COMPARATIVE POLITICS: RESTANȚE-REEXAMINĂRI

Studenții de la Masteratul de British Cultural Studies (FLLS), Studii Literare (Litere) și Comparative Politics (FSPUB) pot trimite eseurile finale pînă la 1.09.2020 pentru restanță.

Pentru a vă asigura o notă de trecere, trebuie 
- să încărcați eseul/eseurile cerute (cf. cerințele stipulate pe acest site) pe platforma Turnitin și 
- să trimiteți la adresa bogdan.stefanescu@lls.unibuc.ro un singur fișier cu conspectele pentru bibliografia de la cel puțin 50% dintre întîlnirile programate.  

(Pentru detalii privind încărcarea pe Turnitin și alte informații, consultați site-ul - Cerințe curs - link.)

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Students from the MA programs for British Cultural Studies (FLLS), Studii literare (Litere) and Comparative Politics (FSPUB) are to send in their resit assignments by 1 Sept. 2020.

To secure a pass you must

- mount on Turnitin the required essay(s)--check the Course Prerequisites page on this site and

- email a single file with your reading notes for at least 50% of the scheduled meetings at bogdan.stefanescu@lls.unibuc.ro.

(Further details about mounting essays on Turnitin and other useful info at Cerințe curs - link.)

FREE ACCESS TO LITERARY ENCYCLOPEDIA

Dear all,
Please note that you can use your institutional email account to sign up for the Literary Encyclopedia at https://www.litencyc.com/. Given the Covid 19 situation, L.E. is granting free access until 30 June.

CLASSES SUSPENDED TILL 31 MARCH

As you have probably heard, the University has decided to suspend face-to-face classed until 31 March.
I will find an alternative solution for our classes and will post the information on this site.
Please ”stay tuned”. Also, be vigilent, but calm and reasonable.

LETTERS - Course Prerequisites/Cerințe

Students will not secure a pass for this course unless they have met ALL the requirements below (even for resits/reexaminations):
1. ATTENDANCE [+ COMPENSATING ESSAY WHERE NECESSARY];
2. PRESENTATION/SHORT ESSAY;
3. PORTFOLIO OF READING NOTES FOR AT LEAST 3/4 OF THE MANDATORY BIBLIOGRAPHY;
4. FINAL EXAM.

• ATTENDANCE.
Attendance is mandatory for at least 50% of all actual meetings or you will not get a pass. Student evaluation will be based, among other criteria, on attendance percentage and in-class participation to debates.

• IN-CLASS REQUIREMENTS.
Professorial input for this course will only occasionally involve traditional lecturing; an important part of the class will be based on debates on assigned texts/topics and on moderated discussions. Consequently, each student’s performance in the weekly meetings is crucial for his/her evaluation.

    1. PRESENTATION/SHORT ESSAY.
Students may volunteer for a 15-MINUTE IN-CLASS PRESENTATION counting for their in-class performance grade. This means they will have to deliver (not read!) a critical presentation of a text/topic in 10-15 minutes, which will be basis of a subsequent class debate. All presentations must be assisted by handouts and/or media material (PowerPoint etc.).
Alternatively, students will hand in a 3-PAGE ESSAY discussing a text from the mandatory bibliography.
Volunteering for in-class presentations will earn the student 2 bonus points for the presentation/short essay grade.

    2. PARTICIPATION IN DEBATES. 
Students will also be assessed for their contribution to in-class discussions and debates.

    3. CLOSE READING/STUDY OF SEMINAR TEXTS.
All students must study closely the selected text(s) for each seminar (not just those who are assigned presentations). Quizzes may be expected as well as verification of personal reading notes for each seminar.

• RULES FOR IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS.
- Students SHOULD ENLIST for an assignment (presentation/essay) NO LATER THAN THE SECOND MEETING.
- Failure to DELIVER THE IN-CLASS PRESENTATION AT THE EXACT SCHEDULED TIME will be marked as 0 (nil) and the grade will be compounded with the mark for the short essay.
- Failure to HAND IN THE SHORT ESSAY BY THE ANNOUNCED DEADLINE will attract a deduction of up to 2 points from the mark for the short essay.

Students will not be awarded a grade for this course (i.e., will not pass) unless they have completed their seminar assignments (i.e., WRITTEN ESSAY/PRESENTATION, CLOSE READING OF TEXTS FOR DISCUSSION, PARTICIPATION IN DEBATES).

• CRITICAL METHODOLOGY FOR INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS.
-The theme/topic and scope of each presentation/short essay, and final essay will be NEGOTIATED IN ADVANCE with the course director.
-The THEME AND CRITICAL FRAMEWORK MUST BE CLEARLY STATED both in the actual delivery and in the written form of the presentation. Presentations/essays must also have a FIRM OUTLINE and come as a HEADED ARGUMENT.
-The outline of the argument together with key concepts, quotes, and illustrations should appear in a concise, yet sufficiently clear HANDOUT for teacher and fellow students.
-For presentations, short essays, and debates of the seminar bibliography, the students are expected to CRITICALLY PROCESS the text they are presenting. This involves, among other things:
   extracting the outline of the main argument in the text, 
   rearranging and selecting the ideas of the text in accordance with the student's personal prioritization, 
   suggesting points of contention and avenues for debate, 
   highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the text, and, just as importantly, 
   suggesting how the text could become relevant for the student's own cultural background and lifestyle.
- The critical framework for assignments should be derived from the methodology or the bibliography for this course.

• SENDING IN YOUR ASSIGNMENTS.
- All reading notes are to be delivered as a single file.doc (Word), .pdf (Adobe) or .zip (WinZip or 7z) archive files.

- Email your assignments to bogdan.stefanescu@lls.unibuc.ro.

- State your name and class in the subject line ("[LAST NAME], [FIRST NAME], LETTERS Assignments") and sign your email adding the name of your MA program. 
- Attach the essay and the reading notes file. These 2 files should be titled: “LETT_[LAST NAME FIRST NAME]_Critical Essay” and “LETT_[LAST NAME FIRST NAME]_Reading Notes”, respectively. E.g., LETT_Johnson Terry_Critical Essay.doc
ALSO:
- Essays will not be considered unless they are mounted on the Turnitin platform. - Create an account at http://www.turnitin.com/ro/home:  Class ID: 24011934; Class Key: LETT20
Find more details at Turnitin Guides (link).

N.B. One standard page is 2000 characters with spaces or about 300 words (cf. Tools-Word Count menu in Microsoft Word). Only computer-processed work will be considered for evaluation. All essays and coursework must be emailed to me. Keep copies of all your work and double-check that your emails have actually reached me.

• DEADLINES

Deadline for email submissions of short essays and reading notes: first day of the last week of classes.

• COMPUTATION OF GRADE.
- Grading IN-CLASS PERFORMANCE will reflect:
1) the assignment (the presentation or short essay) = 33%;
2) participation in the seminar debates = 33%;
3) preparation (close reading and reading notes) and attendance = 33%.

- THE IN-CLASS MARK WILL COUNT AS HALF OF THE OVERALL SCORE, THE OTHER HALF IS THE FINAL EXAM.

- The student must get a pass IN BOTH MARKS (in-class performance and the final essay). A fail in one of the marks automatically triggers a fail in the overall grade.

• FINAL ESSAY.
The final written assignment is a 6-PAGE CRITICAL ESSAY. In order for the essay to be taken into consideration it must:
a) be based on PRELIMINARY NEGOTIATION of the theme, the approach, the format and the structure of the argument,
b) have a CLEARLY STATED THEME, APPROACH AND STRUCTURE,
c) comply with the STYLE OF AN ACADEMIC CRITICAL ESSAY (references and quotations, cited works/bibliography, notes, editing etc.) This course accepts the MLA STYLE (see MLA Style from Purdue University - link).

- Please note that the theme has to deal with the discourse post-dependence reconstruction of a former Western or Soviet colony and that the approach must come from the methodology and the bibliography for this course.
Work in the form of personal essay, editorial journalism, or historical overview will not be taken into account.

- Failure to HAND IN THE FINAL ESSAY BY THE ANNOUNCED DEADLINE will attract a deduction of up to 2 points from the mark for the final essay.

- Any form of PLAGIARISM (http://www.plagiarism.org/) in this course will automatically result in a FAIL and in the suggestion to the board that the culprit be EXPELLED.

• MALFUNCTIONS/TROUBLESHOOTING. 
Should any problems arise regarding the bibliography and its availability to students or the impossibility to meet a deadline or other requirements, please NOTIFY YOUR COURSE DIRECTOR (that would be me) ASAP at stefbogdan@gmail.com or by SMS. No excuses will be accepted unless a solution has previously been attempted with the course director/BCSC management. All other malfunctions should be reported ASAP to the course director or to the BCSC management team.

LETTERS: CULTURAL STUDIES, POSTCOLONIALISM AND POSTCOMMUNISM - Discussion Themes and Bibliography

Discussion Themes and Bibliography

DATA / DATE	TEMA / TOPIC	BIBLIOGRAFIA / READINGS
18 Feb. 2020	1.                  Studiile culturale pe harta conceptuală a abordărilor literaturii / Cultural Studies on the mind map of approaches to literature	(Ex)curs introductiv: Categorii principale de abordări ale literaturii și locul ocupat de studiile culturale. Fenomenul literar și contexte extraliterare, convenții culturale și comunități interpretative creator de sensuri. / Introduction: Cultural Studies and the Main Approaches to Literature. The literary phenomenon ant the meaning-creating extraliterary contexts, cultural conventions and interpretive communities.
25 Feb. 2020	2.                  Studiile culturale: context și agendă, metodologie, vocabular critic / Cultural Studies: context & agenda, methodology, critical vocabulary (eo-/post-marxism, M. Foucault & post-structuralism, J. Lacan)	Lectură obligatorie (minimală) / Mandatory Readings: - „Cultural Studies” din The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Criticism and Theory, editat de Michael Groden and Martin Kreiswirth, The Johns Hopkins UP, 1994. Lectură suplimentară / Additional Readings: - „Deconstruction”, „Discourse”, „Foucault, Michel” și „Lacan, Jacques” din The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Criticism and Theory, ed. de Michael Groden and Martin Kreiswirth, The Johns Hopkins UP, 1994. - Stuart Hall, „Cultural Studies and Its Theoretical Legacies”. - Mircea Martin, „Cultural Studies – There and Here”, Euresis 2014, pag. 180-186.
3 Mar. 2020	3.                  Constructivism  și critica postcolonială în studiile identității culturale / Constructivism and postcolonial criticism in the study of cultural identity	Lectură obligatorie / Mandatory Readings: - Benedict Anderson, Comunităţi imaginate, Bucureşti: Editura Integral, 2000 (Cap. 1. Introducere și 3. Originile conștiintei naționale). - „Postcolonial Cultural Studies” din The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Criticism and Theory, editat de Michael Groden and Martin Kreiswirth, The Johns Hopkins UP, 1994. Lectură suplimentară / Additional Readings: - Edward Said, Orientalism. Concepţiile occidentale despre Orient, Timişoara: Editura Amarcord, 2001, pag. 293-337. - Bogdan Ștefănescu, Patrii din cuvinte, EUB 2017, pag. 82-95.
10 Mar. 2020	4.                  Formule alternative ale construcției identitare în literatura română /  Alternative formulas for indentity construction in Romanian literature	Lectură obligatorie / Mandatory Readings: - Analiză de text: Eminescu, „Scrisoarea III”; Emil Cioran, Schimbarea la față a României (Cap. III „Golurile psihologice și istorice ale României”); Lucian Blaga, Spațiul mioritic; Tudor Arghezi, „Testament”; Constantin Noica, „Ardealul în spiritualitatea românească”/„Ahoretia” (Spiritul românesc în cumpătul vremii); Geo Dumitrescu, „Inscripție pe piatra de hotar”. - Bogdan Ștefănescu, „Peace Talks: Indexical Master Tropes and Their Potential for Conflict in the Construction of National Identity”, ESSACHESS. Journal for Communication Studies, vol. 10, no. 1(19) / 2017, pag. 11-31. Lectură suplimentară / Additional Readings: - Horia-Roman Patapievici, Cerul văzut prin lentilă, Nemira 1995, pag. 83-100. - Bogdan Ștefănescu, Patrii din cuvinte, EUB 2017, pag. 112-116, 124-127, 136-141, 149-154. - François Hartog, The Mirror of Herodotus, Univ.of California Press, 1988, pag. 209-259. - Dusan I. Bjelic & Obrad Savic (eds.), Balkan as Metaphor, MIT Press, 2002.
17 Mar. 2020	5.                  Orientalism	Lectură obligatorie / Mandatory Readings: - Edward Said, Orientalism. Concepţiile occidentale despre Orient, Timişoara: Editura Amarcord, 2001, pag. 13-61. Lectură suplimentară / Additional Readings: - „Said, Edward W.” din The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Criticism and Theory, editat de Michael Groden and Martin Kreiswirth, The Johns Hopkins UP, 1994.
24 Mar. 2020	6.                  Postcolonialismul și studiile culturale și imagologice ale Europei Centrale și Estice: balcanism, postcomunism, (semi)periferiile Europei / Postcolonialism and cultural and imagological studies of Central and Eastern Europe: balkanism, postcommunism, European (semi)peripheries	Lectură obligatorie / Mandatory Readings: - Maria Todorova, Balcanii şi balcanismul, Bucureşti: Humanitas, 2000, pag. 35-41, 69-102. Lectură suplimentară / Additional Readings: - Larry Wolff, Inventarea Europei de Est. Harta civilizaţiei în Epoca Luminilor, Humanitas, 2000, pag. 15-34.
31 Mar. 2020	7.                  Orientalismul și reverberațiile lui în literatura română / Orientalism and its reverberations in Romanian literature	Lectură obligatorie / Mandatory Readings: Analiză de text: Mircea Eliade, Maytrei,  Ed. Cartex 2000, 2016. Lectură suplimentară / Additional Readings: - Milica Bakić-Hayden, “Nesting Orientalism: The Case of Former Yugoslavia”, Slavic Review 54. 4 (1995), pag. 917–931. - Romanița Constantinescu, „Pitorescul colonial” (Pași pe graniță. Studii despre imaginarul românesc al frontierei, Polirom, 2009, pag. 85-91).
7 Apr. 2020	8.                  Complexul subalternității în cultura română: minorat, marginalitate, (auto)colonialitate / The subalternity complex in Romanian culture: minority, marginality, (self-)colonization	Lectură obligatorie / Mandatory Readings: - Mircea Martin, G. Călinescu și „complexele” literaturii române, Ed. Albatros, 1981, pag. 13-57. - Alexander Kiossev, „Notes on Self-colonising Cultures”, Art and Culture in Post-Communist Europe, Ed. de B. Pejic. & D. Elliott, Stockholm: Moderna Museet, 1999, pag. 114-8. Lectură suplimentară / Additional Readings: - Benjamin Fondane, Imagini și cărți din Franța (1922, Prefață); Eugen Ionescu, Nu; Luca Pițu, Sentimentul românesc al urii de sine. - Sorin Alexandrescu, Identitate în ruptură, Ed. Univers, 2000, pag. 27-42.
21 Apr. 2020	9.                  Bătălii pentru capital/putere simbolic(ă)  în România postcomunistă / Struggles over symbolic capital/power in postcommunist Romania	Lectură obligatorie / Mandatory Readings: - Katherine Verdery, National Ideology under Socialism : Identity and Cultural Politics in Ceausescu's Romania, pag. 302-318 („Conclusion”). Lectură suplimentară / Additional Readings: - Sorin Adam Matei, Boierii mintii. Intelectualii romani intre grupurile de prestigiu și piața liberă a ideilor, Ed. Compania, Bucuresti, 2004. - Mircea Mihăieș, „Oierii minții”, România literară nr. 15/2005. Sorin Adam Matei & Mona Momescu (eds.), Idolii forului: De ce o clasă de mijloc a spiritului este de preferat „elitei” intelectualilor publici, Corint, 2010.
28 Apr. 2020	10.               Postcolonialism românesc: contribuții critice și percepții publice / Romanian postcolonialism: critical contributions and public perception	Lectură obligatorie / Mandatory Readings:   - Bogdan Ștefănescu, „Viză respinsă. Anevoioasele călătorii teoretice dintre lumea postcolonială şi cea postcomunistă”, Dus-întors. Rute ale teoriei literare în modernitate, ed. de Oana Fotache, Magda Răduță, Adrian Tudurachi, Humanitas, 2016. Lectură suplimentară / Additional Readings: - Monica Bottez, Alina Botez, Maria-Sabina Draga-Alexandru, Ruxandra Rădulescu, Bogdan Ştefănescu şi Ruxandra Vişan, Postcolonialism/Postcommunism. Dictionary of Key Cultural Terms, Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, 2011. - Euresis: Cahiers roumains d’études littéraires et culturelles, 2005.

FINAL RESULTS FEBR. 2020

FINAL RESULTS FEBR. 2020

Well done, class !

1.       ANGLADE JULIETTE	9
2.       BĂLTĂCEANU O. RADU-ALEXANDRU	FAIL	no assignments
3.       BEACA DANIEL	10
4.       BIȚUNĂ G.F. ALEXANDRU-BOGDAN	FAIL	no final essay
5.       BRAGUȚA V. ELISAVETA	9
6.       DACH ROBIN	10
7.       DAN C.D. EVA-THEODORA	8
8.       DRULE MIHAELA GAROFIȚA	7
9.       GOK MEHMET	6
10.    IUNG THIERRY	10
11.    MACAN MAJA	9
12.    MANEA E. VLAD-DANIEL	9
13.    MARCU M. RAREȘ	10
14.    MEIJERS ANOUK	9
15.    NEAGU O.V. IRINA-MARIA	10
16.    RĂDUCANU A. CRISTIAN-ANDREI	FAIL	no assignments
17.    ȘUICĂ I. THEODORA-MIHAELA	7
18.    TIRIMOGLU ȘEYMA NUR	8
19.    VOSS JOHANNA	10
20.    YETISMIS SEYHMUS BARAN	10