Enemies. Further Reflections on the Aporias of Transnational Citizenship.” Globalization and Autonomy Online Compendium. The electronic original is available at http://www.globalautonomy.ca/global1/article.jsp?index=.*

2. Mhurchu, Aoileann Ni. “Exploring the Citizenship Debate: The Sovereign Citizen-Subject.” Ambiguous Citizenship in an Age of Global Migration. Edinburgh University Press. (2014). 27-57. *

3. Baubock, Rainer. “Citizenship and migration – concepts and controversies.” Migration and Citizenship: Legal Status, Rights and Political Participation. Amsterdam University Press. (2006)+

4. Orgad, Liav. “Illiberal Liberalism: Cultural Restrictions on Migration and Access to Citizenship in Europe.” The American Journal of Comparative Law. Vol. 58, No. 1 (Winter 2010): 53-105.+

7. 4/09 Unequal Citizenship: New Racism 不平等公民：新種族主義

1. Etienne Balibar, “Is there a New Racism?” Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities, 17-28. *

2. Westwood, Sallie. “Chapter 3: Unequal Nations: Race, Citizen, and the Politics of Recognition.” The Blackwell Companion to Social Inequalities. Edited by Mary Romero, Eric Margolis. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2005. 51-74.*

3. Mullings Leith. "Interrogating Racism: Toward an Antiracist Anthropology.” Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 34 (2005): 667-693.*

4. Contemporary Cases+

8. 4/16 Unequal Citizenship III: Internal Colonization 不平等公民：內部殖民

1. Berenscho,Ward. Nordholt, Henk Schulte. & Bakker, Laurens. “Introduction: Citizenship and Democratization in Postcolonial Southeast Asia.” Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia. Eds. by Ward Berenschot, Henk Schulte Nordholt, Laurens Bakker. Brill. (2017). 1-28.*

2. Kloos, David. & Berenschot, Ward. “Citizenship and Islam in Malaysia and Indonesia.” Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia. Eds. by Ward Berenschot, Henk Schulte Nordholt, Laurens Bakker. Brill. (2017). 178-207.*

3. Contemporary Cases+

9. 4/23 Nationalism & populism I 國家主義 & 民粹主義

1. Frued, Group Psychology*

2. Rydgren, Jens. “The Sociology of the Radical Right.” Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 33 (2007), pp. 241-262.*

3. Akkerman, Agnes. Zaslove, Andrej. & Spruyt, Bram. "’We the People’ or ‘We the Peoples’? A Comparison of Support for the Populist Radical Right and Populist Radical Left in the Netherlands.” Swiss Political Science Review 23(4): 377–403.+

10. 4/30 Nationalism & populism II 國家主義 & 民粹主義

1. Etienne Balibar, “Racism and Nationalism,” Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities, 37-68.*

2. Winichakul, Thongchai. “Nationalism and the Radical Intelligentsia in Thailand.” Third World Quarterly. Vol. 29, No. 3, 2008, pp 575 – 591.*

3. Formichi, Chiara. “Pan-Islam and Religious Nationalism: The Case of Kartosuwiryo and Negara Islam Indonesia.” Indonesia, No. 90, Trans-Regional Indonesia over One Thousand Years (October2010), pp. 125-146.+

4. Contemporary Cases+

11. 5/07 Constitutive Ambivalence: State of exception and censorship 內建曖昧：例外狀態與思想檢查

1. Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, or Principles of Political Right.*

2. Kelly, Christopher. “Rousseau and the Case for (and against) Censorship.” The Journal of Politics. Vol. 59, No. 4, November 1997, Pp. 1232-51. *

3. Turner, Sarah. “Under the state’s gaze: Upland trading-scapes on the Sino-Vietnamese border.” Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 34 (2013) 9–24.+

4. Rodan, Garry. “The Internet and Political Control in Singapore.” Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 113, No. 1 (Spring, 1998), pp. 63-89.+

5. Hadiz , Vedi R. & Robison, Richard. "The Political Economy of Oligarchy and the Reorganization of Power in Indonesia." Indonesia, No. 96, Special Issue: Wealth, Power, and Contemporary IndonesianPolitics (October 2013), pp. 35-57+

6. Contemporary Cases+

12. 5/14 crony capitalism: power sharing & clientalism 裙帶資本主義：權力分享，侍從主義&官商勾結

1. Svolik, Milan W. "Power Sharing and Leadership Dynamics in Authoritarian Regimes.” American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 53, No. 2, April 2009, Pp. 477-494. 2009.*

2. Francois, Patrick. Rainer, Ilia. & Trebb, Francesco. “How is Power Shared in Africa? Ecnoometrica, Vol. 83, No. 2 (March, 2015), 465–503.*

3. Winters, Jeffrey A. "Oligarchy and Democracy in Indonesia.” Indonesia, No. 96, Special Issue: Wealth, Power, and Contemporary IndonesianPolitics (October 2013), pp. 11-33.+

4. Contemporary Cases+

Unit III: Civic Activism and Civic Participation 公民行動與公民參與

13. 5/21 Recentering citizenship 重新構想公民

1. Jacque Derrida, “Hospitality.” Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities. 5:3 (December 2000): 3-18.*

2. Clarke, John. Coll, Kathleen. Dagnino, Evelina. & Neveu, Catherine. “Recentering citizenship.” Disputing Citizenship. Policy Press at the University of Bristol. (2014). 9-56. *

3. Clarke, John. Coll, Kathleen. Dagnino, Evelina. & Neveu, Catherine. “Imagining the ‘communities’ of citizenship.” Disputing Citizenship. Policy Press at the University of Bristol. (2014). 107-168.*

4. Thomson, Steven. "Developing a Multiethnic Ethos: How Colonial Legacies, National Policies, and Local Histories Converged in a Gambian Village Charter.” Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism: Vol. 12, No. 2, 2012+

14. 5/28 Free Association and Civic Participation自由人聯合體與市民參與

1. John P. Clark, “The common good: Sarvodaya and the Gandhian legacy.” The Impossible Community: Realizing Communitarian Anarchism. New York, London, New Delhi, Sydney, 2013. Pp. 217-246. ==> The Sarvodaya Movement in India setting up telecentres for rural communities*

2. Phillips, Deborah. "Claiming spaces: British Muslim negotiations of urban citizenship in an era of new migration.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 2015 40 62–74.*

3. Lim, Merlyna. “Digital Media and Malaysia’s Electoral Reform Movement.” Citizenship and Democratization in Southeast Asia. Eds. by Ward Berenschot, Henk Schulte Nordholt, Laurens Bakker. Brill. (2017). 211-237.+

15. 6/04 Participatory project presentation

Artistic Engagement
Internet communities

16. 6/11 Participatory project presentation

Gender emancipation
Literary communism

17. 6/18 Holiday

18. 6/25 Participatory project presentation

Theoretical re-envisioning communities
Trans-local associations