American Political Mythology

elective courses
elective monographs
optional courses

The objects of our primary concern will be: political signs, symbols, rituals, icons, and heroes and how they are used or contrived by propagandists, media pundits, campaign organizers or spinmasters in American democracy.

Blended learning

The course will be an attempt to look at politics as a “culturally manufactured” phenomenon. Political myths accompany specific types of political systems (democratic, authoritarian, totalitarian) and specific situations (revolution, reform, stagnation). The objects of our primary concern will be: political signs, symbols, rituals, icons, and heroes and how they are used or contrived by propagandists, media pundits, campaign organizers or spinmasters in American democracy.

The course will be an attempt to look at politics as a “culturally manufactured” phenomenon. While it may seem natural that each political system generates a legitimizing mythology, it seems plausible to claim that there are typical mythologies that accompany specific types of political systems (democratic, authoritarian, totalitarian) and specific situations (revolution, reform, stagnation). Such political realities will be analyzed as worlds of culturally mediated meanings and perceptions where the true contest is more for the hearts than the minds of the people. By studying the manifest and latent aspects of power we will attempt to uncover the ambiguity of politics. The objects of our primary concern will be: political signs, symbols, rituals, icons, and heroes and how they are used or contrived by propagandists, media pundits, campaign organizers or spinmasters. Our readings which will come from the fields of cultural studies, political psychology, and political theory will clearly demonstrate that politics is a playground for passions where values and perceptions play an extremely significant role in constructing our understanding of the political phenomena

The following list is NOT THE LIST OF CLASS READINGS. We will SELECT TEXTS FROM THIS LIST. One chapter/article per week only. Remaining texts will be useful in preparing the final assignment.

KEY TEXTS:

David Kertzer, Ritual, Politics & Power, Yale University Press, 1988

Murray Edelman, From Art to Politics. How Artistic Creations Shape Political Concepts, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996

Murray Edelman, Symbolic Uses of Politics, Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1985

Murray Edelman, Constructing the Political Spectacle, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988

Sean Wilentz (ed.), Rites of Power. Symbolism, Ritual and Politics since the Middle Ages, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999

Kenneth Burke, On Symbols and Society, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989

Kenneth Burke, Language as Symbolic Action, University of California press, 1968

Joseph Campbell, A Hero with a Thousand Faces, New World Books, 2008

Marion Just, Ann Crigler, Russell Neuman, “Cognitive and Affective Dimensions of Political Conceptualization”, in: Ann Crigler (ed.), The Psychology of political

Communication, University of Michigan Press, 1998

General list of works RELEVANT for the study of modern political mythology

Maurice Agulhon, “Politics, Images, and Symbols in Post-Revolutionary France”, in: Sean Wilentz (ed.), Rites of Power. Symbolism, Ritual and Politics since the Middle Ages, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999

James Aho, The Politics of Righteousness. Idaho Christian Patriotism, University of Washington Press, 1995 (“prawdziwi” patrioci)

Tadeusz Biernat, Mit polityczny,

Pierre Bourdieu, Language & Power, Harvard University Press, 1999

Roland Barthes, Mitologie, PiW, 1972

Kenneth Burke, On Symbols and Society, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989

Kenneth Burke, Language as Symbolic Action, University of California press, 1968

Joseph Campbell, A Hero with a Thousand Faces, New Wold Books, 2008

Noam Chomsky, Rethinking Camelot. JFK, the Vietnam War, and US Political Culture, South End Press, 1993

Dan Clawson, Alna Neustadtl, Denise Scott, Money Talks. Corporate PACs and Political Influence, Basic Books, 1992

Ivan Colovic, Polityka Symboli. Eseje o antropologii politycznej, Universitas, 2001

A. F. Davies, Skills, outlooks, and passions. A psychoanalytic contribution to the study of politics, Cambridge University Press, 1980 (political affect)

Gilbert Cuthberton, 1975. Political Myth and Epic, Michigan University Press

Alan Dundes, 1984. Sacred Narrative: Readings in the Theory of Myth, Berkeley: University of California

Laura Edles, Symbol and Ritual in the New Spain, Cambridge University Press, 1998

S.N. Eisenstadt, Fundamentalism, Sectarianism and Revolution. The Jacobin Dimension of Modernity, Cambridge, 1999

Mircea Eliade, Sacrum, mit, historia, PiW, 1983

Stanislaw Filipowicz, Mit i spektakl wladzy, PWN, 1988

Bruce Franklin, M.I.A. or Mythmaking in America. How and why belief in live POWs has possessed a nation, Rutgers University Press, 1993

Mark Fenster, Conspiracy Theories. Secrecy and Power in American Culture, University of Minnesota Press, 1999.

Furedi, Frank, 1993. Mythical Past, Elusive Future, L ondon: Pluto Press

Clifford Geertz, “Centers, Kings, and Charisma: Reflections on the Symbolics of Power” in: Sean Wilentz (ed.), Rites of Power. Symbolism, Ritual and Politics since the Middle Ages, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999

Elzbieta Halas, Symbole w interakcji, Oficyna Naukowa, 2001 (Bourdieu’s symbolic politics)

Robert Hariman, Political Style. The Artistry of Power, University of Chicago Press, 1995

Arnold Heidenheimer (ed.), Political Corruption. Readings in Comparative Amalysis, Transaction Books, 1978 (corruption – development)

Judy Hilkey, Character is Capital. Success Manuals and manhood in Gilded Age

America, university of North Carolina Press, 1997

Patrick Hogan, The Culture of Conformism. Understanding Social Consent, Duke University Press, 2001

Rafał Imos, Wiara człowieka radzieckiego, Kraków: NOMOS, 2007

Marion Just, Ann Crigler, Russell Neuman, “Cognitive and Affective Dimensions of Political Conceptualization”, in: Ann Crigler (ed.), The Psychology of political

Communication, University of Michigan Press, 1998

Nikki Keddie (ed.), Debating Revolutions, NYU Press, 1995

David Kertzer, Ritual, Politics & Power, Yale University Press, 1988

Krzysztof Kowalski, Europa: mity, modele, symbole, Miedzynarodowe Centrum Kultury, Krakow, 2002

David Kunzle, Che Guevara - Icon, Myth, and Message, UCLA, 1997

Jacques LeGoff, History and Memory, 1992, New York: Columbia University Press

Charles Lindholm, Charisma, Basil Blackwell, 1990

Douglas Madsen, Peter Snow, The Charismatic Bond. Political Behavior in Time of Crisis, Harvard University Press, 1996 (Peron)

Carolyn Marvin, David Ingle, Blood Sacrifice and the Nation. Totem Rituals and the American Flag, Cambridge University Press, 1999

Lech Mazewski, W objeciach utopii. Polityczno-ideowa analiza dziejow Solidarnosci 1980-2000, Adam Marszalek, 2001 (strajk generalny, dobre spoleczenstwo-zla wladza)

Eleazar Mieletinski, Poetyka Mitu, Warszawa: PiW, 1981

Zbigniew Mikolejko, Mity tradycjonalizmu integralnego. Julius Evola i kultura religijno-filozoficzna prawicy, IfiS PAN, 1998 (jednostka absolutna, tradycja pierwotna, spol. i panstwo organiczne)

Filip Modrzejewski, Monika Sznajderman (red.), Nostalgia. Eseje o tesknocie za

komunizmem, Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wolowiec, 2002

George Mosse, The Nationalization of Masses. Political Symbolism and Mass Movements in Germany from the Napoleonic Wars through the Third Reich, Cornell University Press, 1996 (national consciousness – authoritarianism)

James Robertson, American Myth, American Reality, Hill & Wang, 1994

Jean-Paul Roux, Krol. Mity i symbole, Volumen, 1998

KNOWLEDGE

• understand the concept of symbolic politics

• significant basic forms of political participation;

• knows how values ​​are manifested in politics;

SKILLS

• uses the concept of political culture for practical purposes and analysis of society and politics;

• different living theories of life;

• an AC source has been detected in the United States

SOCIAL COMPETENCE

• formula judgments about the occurrence of phenomena;

• understand the concept of citizenship and agency in a democratic society;

• The importance of values ​​in politics.

final grade will come from:

group presentation (30%)

final paper (individual) (50%)

participation in class discussions and small homeworks (20%)

not applicable