INTERNET RESOURCES: LINKS TO SPECIALIZED SITES

In describing these sites, as you'll see, I'm offering a bit more information than you might be used to getting. I'm especially eager to include whatever I can discover about the people who maintain the sites, mostly to give credit where credit is due, but partly to make sure that students have a good sense of where they're going and what they might be dealing with.

This page is subdivided into several different sections, each corresponding to one of the major units or sections of our course. If you'd like to jump to a particular section, just click the button for it.

Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

Marx and Marxism

• Marx/Engels Archive--The most comprehensive site around, with links to digital editions of Marx's major works, timelines, photographs, and lots more; maintained by Cyber-Marx International, the site is hosted by Computers for a Sustainable Future and the University of Colorado.

Freud and Psychoanalysis

• Freud Web--Biographical information, cultural contexts, and a nice overview of Freud's theory of the mind, prepared by David Stevenson, a student (of George P. Landow) at Brown University.
  

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

Nietzsche

• Nietzsche Page at USC--Very comprehensive, with links to articles, syllabi, teaching resources, and many, many other things, this one is maintained by Douglas Thomas of the Annenberg School for Communication at USC. Be warned, though, that the homepage opens with some sound effects, so you may have to click "OK" a couple of times before you can get the text to load.
  

• Nietzsche Chronicle--A tremendous resourse for anyone who wants to know more about Nietzsche's life, this year-by-year (and often month-by-month) chronology was prepared by Malcolm Brown, Director of Academic Computing at Dartmouth.
  

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

Derrida

• Deconstruction on the Net--An archive full of interesting and often amusing stuff. Check out the "Collectors' Items" (including songs, poems, and cartoons inspired by JD), "Applied Derrida" (a Q&A session in which JD tells what happens when he "applies himself" to another author), and the "Villanova Conversations"; the site is maintained by Peter Krapp.

• Historicizing Derrida"--This essay by Steven Helmling of the University of Delaware, first published in Postmodern Culture, contrasts "early" (that is, pre-1968) Derrida with "later" (post-'68) JD.

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

Foucault

• World of Michel Foucault--A genealogy (what else?) with links to other sites and online essays about and inspired by Foucault, this site is maintained by Ben Attias of Cal Sate, Northridge.

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

Bakhtin

• Overview of Russian Philosophy--Written by Mikhail Epstein of the Russian Studies Department at Emory University, this "overview" places Bakhtin in the larger context of Russian thought. Try the section on the first half of the twentieth century, and don't forget to visit the "gallery," which includes a nice little drawing of our hero.
  

• "What hath Bakhtin wrought?"--This essay, written by Lee Honeycutt for his Master's Degree at UNC-Charlotte, will give you a sense of why Bakhtin is often regarded as offering an alternative to Derrida.

• "A Dialogue on Dialogue"--Five theorists--some imaginary (George Mannejc, Anne Mack, J. J. Rome?), some not (Jerome J. McGann)--appear here in dialogue on the subject of dialogue. All of these compulsive talkers seem to begin with the assumption that "the star of Bakhtin stands in the ascendant."

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

Postmodernism

• Review of Jameson's Postmodernism--This review of Jameson's big book, written by Jim English of UPenn, was first published in Postmodern Culture.

• Pop culture columns from PMC--These columns, also originally published in Postmodern Culture, will give you a sense of how postmodernism manifests itself in a variety of popular media. My favorite columns are the ones on Pee-Wee Herman and Richard Simmons.

• The PANIC Encyclopedia--This encylopedia, prepared in 1989 by po-mo gurus Arthur Kroker, Marilouise Kroker, and David Cook (no, not our David Cook), is based on the notion that "panic is the key psychological mood of postmodern culture."
  

• Resources on a few postmodern artists
  

  • Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968): You can take a look at two of the in/famous "readymades", the bicycle wheel and bottle rack, or have a more protracted "encounter with Duchamp," courtesy of artist and musician Tim Kummerow.

  • John Cage (1912-1992): A nice Cage site is maintained by New Albion Records--it includes a very useful discography and an "autobiographical statement" from Cage himself; for links to other Cage sites, including a few on the I Ching, try Macolm Humes's "Page for John Cage."

  • Andy Warhol (1928-1987): No examination of postmodern culture is complete without a long look at Andy; try the homepage of the Andy Warhol Museum in Andy's home town of Pittsburgh, or a comprehensive Andy page, assembled by a fan in Denmark.

  • Charles Bernstein (1950-): Bernstein is one of the leading po-mo poets, the author of what he (and his collleagues) call "L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry"; you can see a couple of his poems, or look at a hilarious and provocative list of "poetry experiments", including this one: "Write a series of lines or rhymes such that every other line cancels the one before ('I come before you/to stand behind you')."

  • Cindy Sherman (1954-): A postmodern photographer, whose subject both is and is not herself, Sherman comments on stereotypes inherited from high art and pop culture; she's most famous for her series of "Untitled Film Stills," taken in the late 1970s: you can click your way to still #6, still #21, and still #30.

• "In Memoriam to Postmodernism"--or "no mo po mo"--Curious about post-postmodernism? Take a look at this site on "avant-pop," created and maintained by Lance Olson and Mark Amerika.

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

Postcolonial studies

• CIA World Fact Book for 1996--In adding this link, I'm making the very un-pomo assumption that in order to talk about postcolonial culture and theory, we might from time to time like to have a few basic facts at our disposal; the CIA Fact Book lists dozens of countries in alphabetical order; and clicking on the name of a country gets you a map, oodles of statistics, information about ethnic groups, languages, and lots more; try it out by exploring the entry on India.

• Contemporary Postcolonial and Postimperial Literature in English--A terrific web spun by George Landow and his students at Brown University, this one offers infomation about writers like Chinua Achebe (remember him from Freshman Studies?) and postcolonial theory. Don't miss this. (NOTE: I found this site by cruising sites prepared by LU's Candice Bradley and Marcia Bjornerud. Thanks are due, then, to both of them.)

• Some issues in postcolonial theory--A handout for students, prepared by John Lye of Brock University. This one discusses writings by colonizers as well as those by colonized peoples, providing helpful discussions of such concepts as "otherness" and "hybridity" and explaining why the literature of colonized peoples tends to violate the aesthetic norms of the West.
  

• Buibui: Africa links and connections--Candice Bradley's amazing list of links and connections to online info about Africa should not be missed--especially if you're interested in African music and culture.

• Guari Viswanathan on the history of English studies in India--This is an excerpt from Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India (1989), an important and influential book, linking the emergence of English studies in the nineteenth century to the "imperial mission of educating and civilizing the colonial subject." For other statements on this issue, try a site devoted to the history of English studies, created by Rita Raley of the University of California, Santa Barbara.

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

Queer theory

• Queer Resources Directory--Founded by Ron Buckmire, who teaches in the Math Department at Occidental College, this wide-ranging site (over 9600 entries as of February 1997) functions as a kind of electronic library, with links to newsletters and other electronic resources.
  

• Articles from Bad Subjects--One of the leading leftist journals on the net, Bad Subjects often publishes works of cultural criticism, many of them dealing with issues of sexuality. Here are three examples:
  

  • "% Gay?" by Karin Swann, which shows how polls and surveys underestimate the presence of gays, lesbians, and bisexuals;
    

  • "Bisexuality And How To Use It," by Annalee Newitz and Julian Sandell, sketches a "coalitional identity politics" that includes bisexuals;
    

  • "Holy Homosexuality, Batman!," by Freya Johnson, offers a queer reading of Batman Forever.

• "Androgyny: Rarely-asked Questions"--Created by novelist Raphael Carter, this site is designed to "ask questions about gender that are all too rarely asked"; it includes an "Angel's Dictionary"--with definitions of terms such as "androgyny," "hermaphrodite," "intersexual," and "transgendered"--and a nice introduction to the question, "What is Gender?"

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

African-American Studies

• Biographical sketches--alt.culture has written capsule biographies for three of the writers we'll be reading this week: Henry Louis Gates, Jr; Cornel West; and bell hooks; check 'em out.

• Henry Louis Gates, "Blacklash"--Here are Gates's thoughts, characteristically sane, about the relationship between the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Liberation Movement.

• Cornel West, "Toward a Socialist Conception of Racism"--In this essay, West reviews several competing accounts of how racism originates and why it persists. One of his main questions is, "Why should people of color take democratic socialism seriously?" (West, in case you didn't know, is a prominent American socialist.)

• bell hooks, "Postmodern Blackness"--A point of intersection for so many of the issues we've discussed this term, hooks's essay takes up the question of why so few African-American intellectuals have talked or written about postmodernism.

• Course Descriptions--This page, from the online course catalog at Harvard, might give you a sense of what's going on in the department that's now home to Gates, West, and K. Anthony Appiah.
  

• Syllabi for courses on African-American literature; these syllabi come to us from the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Kansas, Marquette University, and CUNY.

• The African-American Mosaic--A wonderful, wonderful exhibit, assembled by the Library of Congress, this site may be one the very best things on the web.

• Afro-Americ@--A site maintained by the Afro-American Newspaper Company of Baltimore, Afro-Americ@ includes a history museum, an art gallery, and even some stuff for kids.

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

Cultural Studies

• Sarah Zupko's Cultural Studies Center--The single best (and best-looking) site for links to stuff about cultural studies, Zupko offers special sections on theorists, journals, TV, and film. Try it--you won't be sorry.

• "What is Culture?"--Offering a "baseline definition" of a vitally important concept, this site was prepared by Eric Miraglia of the Virtual Campus at Washington State University; the site includes definitions or descriptions of "culture" from Matthew Arnold, Raymond Williams, and Clifford Geertz.

• Syllabus for John Unsworth's course on art and mass culture. John edits Postmodern Culture and teaches at the University of Virginia

• altculture--Altculture is a kind of online dictionary or encyclopedia, but instead of entries on "zinc" or "badgers," they list things like "rave," "techno," "hardcore," and "cultural studies." It may be too cool to be really cool, but it's still a lot of fun to play with.

• Go to another section of this page-- Top | Marx | Freud | Nietzsche | Derrida | Foucault | Bakhtin | Postmodernism | Postcolonialism | Queer Studies | Afro-American Studies | Cultural Studies

What else?

• Homepage for English 60A
  
• Overview of the entire ten-week syllabus
  
• Handouts for the course
  
• Students' responses to readings from the course
  
• Webs spun by students in English 60A--some of these are as good as anything else out there . . .