THE POLITICS OF BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: AUTHORITY AND ACTION Writing Seminar, Spring 2012 Tu/Th, 10:10-11:25AM in Stimson 119

Nolan Bennett, ndb47@cornell.edu White Hall B03 Office Hours: W 3:30-4:30 and by appointment Can we learn from political science fiction? In this course students will write on and analyze themes in political theory through the medium of popular science fiction, specifically the world and narrative of the television series, Battlestar Galactica. Set as a post-9/11 paradigm of political unrest and crisis, the show will provide multiple perspectives from which to consider the role of authority in politics, pop culture, and our own lives. By drawing on contemporary politics and short selections of canonical theory, students will develop writerly and political self-awareness about why government exists, its power, and our duty or capability to resist it. In doing so, we will reflect on the importance of writing, pop culture, and personal experience for our political dispositions.

Course Objectives The broad aim of this course is to develop skills in persuasive writing, primarily the drafting of theses and the articulation of an authorial voice. Our secondary aim is to see substantive learning and writing as closely intertwined. More specifically, students should learn and develop a number of important writing skills. Students will: - Develop skills of interpreting pop culture according to personal, contemporary, and historical political views. - Learn important preparatory writing techniques and skills in revision. - Formulate arguments, theses, and counter-arguments around the retrieval and offering of evidence and criteria. - Grow comfortable providing constructive feedback on peers work, and receiving feedback in kind. - Become more self-aware as a writer, concerning personal techniques, strengths, and room for improvement. - Articulate critical yet flexible positions on political concepts, reflected in confident style and rhetoric.

2 Required Materials Battlestar Galactica, seasons 1-4: available on 2-hour reserve at Uris, and streaming on Hulu Plus and Netflix. Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, They Say, I Say, 2nd ed.: available at Buffalo Street Books in downtown Ithaca. Additional readings are to be provided on Blackboard.

Course Expectations Assignments: As this is a writing class, the bulk of our work together will be the preparation and revision of six papers. Assignments will grow more complex and critical throughout the semester, beginning with evaluative and descriptive tasks and moving toward critical comparison, the drafting of arguments, and the creation of original topics for interpretive research. All work must abide by standard MLA formatting, with evidence properly cited. More information, including preparatory stages and due dates, will be provided with each assignment. Dossier: Students are expected to keep a folder of all work done in the class, including papers, peer reviews, course notes, free-writes, and handouts. From time to time, I will collect these dossiers to check on individual writing progress; I will give you a heads up prior to collecting these. These dossiers are to insure that you have your full writing repertoire and set of evidence with you in class, and to allow you flexibility in writing by hand or computer. Attendance: Your being here is the most basic requirement of the class. I pay strict attention to excessive absences and waltzing in late to class if you are unable to attend a section for a legitimate reason (illness, family emergency, etc.), please contact me in advance. Participation: Please come to class ready to discuss your writing and the course readings. One of my goals in this class is to foster a comfortable environment for talking about personal, political, and critical opinions: as the course themes will often be complex and contentious, please remain respectful of others and yourself. Students have varying comfort levels in terms of speaking up if you find this difficult, I would be happy to speak with you in office hours or by email. Your participation grade also includes in-class assignments, free-writes, and peer-reviews.

3 A quick note on laptops: Although laptops are not recommended for taking notes in class, I fully respect students diverse methods of note-taking. I require only that you maintain an updated dossier by printing out your notes before class, so that you have on-hand all evidence and writing at any time. Public Domain: As we rely heavily on peer review in this class, the writing you do is public that is, your assignments may be photocopied and reviewed by your colleagues, and portions of your writing may be used in class to learn from each others work. Peer review and class discussion of your work are essential to improving your writing and making you a more selfaware writer. When discussing one anothers work, we will be direct and truthful, yet always respectful and considerate. Conferences: I will hold individual conferences with each of you twice during the semester to touch base and discuss your progress. We will schedule these in advance, one at the beginning and one toward the end of the semester. I am also available during office hours and very flexibly by appointment to chat about anything writing-, politics-, or BSG-based. Grading: the majority of papers assigned in this course will go through multiple draft stages; as such, only the final draft is graded, your earlier drafts receiving comments or peer review. Although papers are individually graded, your progress and improvement over the course is taken into heavy consideration. Participation Paper 1 Paper 2 Paper 3 Paper 4 Paper 5 Paper 6 Portfolio 20% ungraded (included in participation) 10% 10% 15% 15% 25% 5%

4 Guidelines for Submission of Written Work Unless otherwise stated, you must submit a hard copy of your work at the beginning of class. Written assignments must be typed. 12-point standard font (e.g. Times New Roman) Double-spaced One-inch margins, 0 pt spacing after lines Insert page numbers At the top of each assignment, include your name, assignment number, draft number, and date of submission. Please do not include a cover page. - Use proper parenthetical citations (this will be discussed early in class).

Other Matters Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a serious offense at Cornell and can be grounds for dismissal from the university. Plagiarism consists of knowingly misrepresenting anothers work as your own, and can apply to buying papers online or appropriating another authors words and research as your own. Cornells plagiarism policy can be found at http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/ Academic/AIC.html. If you have any questions about sources and citation, please ask me in advance. Disabilities: In compliance with Cornell Universitys policy and equal access law, I am available to discuss academic accommodations that you may require as a student with a disability. You need to make requests for accommodations during the first two weeks of the semester, except in unusual circumstances. Students must register with Student Disability Services (SDS) for disability verification and for determination of reasonable academic accommodations. More information can be found at http://sds.cornell.edu. Additional Writing Help: If you seek additional writing help past the scope of this class, I encourage you to contact the Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines about the various services offered for paper writers and peer tutoring. More info is at http://www.arts.cornell.edu/knight_institute/.

5 Course Schedule All readings are to be completed by their assigned date. Material listed as optional is thematically relevant to the days topic, but is not required viewing. Assigned material marked with an asterisk (*) will be available on the courses Blackboard in advance. Dates and assigned readings are not set in stone; in the event that they change, I will let you know in advance. A note about the reading: Battlestar Galactica is a long show, and we unfortunately do not have the time to watch it in its entirety during the semester. Many of you will push ahead out of interest and enjoyment; my contract with you is that while you are responsible for the dates required reading, none of our assignments will require that you have watched more than what is required here. For each paper, you will have more than ample evidence from whats listed below. A brief note on spoilers: Its easy to ruin game-changing events for others, so please be respectful of keeping discussion based on episodes watched thus far. Any episodes we miss along the way are fair game, and will be summarized in class if important. GROUP I: Authority after Crisis WEEK I: Introduction Jan 24: Into the Brink Jan 26: Emergency Briefing Required: Miniseries 1st half WEEK II: Authority as Protection Jan 31: Space Leviathan Paper 1 Reflection due Required: Miniseries 2nd half Hobbes, selections from Leviathan* Feb 2: Expectations of Authority Required: S1E1 33 They Say, I Say (TSIS) Ch2: Her Point Is

6 WEEK III: Power and Prerogative Feb 7: Means and Ends of Authority Required: S1E3 Bastille Day Machiavelli, selections from Discourses* Feb 9: Prerogative in Times of War Paper 2 Basic Analysis due Required: S1E6 Litmus; S1E8 Flesh and Bone WEEK IV: Testing Leadership Feb 14: New Challengers Required: S1E11 Colonial Day TSIS Ch3: As He Himself Puts It Optional: S1E10 Hand of God Feb 16: New Crises Required: S1E12/13 Kobols Last Gleaming parts 1 & 2

GROUP II: Crises in Authority WEEK V: Force and Suppression Feb 21: Martial Law and Tyranny Required: S2E1 Scattered; S2E3 Fragged TSIS Ch8: As a Result Feb 23: Does Authority Suppress the Public? Required: S2E4 Resistance Plato, selections from Republic* WEEK VI: Reparations Feb 28: Binding Wounds Paper 3 Critical Comparison due Required: S2E6/7 Home parts 1 & 2 TSIS Ch4: Yes/No/Okay, But

7 Mar 1: Chain of Command Required: S2E10 Pegasus Locke, selections from Second Treatise* WEEK VII: Insurrection Mar 6: Coup and Assassination Required: S2E11/12 Resurrection Ship parts 1 & 2 Mar 8: Civil Resistance Required: S2E13 Epiphanies; TSIS Ch5: And Yet Optional: S2E8 Final Cut; S2E14 Black Market; S2E16 Sacrifice WEEK VIII: Failure to Lead Mar 13: Impersonal Leadership Required: S2E17 The Captains Hand Mar 15: Charismatic Leadership Paper 4 Argument and Evidence due Required: S2E19/20 Lay Down Your Burdens parts 1 & 2 WEEK IX: On Leave Mar 19-23: Spring Break Optional: The Resistance webisodes (free on Hulu)

GROUP III: Revolt and Resistance WEEK X: Violence and Retaliation Mar 27: Violent Resistance Required: S3E1 Occupation Fanon, selections from Wretched of the Earth*

8 Mar 29: Non-violent Resistance Required: S3E2 Precipice Thoreau, selections from Civil Disobedience* Optional: S3E3/4 Exodus parts 1 & 2 WEEK XI: Justice or Revenge Apr 3: Justice after Genocide? Required: S3E5 Collaborators TSIS Ch6: Skeptics May Object Apr 5: Genocide as Justice? Required: S3E7 A Measure of Salvation Optional: S3E6 Torn WEEK XII: Outsiders and the Underclass Apr 10: Foreigner Justice Required: S3E13 Taking a Break from All Your Worries Optional: S1E7 Six Degrees of Separation Apr 12: Justice at Home Required: S3E16 Dirty Hands Marx, selections from Communist Manifesto* Optional: S3E14 The Woman King WEEK XIII: Political Guilt Apr 17: Law and Duty Paper 5 Style and Counter-arguments due Required: S3E18 The Son Also Rises; S3E19 Crossroads part 1 Optional: S1E4 Act of Contrition; S3E8 Hero

9 Apr 19: Scapegoats Required: S3E20 Crossroads part 2 TSIS Ch7: So What? Who Cares? Optional: S1E2 Water GROUP IV: New Horizons WEEK XIV: New Membership Apr 24: What is the Citizen? Required: S4E7 Guess Whats Coming to Dinner; S4E9 The Hub Michael Walzer, What Does it Mean to Be an American?* Optional: S2E5 The Farm; S2E18 Downloaded; S4E2 Six of One Apr 26: The End of Ideals Required: S4E11 Sometimes a Great Notion Optional: S4E4 Escape Velocity WEEK XV: Death of the Old Order May 1: Catalyst Required: S4E12 A Disquiet Follows My Soul; S4E13 The Oath Optional: Face of the Enemy webisodes May 3: Breakdown Required: S4E14 Blood on the Scales Optional: S4E15 No Exit S4E18 Islanded in a Stream of Stars WEEK XVI (STUDY WEEK): Can We Start Again? Screening of S4E19/20 Daybreak, TBA. Paper 6 Original Research and portfolios due May 14