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Critical War Theory Syllabus.pdf

This course critically examines some of the historical and contemporary theoretical aspects around the subject of war, from why it takes place, who fights, why they fight, the problems with war, and what it does to different populations.

ETST 480A4: Critical War Theory Dr. Benjamin Schrader Tue/Thur 3:30-4:45 Location: Eddy 117 Office: Eddy 205 Office Hours: Tue/Thur 2:00-3:00 or by appointment Course Description This course will critically examine some of the historical and contemporary theoretical aspects around the subject of war, from why it takes place, who fights, why they fight, the problems with war, and what it does to different populations. Course Standards Every student at CSU has the ability to succeed in my course. The difference between success and failure in my class is a matter of attitude, effort, and initiative. There is a difference between passively listening to lectures and critically engaging with complex texts. There is a difference between regurgitating facts and actively applying new concepts, just as there is a difference between taking multiple-choice tests and writing sophisticated papers. In this sense, successful students will be those who embrace growth and hard work. They will overcome self-defeating behavior (i.e. skipping class, not reading, writing half-baked papers), make use of available resources, and turn freely to others for help. The course will demand that its members read critically, participate actively, and write effectively. Most of all, it will ask students work with their fellow members to create an environment where ideas and arguments matter. On a more mundane note: • Students are expected to attend every class, as attendance will be taken. I know unexpected things happen therefore each student is allotted 3 absences, no questions asked. Beyond the 3 “free” absences, you will lose 20 points per absence, up to 100. • Students should expect to be involved in each class. I will work hard to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to earn his or her performance points. In this regard, more than just showing up, you will need to offer meaningful contributions. • Papers must be submitted via email to me as a Word document before the start of class on the specified dates. Work submitted after that time will be penalized 10% per day. • Students are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner (i.e., respect your classmates, turn off cell phones, no outside work or reading, etc.). Those who fail to adhere to these basic guidelines will be removed from class Reading Materials All texts will be available on RamCT. You will need to have a well-marked hard or electronic copy in front of you to succeed in class. Grading Criteria This course is designed to enable students to become sophisticated/critical thinkers, speakers, and writers. As such there is 1000 points throughout the semester that will be rewarded. 100 Points for Attendance 100 Points for Participation 300 Points for Weekly Journal 100 Points for Mid-Term Paper Presentation 100 Points for Final Paper Presentation 150 Points for Mid-Term Paper 150 Points for Final Paper 1000 Total Points Attendance: As outlined above, Students are expected to attend every class, as attendance will be taken. I know unexpected things happen therefore each student is allotted 3 absences, no questions asked, except when slotted for a presentation. Beyond the 3 “free” absences, you will lose 20 points of your final grade for every absence up to 100. Furthermore, because there are a number of movies and documentaries that will be shown in class, students are expected to stay awake through the entirety of the movie, if a student falls asleep in class they will be asked to leave and they will be counted as absent. ***NOTE ON WHAT CONSTITUTES AN ABSENCE*** Being sick counts as an absence, I do not care if you have a doctor’s note. The only time I will not count you absent is if you are participating in a CSU sanctioned event, and have a note from your coach, supervisor, etc. OR some kind of major tragedy, to which come talk to me and we’ll figure it all out. Weekly Journals: Each student is expected to turn a weekly journal that discusses what that weeks discussions, readings, movies, etc. made them think about. What does it mean to you? What does it mean for society? How did it make you feel? Do you buy it, or do you think it’s a bunch of crap? Students will have room to be creative here as there is no length requirement/limit, however, writing things like, “the reading was hard, and I didn’t get it,” or “I agreed with the movie, it was cool,” do not constitute a journal entry. Each journal entry is worth 20 points (15 entries=300 points), and they must be posted to Canvas by Friday night 11:59 PM. Class Participation: Daily Contributions: This course will be more like a graduate literature class where as students will be expected to come to class prepared to discuss the readings. When we are not watching a film or documentary, we will likely be in a circle having discussions, or broken into small groups. I will have a good idea of who has participated at the end of the semester and I will assign grades based upon the amount of participation. (Even if we do not see eye to eye on issues, I expect you to speak and you will not be penalized for having different points of view, however, come with proof and/or a critical analysis, not just an opinion). Written work: Each student will submit 2 papers throughout the entirety of the course (~7-8 pages minimum, double spaced, 12 pt font, NO BS, professional writing style, footnotes, etc.). Students will turn in one paper for the first half of the course, and one for the second half. Each paper is to examine a voice from war, which the students will research. This is a very flexible assignment and can examine literature, actual accounts, or even pieces of art. The first paper is due just before Spring Break starts Friday March 10th by 11:59 PM. The final paper is due Sunday May 7th 11:59 PM. Every day beyond that will lose 10% of the grade (unless otherwise worked out with me). Each paper is worth 150 points, making this section worth 300 points. Final Presentation: During week 16 each student will have an opportunity to present one of the voices they chose to write about. This can be from the first paper or the second; it doesn’t matter. The presentation will be between 5-10 minutes long depending upon the size of the class, and is worth 100 points. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY AND STUDENT CONDUCT Students are required to follow the CSU campus policies as listed in the course catalog or found here http://www.conflictresolution.colostate.edu/conduct-code. Students are required to be respectful of their classmates and refrain from disruptive behavior in the classroom and on campus. If you engage in cheating or plagiarism, you will receive an F (0.0) grade for the course and I will be forced to report you for academic dishonesty. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, submitting, to satisfy an academic requirement, any document that has been copied in whole or in part from another individual’s work without identifying that individual; neglecting to identify as a quotation a documented idea that has not been assimilated into the student’s language and style; paraphrasing a passage so closely that the reader is misled as to the source; submitting the same written or oral material in more than one course without obtaining authorization from the instructors involved. If you can find it online, so can I. If you have questions regarding what does and does not constitute plagiarism, please ask me. With that said, many people who plagiarize often do so out of desperation. Please come talk with me if you are feeling stressed or having problems with the assignments and we can work together in order to get you the resources in order to be successful. STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities, including reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. If you have a disability requiring an accommodation, please let me know and contact the Resources for Disabled Students (RDS) Program in 100 General Services Building, visit their website http://rds.colostate.edu/, or call them at (970) 491-6385 (V/TDD). COURSE CONTENT NOTE: CSU’s Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Harassment, Sexual Misconduct, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, Stalking, and Retaliation policy designates faculty and employees of the University as “Responsible Employees.” This designation is consistent with federal law and guidance, and requires faculty to report information regarding students who may have experienced any form of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, relationship violence, stalking or retaliation. This includes information shared with faculty in person, electronic communications or in class assignments. As “Responsible Employees,” faculty may refer students to campus resources (see below), together with informing the Office of Support and Safety Assessment to help ensure student safety and welfare. Information regarding sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, relationship violence, stalking and retaliation is treated with the greatest degree of confidentiality possible while also ensuring student and campus safety. -Any student who may be the victim of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, relationship violence, stalking or retaliation is encouraged to report to CSU through one or more of the following resources: Emergency Response 911 -Deputy Title IX Coordinator/Director of Support and Safety Assessment (970) 4911350 -Colorado State University Police Department (non-emergency) (970) 491-6425 Course Breakdown Week 1: Introduction T: 1/17: Introduction to the course Th: 1/19: What are YOUR connections to war assignment Reading: War is a Racket (By Maj Gen Smedley Butler) http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/warisaracket.html Week 2: The Classics T: 1/24: Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679. Leviathan. Baltimore :Penguin Books, 1968. Print. (The Second Part: Of Commonwealth XVII-XXI Pgs.103-137) Th: 1/26: Carl von Clausewitz, 1984. On war. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. (What is war, Purpose and Means of War Pgs. 13-44) Week 3: Classics Continued T: 1/31: Immanuel Kant, 1903. Perpetual peace; a philosophical essay, 1795. London: S. Sonnenschein. Th: 2/2: Michel Foucault, 2003. Society must be defended. London: Penguin. (Chap 1 & 11) Week 4: Just War Theory T: 2/7: Michael Walzer: "The Triumph of Just War Theory (and the Dangers of Success)." Social Research 69, no. 4 (2002): 925-44. Th: 2/9: Robert L. Holmes, (1989). Can War Be Morally Justified? The Just War Theory. In On War and Morality. Princeton University Press. pp. 146-182. Week 5: Just War Continued T: 2/14: Carl Schmitt, 2007. The concept of the political. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (Introduction) Th: 2/16: Michael Walzer, 2006. “Rules of war.” In Just and unjust wars. New York: Basic Books. Week 6: Militarism T: 2/21 Cynthia Enloe, Maneuvers: The International Politics of Militarizing Women’s Lives. 1st ed. University of California Press, 2000. Pgs: 1-34 Th: 2/23 Victoria Basham, War, Identity, and the Liberal State: Everyday Experiences of the Geopolitical in the Armed Forces. (London: Routledge, 2013). Introduction. Week 7: Gender & Sexuality T:2/28: Laura Sjoberg, L. (2012). Gender, structure, and war: What Waltz couldn't see. International Theory, 4(1), 1-38. Th: 3/2 Aaron Belkin, Bring Me Men: Military Masculinity and the Benign façade of American Empire 1898-2001. (New York: Columbia University Press). Introduction pgs. 1-18. Week 8: Gender & Sexuality T: 3/7: Cynthia Cockburn, “Gender relations as casual in militarization and war: a feminist standpoint,” in Making Gender, Making War: violence, military and peacekeeping practices, eds. Annica Kronsell and Erika Svedberg. (London:Routledge, 2011) Th: 3/9 Paper 1 Presentations F: ***PAPER #1 DUE BY 11:59 PM*** Week 9: SPRING BREAK NO CLASSES Week 10: Violence M: 3/21: Galtung, Johan (1969). "Violence, Peace and Peace Research". Journal of Peace Research. 6: 167–191. W: 3/23: Charles Tilly, (1985). War Making and State Making as Organized Crime. In P. Evans, D. Rueschemeyer, & T. Skocpol (Eds.), Bringing the State Back In (pp. 169-191). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Week 11: On Violence & Language T: 3/28: Sigmund Freud: Thoughts for the Times on War and Death https://www.panarchy.org/freud/war.1915.html Th: 3/30: Carol Cohn, “Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals,” Signs, Vol. 12, No. 4, Within and Without: Women, Gender, and Theory. (Summer, 1987), pp. 687-718. Week 12: Drones T: 4/4 Gré goire Chamayou, and Janet Lloyd. 2015. A theory of the drone. (Chap 4 & 20) Th: 4/6 Michael J. Shapiro, 2016. Politics and time: documenting the event. Cambridge: Polity Press. (Chap 1 & 5) Week 13: Embodiment T: 4/11 Synne L. Dyvik, “Of bats and bodies: methods for reading and writing embodiment,” Critical Military Studies. Vol. 2, Nos 1-2. 2016. Th: 4/13: Christine Sylvester, “The Art of War/The War Question in (Feminist) IR,”Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 2005. Vol.33. No.3, pp. 855-878 Week 14: Technology T: 4/18: Der Derian, James. 2000. "Virtuous War/Virtual Theory". International Affairs. 76 (4): 771-788. Th: 4/20: (In class documentary) Stahl, Roger. 2007. Militainment, Inc. militarism and pop culture. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation. Week 15: (De)Colonizataion T: 4/25: Fanon, Frantz, 2017. The wretched of the earth. (I. On Violence) Th: 4/27: Tengan, Ty P. Kā wika. 2009. Native men remade: gender and nation in contemporary Hawai'i. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press. (Introduction) Week 16: Final Presentations T: 5/2: Writing Workshop Th: 5/4: Final Presentation ***FINAL PAPER DUE BY SUN MAY 7th 11:59 P.M.***