My Paper Suggestion: Sean Hulse

     I'd like to begin discussing affect theory through a meditative procedure. Starting with Descartes' principles of "mind and body", which are essentially the separation of "pure understanding" (the notion of epiphany or complete comprehension of an idea) and "imagination" (the derivation of ideas we gather through our senses), respectively. Thus, I am utilizing Descartes' foundation of knowledge in order to begin my studies of affect, and possibly discuss my own affect: the affect of pure understanding.
     I have also been tying in the ideas of art into my research. I am inclined to use pure understanding and imagination to dissect art. Specifically speaking, I will utilize abstract art because it is so "fundamental", that it seems to produce affects as opposed to emotion. Such research has brought about articles discussing the idea of mimesis in art. Clement Greenberg began a comparative study of abstract art and -- essentially -- realism, claiming that if art (and music) is produced for an effect (to produce an affect) it is kitsch. Kitsch is considered low-brow, mass produced, art or design. Thus, abstract art is not produced for the reader but it is intended to be read. So, I will borrow from his notions and attempt to grow the idea that abstract art is part of the imagination and pure understanding and by reading art and having a reaction to art, one is having the affect of pure understanding. 
   Furthermore, studies of Descartes discuss that he believed affect was partially a "the perceptions, feeling or emotions of the soul which we relate specially to it [the soul], and which are caused, maintained and fortified by some movement of the spirit" (Descartes, 21). So, here we have a connection to the imagination and pure understanding through affect. Thus, it partially solves a major issue in Descartes' meditations about how the mind and body connect.

  So, these are the ideas I am playing around with for my paper: the affect of pure understanding, the way abstract art becomes a perfect example of affect, and the way affect is defined through art forms and memisis. I want to discuss the validity of affect and possibly my own affect mentioned above. Please help me work through some of my ideas or ask my to explain something better so I can work through my ideas more meticulously! (P.S. Hannah, I mentioned this in class for help on your own project so if any of these ideas are overlapping too heavily, I'll certainly revise my main points to be more original).

Vijay Course Contract

Student Name: Vijay Sachdev                                  Course: ENGL-361-01

Instructor Name: Sheila Lloyd                                 Semester: Fall 2013

Advisor Name: Leela MadhavaRau                           Unit Value: 4

Course Description:

         What are the implications of our being affected by others (i.e., to be acted upon), and what are the implications of our capacity to affect others (i.e., to act)? These are two of the primary questions that in the last two decades or so literary critics have taken up.  In their studies of affect and emotions0 that is, of such states as depression, envy, optimism, grief, and anxiety—critics have pursued some of the connections linking aesthetics to politics and to circuits and systems of social attachment and belonging.

         Whether foregrounding the individualized or collectivized body as flow, system, and/or machine or capturing the “felt” of human life, critics have drawn attention to the omnipresence of affect and have contended with the notion that there has been a “waning of affect” (as Frederic Jameson argues about postmodernism) in contemporary culture.

         This course proposes an examination of what affect and affect theory are, a determination of the antecedents scholars drawn on when studying affect, an exploration of why affect has been such a compelling area of study in recent years, and an understanding of what affective studies helps critics to say about literature and art.

Course Contract:

            The question I hope to address throughout this course asks how theories like affect gain momentum in academia. I will gain a lot from reading required course material written by prominent figures in the field. In addition, I will bring in outside readings to be applied to affect. This will help me evaluate what I can explore in affect in relation to music, political economy, and radical egalitarian politics.

            I see anarchism as my thread for the course, incorporating punk movements, hip hop, and politics on the line. Thus, I hope to explore how anarchism can find its spirit within Affect Theory. This may be the topic I choose to address in my larger research paper for the course.

            This is the list of proposed literature I will bring into the course that will serve me in my research: Aberrations In Black by Roderick Ferguson, Anarchism and the Black Revolution, Capitalist Realism: Is There no Alternative? by Mark Fisher, From Black Power to Hip Hop by Patricia Hill Collins, and Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.

            The direction of my final research will become solidified as I become more exposed to the literature in Affect Theory. Thus, I will complete all required course literature in addition to my proposed list of books while actively participating in classroom discussion.

            In place of the first paper and class presentation, I will attend a punk show at the Blood-Orange Infoshop in Riverside on 10/18.  I will use still photography as a medium to capture a story about punk in the Inland Empire.  Because this show will happen well after the date for submission of the first paper, I will create a balance by submitting my research proposal on 10/09.  I will turn in my artist statement on 10/24. Instead of doing one of the proposed presentations on affect, I will present my photographs during the twelfth week of the semester, applying punk to Affect.

          As the direction of this course will be metamorphic, this contract will remain open for negotiation throughout the semester.

Also,
I was wrong about Mr. G. I guess it was an old billboard.  Either way the picture is still good enough to carry out an affect theory capstone.  http://www.sanmanuel.com/index.php/events/event/kenny-g/2013-09-12.

361 Erik Course Contract

Course Contract

I signed up for affect theory with the intent of contracting the class in order for it to adhere to my Johnston studies in business and film analysis/production.  I plan on doing all assigned readings, attending all classes, and participating actively in all discussions.  In lieu of completing the midterm paper, the final research paper, and the assigned presentation, I will be creating a short film with one other peer.  This film will exhibit our knowledge of class material as well as formal film production and brand/market analysis.  Instead of the midterm we will draft various ideas and present them to a focus group, give a survey to our affect theory class, and investigate other valid sources pertaining to our thesis (along with everything else necessary for pre-production).  Instead of completing the final research paper we will do research through secondary sources on how affect is created and displayed through the medium of film, as well as how branding and marketing affect either the singular or group's perception of their standing in society, and express this through the visual rhetoric of our film.  Rather than completing the assigned presentation, we will present our ideas and the final product to the class for other ideas, discussion, and critique.  Seeing as we do not yet have a consensus on what our thesis will be, we plan to develop this within the next few weeks and meet with Sheila Lloyd to discuss our findings.   We will turn in the final product with a written artist statement detailing how we portray affect, what research is pertinent, and an explanation of other film nuances.  At the end of this course I will submit a self and faculty evaluation in exchange for a written evaluation of my performance in class and the overall quality of the film.  This contract is subject to renegotiation at any time by either student or faculty.

My Johnston Course Contract

My primary field of study is film and other visual media, and I’d like the opportunity to integrate film into the course as often as I can. As opposed to production, however, I’m more interested in criticism and analysis. This semester, I’d like to write two papers, both of which will aim to analyze the ways in which affect functions in particular films. For the first paper, I’d like to analyze the ways in which the films of Mike Leigh implicitly refute the claims Tomkins makes about the agency that affect permits in his book Shame and His Sisters (as well as illuminating the ways in which the protagonist of Leigh’s film Naked displays melancholic affects as Freud describes them in his paper on melancholia and mourning). I’m not sure yet what the topic of the second paper will be, but it will almost certainly integrate film studies in a similar way.

I would also like to be held accountable when it comes to class discussion and participation. My goal is to participate very frequently, and I’d like if my evaluation reflected whether or not I achieved this learning goal.

As always, this contract remains open for renegotiation by either party at any point over the semester.

This is a sample test post for our class' new blog for discussing affect theory.