ANTH 438/638 Spring 2017 W 9:25-11:15 10 Sachem 105

Transcription

1 ANTH 438/638 Spring 2017 W 9:25-11:15 10 Sachem 105 Douglas Rogers (douglas.rogers@yale.edu) 10 Sachem St., Room 311 Office hours: Tues 1-3; make appointments via dougrogers.youcanbook.me Culture, Power, Oil Course Description This advanced seminar applies recent developments in social and cultural theory to the general topic of oil. Topics to be considered include the multinational oil industry; production and local communities; consumption and oil addiction, petrostates ; empire; cultural performance; conceptions of nature, money, and modernity; representations of oil in film; and discussions of peak oil. After some introductory reading, we will begin exploring theoretically informed case studies situated in various parts of the world. The case studies gradually become more open ended; instead of developed arguments, we will read more raw data (about the US Gulf Coast, for instance) and apply our knowledge from earlier cases. Texts These books have been ordered through the Yale Bookstore. They are also on reserve at the Bass Library; some are available as e-books through the library. Apter, Andrew. The Pan-African Nation: Oil and the Spectacle of Culture in Nigeria. University of Chicago Press, Huber, Matthew. Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital. University of Minnesota Press, Rogers, Douglas. The Depths of Russia: Oil, Power, and Culture after Socialism. Cornell University Press, Sawyer, Suzana. Crude Chronicles: Indigenous Politics, Multinational Oil, and Neoliberalism in Ecuador. Duke University Press, Smil, Vaclav. Oil: A Beginner s Guide. Oneworld, All additional readings (marked with an E ) will be posted on the classes*v2 server as links or.pdf files. You will need to access these files using a Yale IP address (either a computer registered on the Yale network or a VPN connection from elsewhere). I reserve the right to add or subtract readings as the course unfolds. Please note that I expect you to have a copy of the day s readings with you in class, whether in electronic or paper form, and I expect you to be able to refer to page numbers so that others can follow along (this may not be possible if you have some kinds of electronic versions of these texts). If there is enough interest, I will arrange to have coursepacks made at Tyco for you to purchase.

2 2 Assignments and Grading 1. Participation (30%). The first and most important assignment is to read and reflect on the readings and come to class prepared to talk about them. Ongoing, engaged class participation counts for 30% of your grade. I am happy to talk about your participation grade at any point in the semester. If you are exceedingly shy, see me early. 2. Mid-term assignment (25%). On Wednesday, February 22, I will make available to you a set of primary and secondary sources about oil and gas on the US Gulf Coast, including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 and its aftermath. Your task will be to use one or more of the theories of culture, power, and oil we have discussed to analyze an aspect of the Gulf Coast oil industry and the oil spill. No external research will be required, just course materials and the additional materials I distribute. Essays of around 2000 words (8 pages) are due at the beginning of class on March 8, and will serve as the basis of our discussion that day. 3. Final Paper (45%). This is a research paper on a topic of your choice, chosen in consultation with me. Final papers should involve some research with primary or secondary sources, as appropriate to the topic. We will talk more about these papers in class, and I will distribute a list of topics chosen by previous students early in the semester. For undergraduates (16-18 page paper): Preliminary ideas due 3/29 Detailed two-page proposal due 4/5 (10%) Carefully annotated bibliography with no fewer than five major sources due 4/12 (10%) In-class discussion of paper topics on 4/19 Paper due 5/10, last day of exam period (25%) Undergraduate majors in anthropology may be able to write their senior essay in this course. See me or the DUS for details. For graduates (20-25 page paper or other appropriate project): Preliminary ideas due 3/29 In-class discussion of paper topics on 4/19 Final paper due 5/10 Other Course Policies Late papers: Please submit all work on time. Unexcused late papers will be marked down one grade step (e.g. B to B-) each day they are late.

3 3 Electronic Devices: If you use a laptop or other electronic device in class, you agree to have open only note taking and/or document viewing software; use of , chat programs, web browsers, or any other software in class is grounds for dismissal in that day and lowering of your participation grade. I highly recommend Freedom or similar internet-blocking software to reduce temptation while you are engaged in classroom conversation. In general, I discourage the use of laptops in class, as I think it can inhibit discussion, but I do not ban them. Academic Dishonesty. Participation in this class assumes your familiarity and compliance with Yale s policies on plagiarism and appropriate classroom conduct. Both mid-term and final paper assignments will include specific instructions on whether, how, and when collaboration and consultation with others is permitted. Violations will be reported to the Yale College Executive Committee or other appropriate disciplinary body. If you have questions about citations, collaboration, or anything else, please don t hesitate to ask me or to make use of other Yale resources such as the Writing Center. I take this issue very seriously. Schedule of Topics and Readings (see Bibliography for full citations) Week 1 (1/18): Introduction to the Course Week 2 (1/25): Approaches, Part 1 Ross, The Paradoxical Wealth of Nations and More Petroleum/Less Democracy from The Oil Curse (E) View these three photo essays online: Burtynsky, Oil Link Lutz, Tropical Gift Link Kashi, Curse of the Black Gold Link Watts, Introduction to the Photographs of Ed Kashi (E) Smil, Oil, (this goes quickly) Mitchell, Carbon Democracy (E) Week 3 (2/1): Approaches, Part 2 Coronil, The Magical State, pg (E) Bond, Governing Disaster (E) Cepek, There Might Be Blood (E) Ferguson, Seeing Like an Oil Company (E) Appel, Offshore Work (E) Barry, Technological Zones (E) Week 4 (2/8): Multinational Oil Sawyer, Crude Chronicles, whole book

4 4 Week 5 (2/15): Oil and Cultural Production Apter, The Pan-African Nation, selections as in reading guide Week 6 (2/22): Oil as a Way of Life and mid-term materials available today Huber, Lifeblood, whole book Week 7 (3/1): The Iraq War and Its Aftermath Human Rights Watch, Considerations for the Management of Oil in Iraq (E) Platform, Crude Designs: The Rip-Off of Iraq's Oil Wealth, Seacourt Press (E) Bromley, The United States and the Control of World Oil (E) Retort, Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in an Age of War, chapter 2, Blood for Oil? (E) Financial Times, Inside Isis Inc.: The Journey of a Barrel of Oil Other contemporary media TBA Week 8 (3/8) The US Gulf Coast and mid-term exams are due at the beginning of class. No additional reading please come prepared to discuss the mid-term materials SPRING BREAK Week 9 (3/29) Socialist and Postsocialist Oil Rogers, Depths of Russia, selections as in reading guide Week 10 (4/5) The Dakota Access Pipeline and Standing Rock Readings and other materials TBA Week 11: (4/12): Representing Oil in Images and Film Watch an oil documentary (options TBA) Szeman, Crude Aesthetics (E) Merrill, Texas Metropole (E) Lifset and Black, Imaging the Devil s Excrement (E) Wilson, Gendering Oil (E) Zuromskis, Petroaesthetics and Landscape Photography (E) Week 12 (4/19) Collective Discussion of Research Papers in Progress

5 5 Week 13 (4/26) How Much Oil is Left? Hubbert, Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels (E) Bowden, The Social Construction of Validity in Estimates of US Crude Oil Reserves (E) Hemmingsen, At the Base of Hubbert s Peak (E) Smil, Oil, Urstadt, Imagine There s No Oil: Scenes From a Liberal Apocalypse (E) Mann, What If We Never Run Out of Oil? (E) Bridge and Wood, Less is More (E) Final Papers due on 5/10, last day of exams, by 5 p.m. Course Bibliography Appel, Hannah Offshore Work: Oil, Modularity, and the How of Capitalism in Equatorial Guinea. American Ethnologist 39(4): Apter, Andrew The Pan-African Nation: Oil and the Spectacle of Culture in Nigeria. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Barry, Andrew Technological Zones. European Journal of Social Theory 9(2): Bond, David Governing Disaster: The Political Life of the Environment During the BP Oil Spill. Cultural Anthropology 28(4): Bowden, Gary The Social Construction of Validity in Estimates of US Crude Oil Reserves. Social Studies of Science 15(2): Bridge, G. and A. Wood Less is More: Spectres of Scarcity and the Politics of Resource Access in the Upstream Oil Sector. Geoforum 41(4): Bromley, Simon The United States and the Control of World Oil, Government and Opposition 40(2): Cepek, Michael There Might Be Blood: Oil, Humility, and the Cosmopolitics of a Cofán Petro-Being. American Ethnologist 43(4): Coronil, Fernando The Magical State: Nature, Money, and Modernity in Venezuela. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Ferguson, James Seeing Like an Oil Company: Space, Security, and Global Capital in Neoliberal Africa. American Anthropologist 107(3): Hemmingsen, Emma At the Base of Hubbert s Peak: Grounding the Debate on Petroleum Scarcity. Geoforum 41(4): Huber, Matthew Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press Hubbert, M. King Nuclear Energy and the Fossil Fuels. Annual Meeting Papers, American Petroleum Institute 36 (7-25). Human Rights Watch, Considerations for the Management of Oil in Iraq.

6 Lifset, Robert and Brian. Black Imagining the Devil s Excrement : Big Oil in Petroleum Cinema, Journal of American History 99(1): Mann, Charles What if We Never Run Out of Oil? The Atlantic Monthly, April 24. Merrill, Karen Texas Metropole: Oil, the American West, and US Power in the Postwar Years. J Amer. Hist. 99(1): Michell, Timothy, Carbon Democracy Economy and Society 38(3): RETORT Afflicted Powers: Capital and Spectacle in a New Age of War. London: Verso. Rogers, Douglas The Depths of Russia: Oil, Power, and Culture After Socialism Ross, Michael The Oil Curse: How Petroleum Wealth Shapes the Development of Nations. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Sawyer, Suzana Crude Chronicles: Indigenous Politics, Multinational Oil, and Neoliberalism in Ecuador. Durham: Duke University Press. Smil, Vaclav. Oil: A Beginner s Guide. Oneworld, Szeman, Imre Crude Aesthetics: The Politics of Oil Documentaries. Journal of American Studies 46(2): Urstadt, Bryant Imagine There s No Oil. In Harper s Magazine, 31-40, August. Watts, Michael An Introduction to the Photographs of Ed Kashi, in Subterranean Estates: Lifeworlds of Oil and Gas. Cornell University Press. Wilson, Sheena Gendering Oil: Tracing Western Petrosexual Relations. In Oil Culture. University of Minnesota Press. Zuromskis, Catherine. Petroaesthetics and Landscape Photography: New Topographies, Edward Burtynsky, and the Culture of Peak Oil. In Oil Culture. University of Minnesota Press. 6