The professor will make every effort to stick to this schedule, but the student must appreciate that classes differ and schedules vary. Students should, therefore, keep in touch. In the event of major adjustments to the following schedule or any of the material in the syllabus, you will receive an adjusted schedule in writing as soon as possible. Minor changes, however, may not be reported in writing, so it is up to the students to come to class and keep up with assignments, readings, due dates, etc. Keep up with the readings both for participation in class discussion and to be prepared for other assignments, which may be based on the readings. Be prepared in class each day with your reader and writing materials.

UNIT I: Rhetorical Perspectives on Reading History

1 Feb: On Reading History

Benjamin, "Theses on the Philosophy of History"

6 Feb: History as Interpretation

Benjamin (cont.)

Zinn, TBA

8 Feb: Why Rhetorical History?

Zarefsky and Andrews, "The Study of Significant Speeches"
Carole Blair, William L. Nothstine, and Gary A. Copeland, "Invention in Media and Rhetorical Criticism: A General Orientation"

URLs of Interest:

• Rhetoric and Public Address

Bean and Beaner, "An Exchange"
C. Wright Mills, "On Knowledge and Power"

15 Feb: The Role of Power

Zinn, 1-58

UNIT II: American Revolutionary History and American Characters

20 Feb: Discourse and Colonization

Zinn, 124-146

22 Feb: Discourse and Colonization

Ward Churchill, selections from Fantasies of the Master Race

URLs of Interest:

• Native American Resources
• Indigenous Peoples

Zinn, 59-101
Thomas Jefferson, "Declaration of Independence" (1776)

29 Feb: Revolution (Continued)

Jacques Derrida, "Declarations of Independence"
Stephen E. Lucas, "Justifying America: The Declaration of Independence as a Rhetorical Document"

5 Mar: A Different Kind of Revolution?

Lizius, "Dynamite"
Louis Lingg, "Speech of the Condemned"
Adam Parfrey, "Finding Our Way Out of Oklahoma"

URLs of Interest:

• The Bomb
• Oklahoma City Bombing and Rescue Operation
• The roots of conspiracy. (Behind the Oklahoma Bombing)(Apr 1995 bombing of Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City)
• Oklahoma City Bombing Internet Activity
• The Rise of the Militias
• UNABOM Press Release
• MURDER at Ruby Ridge
• Patriot FTP Site
• A-Albionic
• Tyranny in the US
• GUNS AND LIBERTY
• True Patriot

Zinn, 435-459

12 Mar: Revolution in Black (Continued)

Malcolm X, "The Black Revolution"
H. Rap Brown, "Die, Nigger, Die!"

URLs of Interest:

• Million Man March Photography K
• The African Educational Research Network
• African American History
• African Studies on PennInfo
• Drum
• Martin Luther King, Jr. Bibliography
• Center for the Study of Southern Culture

14 Mar: The Language of American Military Culture

George Bush, "The Liberation of Kuwait Has Begun" (1991)
Zinn, 147-166; 350-367

URLs of Interest:

• Gulf War Stories the Media Loved -- Except They Aren't True
• PoMoWar
• Operation Desert Storm Debriefing Book
• Gulf War Veteran Resource Pages
• The Gulf War

Zinn, 290-313
Mechling & Mechling, "The Campaign for Civil Defense"

URLs of Interest:

• Anti-Imperialism in the United States, 1898-1935

Film, "The Atomic Cafe"

URLs of Interest:

• Nuclear Weapons
• Todd's Atomic Homepage
• Becoming Death
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• Leo Szilard Home Page

28 Mar: Case Study in Race and Popular Culture: The Murder Trial of O.J. Simpson

Simon Black, "Strange Days"
Alexander Cockburn, "White Rage: The Press and the Verdict"
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man"

2-4 Apr: SPRING BREAK

9 Apr: American Culture and the "War on Drugs"

David Cogan, "Clinton's Crack Problem"
Holly Sklar, "Reinforcing Racism with the War on Drugs"
Diana R. Gordon, "Crack in the Penal System"
Philippe Bourgois, "Breaking Rocks in El Barrio: Workaday World, Crack Economy"

11 Apr: The "War on Drugs" continued

Susan Meeker Lowry, "Asset Forfeiture: An Abuse of Power in the War on Drugs"
Judy Osborn, "Introduction" to Spectre of Forfeiture

URLs of Interest:

• Towards A Rhetorical Genealogy of the War on Drugs
• Hyperreal
• ECOLUTION Cyber Hemp
• HIGH TIMES
• Celebrate Wellness Weed
• DRUGS -- PARANOIA -- DRUGS
• THE WORLD WIDE WEED
• Marijuana Myths by Paul Hager
• Ohio Subtance Abuse Network
• The Cheech & Chong Homepage!

Robert Amsel, "Back to Our Future? A Walk on the Wild Side of Stonewall"
Michael Hardwick, Interview
Larry Kramer, "Whose Constitution is it, Anyway?"

Recommended: US Supreme Court, Bowers v. Hardwick

URLs of Interest:

• CSUN LesBiGay Resources
• CSUN LesBiGayTrs HomePage
• CSUN Queer Resource Center
• CSUN Center on Sex Research
• Queer Resources Directory
• LA Times on Queer Issues
• QUEER FRONTIERS: Queer Theory and Studies Pages
• Digital Queers
• Gay Wired LA

Pat Califia, "Sex and Madonna, Or, What Do You Expect from a Girl Who Doesn't Put Out on the First Five Dates?"
Gayle Rubin, "Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality"

URLs of Interest:

• Alternative Sexuality Resources
• Radical Sex
• LIBIDO
• The Land of Awes Information Services
• Theoretical Pervert

Jorge G. Castañeda, "The Immigration Highway: Rethinking Mexico's Impact on California"
Christopher Scheer, "'Illegals' Made Slaves to Fashion"
Julie Quiroz, ed., "Proposition 187 Redux" (and attached articles)

URLs of Interest:

• LatinoWeb
• Immigration WWW site by Prof. Norm Matloff
• "One Strike You're Out" Immigration Legislation
• HR 2898: "To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that aliens removed from the United States as illegal entrants or immigration violators shall permanently be inadmissible." (Jan 25, 1996, Rep. Tate, R-Wash.) Full text from Thomas.
  
• S1394, full text from Thomas via ftp
• HR2202 full text, Immigration In the National Interest Act of 1995 (approx 400k)
• S269, Immigrant Control and Financial Responsibility Act, full text from Thomas via ftp
• Meeting with Lamar Smith to discuss HR2202 2/3/96
• Information on S. 269 from FAIR
• Alert from FAIR 12/14: renewed pressure to split immigration bill
• Another Agricultural Guest Worker program proposed as amendment to Immigration Act
• American Engineering Association
• Bay Area Coalition for Immigration Reform
• Federation for American Immigration Reform Web Page
• Migration News
• Project Vote Smart Issue Information - Immigration
• Voice of Citizens Together
• Yahoo's U.S. Immigration Information Page
• Immigration email list and other resources

Chris Simunek, "Home of the Brave"
Ellen Willis, "Velvet Underground"

URLs of Interest:

• Motorcycles
• Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground

NWA, "Fuck tha Police"
Ice Cube, "I Wanna Kill Sam"
Paris, "The Devil Made Me Do It"
Robert Christgau, "Me and the Devil Blues"
Joe Levy, "Blues for Generation X"
Michael Tomasky, "Clinton's Death Dance"

2 May: Twenty Who?

Tom Frank and Keith White, "Twenty-Nothing"

7-16 May: Student Presentations