Tentative Syllabus Draft 1 36:352 Media Theory Seminar: German and Canadian Media Theory Mondays 1:30 to 4:10 p.m., E226 AJB Spring Semester 2008, University of Iowa Prof. John Durham Peters Office: 125 Becker, Phone: 319-353-2258 e-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Please sign-up on sheet on door. Catching me right before class is not good but after class is usually good. Office hours may be altered depending on other exigencies but always with warning. Overview “Culture is concerned with the capacity of the individual to appraise problems in terms of space and time . . .” --Innis “My stuff is very difficult. I often don’t understand it myself.” --McLuhan “Media determine our situation.” --Kittler This immodestly titled class cannot live up to its billing. German and Canadian media theory, if such neatly packaged things exist at all, will not be covered in anything of their full range. The class neglects German work before 1980, including the Marxist traditions of Frankfurt critical theory and its more populist opponents such as Brecht, Enzensberger, Negt and Kluge. It also slights the systems theory of Niklas Luhmann--another, but nonMarxist, alternative to the Frankfurt School, which has been massively influential in German media theory and social thought in the past three decades. It also neglects the varied work to come out of Canada since 1980. Instead it focuses on three generally provocative, frequently baffling, sometimes objectionable, and always interesting characters whose thinking is foundational, or should be, for media studies--Harold Innis (1894-1952), Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980), and Friedrich Kittler (b. 1943). McLuhan built self-consciously on Innis, and Kittler builds self-consciously on both, creating a genealogy of philosophical-historical inquiry into the elements of media--technology, time, space, empire, inscription, and embodiment. You cannot expect that these renegades--political economist, literary critic, and Germanist by training--to agree on all things except for a programmatic commitment to media as keys to culture and Kultur (civilization, more or less). We will read selected primary texts by this triumvirate as well as work that provides interpretive context (Winthrop-Young) and programmatic appropriation (Carey), neglecting, alas, a vast and rich secondary literature. We need feel no obligation to believe everything our troika says; indeed, at least two of our thinkers do not always take their work seriously. (It is helpful to have your sense of humor on alert when reading these three--each for different reasons.) In any case, an informed critical media scholar risks missing the boat by not knowing this lineage. Though many thinkers have said interesting things about communication and media in various ways, no one sought more doggedly and daringly to treat media philosophically and as determining agents in the history of the human species than these three figures. This class is an invitation to observe and enjoy some intellectual antics of the first order.

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Readings Two books have been ordered for this class at Iowa Book and Supply (8 South Clinton, in the basement). If you would rather buy them online, splendid. Innis, The Bias of Communication (available) McLuhan, Understanding Media (to arrive later) Otherwise, all readings will be available at icon.uiowa.edu or as photocopies. Be ready to spend some money on printing supplies. The nature of the readings for this course appropriately mirrors what we are studying: the bias of communication media. We are reading what is easy to get in electronic form. Requirements 1. Everyone in the class will write around 25 pages. There are two options of how to do so: a seminar paper or several short papers. Those who are in the beginning of their doctoral study may want to choose the latter option as a continuation of the work done in 36:231, Mass Communication Theories, and as good practice for the qualifying exam. Remember, though, that the point of grad school is to write good papers. A. Seminar Paper: Your 25 pp. paper should be an original and exciting piece of writing, thinking, and research that grapples with and makes use of ideas and texts from this class. You may directly tackle aspects of our main authors’ work, or you may use them as inspiration for research on media, technology, and culture. Choosing a good topic is hard and takes time. Finding dead ends can be an accomplishment. Life is too short to work on topics you don’t passionately care about; good topics haunt, possess, stalk, inspire, perplex, and thrill the mind and heart. I am looking for papers that are (1) theoretically athletic and conceptually fresh (2) open some new terrain of fact and imagination (3) show some adventure in the craft of writing. A sense for the larger historical context of your object and the intellectual stakes of your argument is crucial. A musical quality in the prose is most welcome, as is experimentation with genre. Genres are not questions of format but of worldview. I'm happy to look at drafts and otherwise help you develop your papers. I'd encourage you to work on your topic throughout the semester and bring up your discoveries, as relevant, in class discussion. A statement of your proposed topic is due 25 February. Please start brainstorming at once and I’d welcome discussion before this date. Please feel free to chat with me about your potential ideas and to keep an open mind before you commit to something. I welcome submission of multiple possibilities. Your statement should include a description of the “archive” or body of “documents” that will form a central basis of your research. This could me something as straightforward as “Innis’s writings on staples,” “McLuhan’s letters” or “Kittler’s lectures on optical media” or something vaguer such as 1960s stereo assembly manuals, Homer Dudley’s designs for a voder, nineteenth-century psychophysics or the philology of the Greek alphabet. A rough draft is due in my box on Monday 7 April (no class held that day).

Tentative Syllabus Draft 3 B. Shorter Papers: If you would like to focus on mastering these theories, and practicing your mental chops on some foundational and difficult work, choose to do this option, which spreads your work out across the semester into five 5-page essays. #1. Define the concept “medium.” #2. Explicate a concept and explain its significance from the texts of one of our authors. #3. Write a book review of a relevant book. See attached list for a few suggestions. Book reviews have an argument: they are an essay, not a summary. #4. Compare and contrast two of our three authors on a theme such as: power, time, space, audition, vision, tactility, writing, ancient Greece, memory, or some other axis you find of interest. #5. Write a critique of the media theory of one or more of our authors. 2. Oral presentation of your seminar in the final two or three weeks of class: 15 minutes maximum for the talk plus 10 minutes for discussion. Those who do the small paper option will still do a presentation that synthesizes their thinking--they too should be original and provocative rather than descriptive. 3. Active participation in discussion. This is a seminar--a genre that signals lots of class participation. We will be engaged in collective invention and discovery by reading stuff (at least the primary texts) that is hard to digest. Part of your participation will be to help lead class discussion on a given day by having questions and passages ready to spark talk if discussion flags. Your job will be to become a special expert on those readings. Nasty Notice Although no one ever plans to get an incomplete for a course, I want you actively to plan not to. I will only give incompletes in the most extreme states of emergency (such as the student's death). Plan now to finish on time; the last weeks have no reading assignments save to come to class and write. Tentative Schedule (subject to change) January 28 Introduction to Class February 4 What is at Stake? . . . The Meaning of Media Read: Carey, “Space, Time, and Communications” (1981)--ch. 6 in Comm. as Culture Carey, “Harold Adams Innis and Marshall McLuhan” (1967) McLuhan, “Canada: The Borderline Case” (1977) Peters, “Strange Sympathies” (2008) Recommended: Horn, Introduction to Grey Room issue (2007) Carey, “Technology and Ideology” (1989)--ch. 8 in Comm. as Culture Peters, “Technology and Ideology Revisited” (2005)

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11 Intro to Kittler and German Media Theory: Winthrop-Young Short Paper #1 due: Position statement on “media” Read: Kittler interview with John Armitage (2003/2006). Winthrop-Young and Gane, “Introduction” (2006) Winthrop-Young, “Silicon Sociology” (2000) Winthrop-Young, “Drill and Distraction” (2002) Recommended: Winthrop-Young, “Implosion and Intoxication” (2006) Winthrop-Young, “Going Postal” (2002) review of Winthrop-Young, Friedrich Kittler zur Einführung (2005) 15 Friday Special Class Sessions (to make up for missed class on 7 April) 10-12 a.m., Discussion with Professor Geoffrey Winthrop-Young 3:30 to 5:00, Public lecture, 203 Becker. “From the Cursed and Promised Lands of Media Studies: Canadian Speculations on a German Theory Phenomenon.” 18 Kittler I Read: Kittler, “The History of Communication Media” http://www.hydra.umn.edu/kittler/comms.html Kittler, Introduction to Gramophone, Film, Typewriter (1986/1999) Kittler, “Universities: Wet, Hard, Soft, and Harder” (2004) Kittler, “On the Take-off of Operators” http://www.hydra.umn.edu/kittler/operators.html Krämer, “The Cultural Techniques of Time Axis Manipulation: On Friedrich Kittler’s Conception of Media” (2004/2006) 25 Kittler II Statement of Seminar Paper due Read: Kittler, “Perspective and the Book” (2001) Kittler, “Computer Graphics” (2001) Kittler, “Number and Numeral” (2003) Kittler, “Thinking Colors and/or Machines” (1996) Kittler, “Man as a Drunken Town Musician” (2003) Recommended: Kittler, “Lightning and Series” (1993)--very difficult!

Tentative Syllabus Draft 5 March 3 Innis I Short Paper #2 due: Concept Explication Read: Innis, “The Penetrative Powers of the Price System” (1938) Innis, something on staples theory or early history, TBA Innis, “Minerva’s Owl” in The Bias of Communication Innis, “The Bias of Communication” in The Bias of Communication Please browse Canadian Journal of Communication 29:2 (2004) on Innis http://www.cjconline.ca/viewissue.php?id=107 10 Innis II Read: Innis, “A Plea for Time” in The Bias of Communication Innis, “The Problem of Space” in The Bias of Communication Innis, “Industrialism and Cultural Values” in The Bias of Communication Innis, “A Critical Review” in The Bias of Communication McLuhan, “The Later Innis” (1953) 17 Spring Break 24 McLuhan I Short Paper #3 due: Book Review Read: McLuhan, “G. K. Chesterton: A Practical Mystic” (1936) McLuhan, “The Southern Quality” (1947) McLuhan, “Joyce, Aquinas, and the Poetic Process” (1951) McLuhan, “Technology and Political Change” (1952) McLuhan, “Wyndham Lewis: His Theory of Art and Communication” (1953) McLuhan, “Sight, Sound, and the Fury” (1959) Recommended: Peters, “McLuhan’s Grammatical Theology” 31 McLuhan II Read: McLuhan, Understanding Media (1964). Everybody read chs. 1-7. Then read at least 7 more sections of your choice from chs. 8-33. McLuhan & Leonard, “The Future of Sex” (1967) McLuhan, “Laws of the Media” (1977) Recommended: Carey, “Marshall McLuhan: Genealogy and Legacy” (1998) http://www.cjc-online.ca/viewarticle.php?id=468&layout=html

Tentative Syllabus Draft 6 April 7 No Class (Lawrence Grossberg visit)--made up on 15 February Rough draft of seminar paper due in my box. It is not to be graded. I just need to see evidence that you are well on your way in the writing process. 14 One Reach for a Synthesis: Problems of Memory and History Short Paper #4 due: Compare/Contrast Read: Winthrop-Young, “Memories of the Nile” (2005) Assmann, “The Mosaic Distinction” (1996) Vismann, “The Love of Ruins” (2001) Winkler, “Outline for a Theory of Cultural Continuity” (2002) Innis, “Communications and Archaeology” (1951) Peters, “History as a Communication Problem” (draft) 21 Presentations or Recent German work in translation (Grey Room issue) 28 Class meeting/Presentations possibly moved to Friday 2 May, 1:30 to 4:10 p.m. May 5 Presentations Short Paper #5 due: Critique Final Paper due . . . A few web resources http://www.hydra.umn.edu/kittler/ (useful Kittler website; be aware that the many of the English texts have odd transcription errors). http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/ (useful source on historical research) http://www.cyberchimp.co.uk/U75102/mcluhan.htm http://www.marshallmcluhan.com/ (family-controlled) http://www.mcluhan.ca/ (McLuhan global research network) http://homepage.mac.com/baecker/index.html (Dirk Baecker’s home page; includes items in English) http://wwwcs.uni-paderborn.de/~winkler/ (Hartmut Winkler’s home page; includes items in English)

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http://www.heise.de/tp/ (home page of the online journal Telepolis, which bills itself as the “German mecca for digital cultural studies”; in German) http://www.cjc-online.ca/ Canadian Journal of Communication McLuhan: many clips on Youtube. See his cameo in Annie Hall. (And don’t miss the McLuhan figure, Professor O’Blivion, in David Cronenburg’s sick movie, Videodrome). Kittler: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DdpIZ7d6ds4 (in English) Luhmann: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ0Za33tBYc (in German) A Very Short List of Books for Review Innis, Changing Concepts of Time (1952) Innis, The Cod Fisheries (1940) Innis, Empire and Communications (1951) Innis, The Fur Trade in Canada (1930) Innis, A History of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1923) Innis, Political Economy and the Modern State (1946) Kittler, Discourse Networks: 1800/1900 (1985/1990) Kittler, Gramophone, Film, Typewriter (1986/1999) Luhmann, The Reality of Mass Media McLuhan, The Classical Trivium (1943/2006) McLuhan, The Mechanical Bride (1951) McLuhan and Carpenter, eds., Explorations in Communication: An Anthology (1960) McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy (1962) McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage (1967) McLuhan, Culture is our Business (1970) McLuhan and Nevitt, Take Today: The Executive as Dropout (1972) You could also review a journal: Communications (Paris, founded 1961) Explorations (house journal of the Toronto Centre for Culture and Technology) You could also look into the secondary literature. (Most of the secondary literature on German work is in German. Please tell me if you can read German!) Robert Babe, Canadian Communication Thought William Buxton, Harold Innis in the New Century Richard Cavell, McLuhan in Space John Fekete, The Critical Twilight Terrence Gordon, Marshall McLuhan: Escape into Understanding Paul Heyer, Harold Innis; Communications and History; Culture, Communication and Dependency

Tentative Syllabus Draft 8 Arthur Kroker, Technology and the Canadian Mind Philip Marchand, McLuhan: The Medium and the Messenger Jonathan Miller, Marshall McLuhan (HMM loyalists hate this book). B. W. Powe, The Solitary Outlaw; A Canada of Light. Judith Stamps, Unthinking Modernity: Innis, McLuhan, and the Frankfurt School Gerald Stearn, ed., McLuhan: Hot and Cold Donald Theall, The Medium is the Rear View Mirror; Studies in Canadian Communications; The Virtual Marshall McLuhan. Glenn Willmott, McLuhan, or Modernism in Reverse Required Rules and Regulations Course policies for this class are governed by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, as follows: Availability of Modifications: The instructor of this class needs to hear from anyone who has a disability which may require some modification of seating, testing, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Please contact me during office hours. It is your responsibility to contact Student Disability Services, 3100 Burge Hall (335-1462) and obtain a Student Academic Accommodation Request form (SAAR), if you believe you would benefit from a specific accommodation. The form will specify what course accommodations are judged to be reasonable. We are happy to work with SDS for alternate exam arrangements, but it is YOUR responsibility to get the arrangements taken care of well in advance (at least one week for each exam), and to remind the instructor of any special arrangements. Complaint Procedures: A student who has a complaint against any member of the college's teaching staff is responsible for following the procedures described in the Student Academic Handbook, which is available on the web site of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences: www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook/ix.shtml/. You should first attempt to resolve the issue with the faculty member or teaching assistant involved. If the issue involves a TA and this attempt is unsuccessful, contact the teaching assistant’s course supervisor listed on this syllabus. If that attempt is also unsuccessful, you should contact the department chair, Kristine Fitch, in 105 BCSB. If a satisfactory outcome still is not obtained, the student can turn to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and submit a written complaint to the Associate Dean for Academic Programs, 120 Schaeffer Hall, (335-2633). In complaints involving the assignment of grades, it is college policy that grades cannot be changed without the permission of the department concerned. Academic Misconduct: Plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of another’s words, ideas, or work, and cheating, in any form, constitute academic misconduct. Never turn in a paper that you did not write yourself. Never turn in a paper for this class that you wrote for another class. Never collaborate on an exam or facilitate someone else’s efforts to do so. Further examples of behavior that is considered academic misconduct are given in the Student Academic Handbook: www.clas.uiowa.edu/students/academic_handbook//ix.shtml. Instructors who detect cheating or plagiarism may decide, in consultation with the course supervisor or

Tentative Syllabus Draft 9 department chair, to reduce the student's grade on the assignment or the course or to assign an F. Plagiarism or cheating will be reported in writing to the Associate Dean for Academic Programs. A copy of the report will be sent to the student. Your Responsibilities: Your responsibilities to this class, and to your education as a whole, include attendance and participation. This syllabus details specific expectations the instructor may have about attendance and participation. You have a responsibility to help create a classroom environment where all may learn. At the most basic level, this means you will respect the other members of the class and the instructor and treat them with the courtesy you hope to receive in return. Specifically, racist, sexist, homophobic or other discriminatory language or behavior will not be tolerated. Plus-Minus Grading: All the department's instructors can append plus or minus grades to the letter grades they assign for the course. If the instructor does not specifically indicate in the syllabus that he or she will not assign plusses or minuses, students should assume that this form of grading will be used. Homework Expectation: For each semester hour of credit that a Communication Studies course carries, students should expect to spend approximately two hours per week outside of class preparing for class sessions. That is, in a three-credit-hour course, instructors design course assignments on the assumption that students will spend six hours per week in out-of-class preparation Department of Communication Studies policy on extra credit for research participation: If the instructor of this course chooses to offer extra credit for research participation, you will be offered equal non-research opportunities for extra credit. If more than one option for research participation becomes available, it will be announced to the class in a manner that allows students to choose among all available options. Participation in a given study cannot be counted for extra credit in more than one course.