ENGL 367T(F) Two American Public Intellectuals: Noam Chomsky and Edward Said (Same as American Studies 465T)

AMST 465T(F) Two American Public Intellectuals: Noam Chomsky and Edward Said (Same as English 367T) (W)
Course description: The "public intellectual"-privileged over and against the "ivory tower" intellectual-has been touted by both the American right and the left and his decline or demise decried on a regular basis. In the United States, with its history of anti-intellectualism, few thinkers have made a mark in their academic disciplines and also intervened significantly in public discourses. This tutorial will interrogate the role of the intellectual in society by examining the work of two major American public (and politically active) intellectuals: Edward Said (1935-2005) and Noam Chomsky (b. 1928). Said, a Columbia University English professor was one of the major literary critics of the last century, the inaugurator of the field of postcolonial studies (with his 1978 text Orientalism), and an advocate for Palestinian rights. Chomsky, the son of a Hebrew scholar, is a pioneer in the field of linguistics (he founded the theory of generative grammar and taught at MIT for many years) and, since his work in the anti-Vietnam-War movement, has been a highly vocal critic of various forms of hegemonic power. He has been voted the "world's top public intellectual" by one poll and is the most widely cited living scholar in the humanities and social sciences. We will focus on a few major issues on which Chomsky and Said shared deep concerns: ideologies within the academy and society at large, media representations, Palestinians and the Middle East, 9/11, U.S. global dominance, and the role of the intellectual in society. Said and Chomsky were largely in agreement ideologically, but we will also discuss their differences and read criticisms of their ideas.
Format: tutorial. Requirements: 5-page analytical paper every other week and a critical commentary on the tutorial partner's paper in alternate weeks.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Open to all students, preference at instructor's discretion.
Tutorial meetings to be arranged. WANG