RELIGION and MUSIC, Spring 2011 | A MALAS Seminar with Yale Strom

SPRING 2011
MALAS 600D
SEM: RELIGION AND MUSIC
Sched# 21847
Seminar 4:00pm-6:40pm
MCSQ-202
YALE STROM 
(more on Strom and his band here)

The Hebrew/Christian bible mentions the importance of music as early as Genesis 4:21, which tells of Jubal, the son of Lamech, who played the flute and harp. This class will explore three major religions and their musics: Judasim (Khasidism), Islam (Sufism) and Christianity (Eastern Orthodox). The founder of the Khasidic movement, Rabbi Israel Eliezer, said: “Khasidim say that this daily procession of children singing was as pleasing to the Almighty as was the singing of the Levites in the Temple.” The great Sufi mystic and poet Jalauddin Rumi said: "Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened; don't open the door to the study and begin reading, instead take down a musical instrument. Let the beauty we love be what we do." And the development of Christian music in the form of the canon by Saints John of Damascus and Kosmas of Jerusalem (both eighth century) became an essential part of the orthodox liturgy through today. In the class "Religion and Music" we will study historical texts, musical examples and screen films. Students will learn how music has been an important and vital spiritual art form of religion in the past and present times and how some of these musical genres have crossed over to popular culture throughout the world.

Course Reading Will Be From: Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim’s Rock Star’s Revolution, by Salman Ahmad, An Introduction to the Orthodox Christian Churches by John Binns, The Book of Klezmer by Yale Strom, and Hasidism: The Movement and its Masters” by Harry M. Rabinowicz.

¡RADICALLY CHICana/o! A New MALAS Seminar Taught by Professor Daniel Widener! Spring 2011

MALAS 600A | SPRING 2011

RADICALLY CHICana/o

Next-Generation Ethnic
American Cultural Studies

MALAS 600A Section:1 | Units:3 Schedule # 21845 | Seats:25 Meetings: 4:00pm-6:40pm, Tuesdays | PSFA 113

DO YOU?

• Think Mil Mascaras is a beauty product?


• Think Subcommandante Ramona is an east county realtor?


• Confuse Anthony Ortega and Anthony Quinn?


• Confuse Dolores and Vanessa del Rio?


• Do you think Santeria is a Sublime song?


• Do you think Salt of the Earth is an organic food product?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, please enroll IMMEDIATELY in Radically CHICano/a—Next Gen Ethnic American Cultural Studies. The course serves as an emergency tutorial in the politics of Mexican American culture. Our course is intended for anyone with an interest in how art can lead to social change, or simply wants to learn about ideas, behaviors, and images that are likely to dominate California for generations to come. The course is open to our fantabulous MALAS graduate students but graduate students and advanced undergraduates from Chicana/o Studies, Africana Studies, Women's Studies and other departments across the College of Arts and Letters are encouraged to add this innovative course to their package of Spring 2011 delights.

From Mexican Muralism to Lucha Libre (Professional Wrestling,) with stopovers for Political Posters, Customized Cars, Hip Hop, the EZLN, Graffiti, Donald Duck comic books, and Charlton Heston films, our course will jaywalk through the intersection of revolutionary aesthetics and aesthetic revolution. Along the way, we will ask questions like A) what does expressive culture tell us about Chicano/a identity and politics? B) are ideas like cultural imperialism and cultural resistance still helpful? Were they ever? C) what is this “Mexican” in Mexican-American, and how has it incorporated African Americans, whites, Asians, and other Latinos? D) and what’s up with all those skeletons, anyhow? Course texts will include avant-garde films, scathing novels, and barrio walls, though the precise names of each remain to be determined.

{editor/MALAS Director's note: Dr. Daniel Widener has been raided from his usual intellectual hive, UCSD, for this special MALAS class; Widener "teaches African American history, cultural studies, and twentieth-century political radicalism. He began his educational career at the Echo Park-Silverlake Peoples’ Childcare Center. He studied at Berkeley and New York University. He has written on the politics of black culture in postwar Los Angeles, black-Latino and Afro-Asian issues, and the Korean War."More on this dynamic southern California thinker is here. You can check out his new book and more here.}

MALAS Co-hosts JULIA ALVAREZ @ SDSU, Monday, November 15, 2010 | MALAS Lectures ROCK!

Reminder! Julia Alvarez Coming To SDSU | CoSponsor? MALAS!

MALAS Co-Sponsoring JULIA ALVAREZ @ SDSU in November

We're Changing Education One Master's Degree at a Time...

Starts this WEDNESDAY!!!! MALAS a Co-Sponsor of Contemporary Women’s Writing: New Texts, Approaches, and Technologies, Spring 2010

The Third Biennial International Conference of the Contemporary Women's Writing Network is going down July 2010 and MALAS is now one of its Sponsors! Cool! Hit this LINK for all the info!

Updated! Suggested Supplemental Classes for Fall 2010

MALASheads! Great news! I have added some courses to your roster of super-special supplemental courses for Spring 2010--supplemental because it is KEY that our MALAS rank and file populate the seats of our MALAS named and numbered classes, first! However, we are reasonable at MALAS central and want your choices for courses to be eclectic, dynamic, and fun. Check it out--and if you sense there is a class that SHOULD be there and is NOT, hit me with an email!

Supplementary Fall 2010 MALAS Course Listings Have Just Gone Live

click here for the link.

We Have Updated the MALAS Website!

MALAS: The Master of Liberal Arts and Sciences, SDSU | Catalogue Copy

SDSU GRADUATE BULLETIN 2008-2009

Liberal Arts and Sciences
In the College of Arts and Letters
OFFICE: Nasatir Hall 203
TELEPHONE: 619-594-4826 / FAX: 619-594-1325
E-MAIL:
http://www.malas.sdsu.edu
Director: William A. Nericcio
Program Coordinator: David McHenry

Participating Faculty

Susan E. Cayleff, Ph.D., Professor of Women’s Studies
Patricia J. Geist-Martin, Ph.D., Professor of Communication
Dipak K. Gupta, Ph.D., Professor of Political Science
D. Emily Hicks, Ph.D., Professor of English and Comparative Literature
and Chicana and Chicano Studies
Linda D. Holler, Ph.D., Professor of Religious Studies and Associate
Dean of the College of Arts and Letters
Alan E. Kilpatrick, Ph.D., Professor of American Indian Studies
William A. Nericcio, Ph.D., Professor of English and Comparative
Literature
Steven L. Barbone, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy
Jung Min Choi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Sociology
Stephen A. Colston, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History
Elizabeth A. Colwill, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Women’s Studies
Sarah S. Elkind, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History
Ellen Quandahl, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Writing
Studies
Sandra A. Wawrytko, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Philosophy
Kathy S. Williams, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology
Sthaneshwar Timalsina, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Religious
Studies

John and Jane Adams Endowment

John R. Adams was an esteemed faculty member of San Diego
State University from 1928 until his retirement in 1968, whereupon he
accepted the position of University Archivist. Dr. Adams was a
professor of English and chair of the Division of Humanities. He and
Jane Adams were generous benefactors to SDSU throughout their
lives and they established a Charitable Living Trust to be used to
promote liberal education. Today some of those funds are used in the
MALAS program to support graduate assistantships and to help pay
for academic retreats, workshops, and lectures. In addition, MALAS
has arrangements with two sister institutions, the University of
Maastricht in The Netherlands and Simon Fraser University in Canada,
to convene an annual conference that revolves among the three sites.
Funds from the Adams Endowment are used to send students to
present papers at Maastricht and Simon Fraser.

General Information

The College of Arts and Letters offers a flexible multidisciplinary
master’s degree in the liberal arts and sciences. An alternative
approach to traditional graduate education, the program consists of
coursework that crosses disciplinary boundaries so as to better
appreciate the richness of existence and begin to apply multiple perspectives
to the complex realities that face us. From explorations of
the human condition to the social impacts of technology, the program
focuses on issues central to the meaning and quality of our lives and
the creation of sustainable, just, communities.
In existence since 1987, the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and
Sciences is equally well suited to students who recently achieved the
bachelor’s degree, students preparing for the Ph.D., professionals for
whom the master’s degree may mean promotion or career advancement,
and life-long learners in search of personal enrichment and
intellectual community. We welcome applications from K-12 teachers,
community activists, and policy makers.

MALAS draws upon SDSU faculty who are trained in disciplines
but whose teaching and scholarship makes connections across disciplines.
Interplays among the humanities, the social sciences, the
natural sciences, and the arts are taken up in four required courses.
These seminars seek to understand contemporary life and construct
positive futures but they also push the level of discourse to foundational
questions of epistemology and perennial philosophy, such as
the existence of truth, goodness, and beauty. Particular attention is
given to understanding the psychological, economic, and environmental
consequences of globalization, and to the ways that human
values are embodied in and transformed by modes of consumption,
labor, and material culture. The four core courses act to ground and
center five elective courses, selected by each student to customize a
program that captures his or her interests.

Admission to Graduate Study

In addition to satisfying the requirements for admission to the
university with classified graduate standing as described in Part Two
of this bulletin, the student seeking admission must: (1) have a grade
point average of 3.0 or better on work completed during the last 60
units for the baccalaureate degree, (2) have an acceptable score on
the GRE General Test (combined verbal and quantitative), and (3)
complete a statement of purpose essay. A personal interview with the
director is recommended.

Students applying for admission should electronically submit the
university application available at http://www.csumentor.edu along
with the $55 application fee.

All applicants must submit admissions materials separately to
SDSU Graduate Admissions and to Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and
Sciences.

Graduate Admissions

The following materials should be submitted as a complete
package directly to:

Graduate Admissions
Enrollment Services
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA 92182-7416

(1) Official transcripts (in sealed envelopes) from all
postsecondary institutions attended;

Note:

• Students who attended SDSU need only submit transcripts
for work completed since last attendance.

• Students with international coursework must submit both
the official transcript and proof of degree. If documents
are in a language other than English, they must be
accompanied by a certified English translation.

(2) GRE scores (http://www.ets.org, SDSU institution code 4682);

(3) TOEFL score, if medium of instruction was in a language other
than English (http://www.ets.org, SDSU institution code 4682).

Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences

The following materials should be submitted by November 1
(October 1 for international students) for admission for the spring
semester and May1 for the fall semester to:

William Nericcio, Director
Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA 92182-8137

(1) Statement of purpose essay
(2) Writing Sample (10 to 25 pages, maximum)
(3) A paragraph wherein you define your vision of interdisciplinary studies, liberal arts, the humanities or cultural studies.

Liberal Arts and Sciences
SDSU GRADUATE BULLETIN 2008-2009

Advancement to Candidacy

All students must satisfy the general requirements for
advancement to candidacy as described in Part Two of this bulletin. In
addition, the students must (1) satisfactorily complete 12 units, with a
minimum grade point average of 3.0, including 9 units of core
seminars as stipulated (MALAS 600A, 600B, 600C, 600D) and (2)
have a thesis or project proposal which has received the approval of
the Graduate Liberal Arts and Sciences Committee and its director.

Specific Requirements for the Master of
Arts Degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences
(Major Code: 49017)

In addition to meeting the basic requirements for the Master of Arts
degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences as described in Part Two of this
bulletin, the student must complete a graduate program of 30 units, 15
units of which must be in 600- and 700-level courses. Up to 15 units of
coursework can be taken at the 500-level. The total program includes:

1. MALAS 601 (3).
2. MALAS 600A, 600B, 600C, or 600D in any combination (9
units). Each course may be repeated once with new content
and, in excess of nine units, can be used for elective credit.
3. MALAS 799A (3): Thesis or Project.
4. 15 units of electives selected with approval of the MALAS director.

All programs must be approved by the MALAS director in consultation
with the Graduate Liberal Arts and Sciences Committee.
Courses Acceptable on Master’s Degree
Program in Liberal Arts and Sciences (MALAS)

Refer to Courses and Curricula and Regulations of the Division of Graduate
Affairs sections of this bulletin for explanation of the course numbering
system, unit or credit hour, prerequisites, and related information.

GRADUATE COURSES
MALAS 600. Interdisciplinary Study in Liberal Arts and
Sciences (3-3-3-3)
Prerequisite: Graduate standing.
MALAS seminars are divided into four general areas with content
that varies semester to semester. Each course may be repeated once
with new content. See Class Schedule for specific content. Maximum
credit six units for each of the following courses: MALAS 600A, 600B,
600C, 600D.
A. Cultural Studies
B. Science and Society, Environmental Studies
C. Globalization, Technology, Future Studies
D. Media Studies, Fine Arts, Transformative Arts

MALAS 601. Seminar in Interdisciplinary Thinking (3)
Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
Nature of interdisciplinary thinking. Ways of knowing and schools
of thought in multiple disciplines. Interdisciplinary methods to analyze
social issues. See Class Schedule for specific content.

MALAS 798. Special Study (3) Cr/NC/RP
Prerequisites: Graduate standing.
Individual study on a given topic through interdisciplinary
perspectives.

MALAS 799A. Thesis or Project (3) Cr/NC/RP
Prerequisites: An officially appointed thesis committee and
advancement to candidacy.
Preparation of a project or thesis for Master of Arts degree in
Liberal Arts and Sciences.

MALAS 799B. Thesis or Project Extension (0) Cr/NC
Prerequisites: Prior registration in Thesis or Project 799A with an
assigned grade symbol of RP.

Registration required in any semester or term following assignment
of RP in MALAS 799A in which the student expects to use the facilities
and resources of the university; also student must be registered in the
course when the completed thesis or project is granted final approval.

MALAS Classes in Interdisciplinary Studies | Groundbreaking, Eclectic, and More

Here's a video that documents major players in the history of Hip-hop AND our own MALAS 600 class, led by Professor Roy Whitaker, learning the fine art of tagging! Gracias to Jordan Selvidge for posting the clip. Here's more on Roy Whitaker:

click to enlarge...


and more on the class!

Spring 2010 MALAS Courses

MALAS 600 D Monday nights from 7 to 9:40pm
HIP HOP AESTHETICS: MUSIC, CULTURES, SPIRIT, MIND
...with the one and only ROY WHITAKER running the show...

Hip-Hop is one of the most important and misunderstood cultural expressions of the past 40 years. For instance, this movement has been widely appropriated by urban and suburban youth; however, it’s been viewed as a pseudo-art form with little relevance for academic reflection. This course examines this core problem and many other criticisms leveled against Hip-Hop – e.g. use of the N-word, homophobia, misogyny, materialism, and hedonism. To be sure, Hip-Hop is a panoply of sorted issues that concerns critical thinkers in post-modernity like democracy, empire, capitalism, feminism, hegemony, and internationalism. Topics covered in this class will include: commercialization of Hip-Hop; Hip-Hop movies; Hip-Hop and women; rap, politics, and resistance; Hip-Hop Chicano/a; global dimensions of Hip-Hop; Hip-Hop as mediated narrative; Hip-Hop and graffiti; just to name a few.The course’s title – “Hip-Hop Aesthetics” – indicates the larger concern that frames the class discourse: the nature of artistic expression in an inhumane world. “Hip-Hop Aesthetics” pushes the boundary of what is considered “great works” and what is not. Furthermore, since Hip-Hop is a global phenomenon, this class utilizes and encourages a multidisciplinary approach to this subject matter – e.g. sociology, politics, economics, communications theory, American studies, musicology, cultural studies, and film studies.

Another Reason to Seek out MALAS @ SDSU in Lieu of National University, Ashford University, and Other Fine Competitors!

MALAS Co-Sponsors Cherrie Moraga SDSU Visit, February 18, 2010 at 4:30pm, Smith Recital Hall

The Bread and Roses Center of the Department of Women‚s Studies Presents...

Feminist Research Colloquium
Feminist Crossroads: Bearing Witness and Building Social Change

Cherríe Moraga
Modern Day Malinches:
Teaching/Translating Xicana Consciousness

Thursday, February 18 at 4:30pm
Smith Recital Hall
Music Building, SDSU

Cherríe L. Moraga is a playwright, poet, and essayist whose plays and publications have received national recognition. She is the co-editor of the groundbreaking This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color, the author of Loving in the War Years: Lo Que Nunca Pasó Por Sus Labios, Waiting in the Wings: Portrait of a Queer Motherhood, several collections of plays, and A Xicana Codex of Changing Consciousness, which will be published by Duke University Press in 2011. In 2007, Moraga won the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship for Literature. She is currently an Artist in Residence at Stanford University. As part of her presentation, Moraga will discuss the state of Chicana Studies with Dr. Adelaida Del Castillo, Chair of Chicana and Chicano Studies. A free book signing and reception will follow.

This event is made possible
with generous support from:

The Cross Cultural Center, the Association of Chicana Activists (A.Ch.A.), the Departments of Chicana and Chicano Studies, English and Comparative Literature, and Spanish and Portuguese and the Masters of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences (MALAS)

History, Myth, and Mediation Framing the Fifties in Contemporary American Film | Christine Sprengler

MALAS is evolving

The First M.A.L.A.S. Billy Wilder Cultural Studies Lecture

History, Myth, and Mediation
Framing the Fifties in Contemporary American Film

Christine Sprengler
John Labatt Visual Arts Centre
University of Western Ontario

3:45 to 4:45pm, Monday November 23, 2009
Life Science Building, room 244, (LS-244)

Contemporary films about the 1950s have figured prominently in arguments against cinema’s value as a point of access to past eras and events. Inaugurated by Fredric Jameson, this type of criticism focuses on the ways in which a kind of depthless visual pastness (i.e., Fiftiesness) has managed to replace ‘real’ history (i.e. the ‘1950s’). Indeed, in many instances, Jameson and his followers were right to suggest that certain individual films did precisely this. However, as a
whole, the 300+ films released since 1970 that engage with the 1950s paint a richly layered and continually evolving portrait of a complex era once thought to have suffered inordinately from nostalgic obfuscation and mythic oversimplification. This presentation will argue against Jameson and suggest that by presenting different and often competing ‘faces’ of the 1950s, popular Hollywood film has helped to complicate our understanding of this era. And, in doing so, it has also made manifest a series of historiographical issues including the relationship of past and present, the role and nature of mediation, and the importance of myth in constructions of history.


Dr. Christine Sprengler is an Assistant Professor
of Art History in the Visual Arts Department
at the John Labatt Visual Arts Centre, University of
Western Ontario

"Bridging the transition between the studio system and the rise of independent producer-directors, and still active in the 'New Hollywood' era, Billy Wilder was a key player in the American cinema throughout the postwar period. A '30s screenwriter who became a contract director in the '40s, by 1950 Wilder had come to be regarded as a consummate studio auteur. Producing from the mid-1950s, he and his co-screenwriters were renowned in front office and fan magazine for making money, teasing audience sensibilities, and pleasing the critics. If the early-1960s saw a critical downturn, by the mid-1970s Wilder's reputation led to accolades and awards."{source} MALAS is thrilled to name its cinema/cultural studies lecture series after this master of moving pictures.

MALAS is the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences Program at San Diego State University; it welcomes applications from undergraduates from the sciences or humanities who are looking for a flexible, first-rate interdisciplinary Masters Program. If you are voraciously curious and don't want to be limited to one field, MALAS is the graduate program for you! Apply here.