A note on editions
Given that our discussions will be in English, this class will have to cope with a bit of an editorial problem: as of today, there is no complete English translation of the Prison Notebooks. While this could in itself be matter for reflection, our syllabus tries to put the notebooks in their (intended? original?) order by relying on the following English translations:
For Notebooks 1-8: Gramsci, Antonio. Prison Notebooks. Ed. Joseph Buttigieg, New York: Columbia University Press, 1992-.
For Notebook 25 on subaltern historiography: Gramsci, Antonio. Subaltern Social Groups: A Critical Edition of Prison Notebook 25. Eds. Joseph Buttigieg and , New York: Columbia University Press, 2021.
And, for the rest of the notebooks, on this concordance table of:
- Gramsci, Antonio. Selections From the Prison Notebooks. Eds. Quintin Hoare, and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, 1st ed., New York: International Publishers, 1971.
- Gramsci, Antonio. Further Selections From the Prison Notebooks. ed. Derek Boothman, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995.
- Gramsci, Antonio. Selections From Cultural Writings. Eds. David Forgacs, and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1985.
Needless to say, you should feel free to read the Notebooks in any other language than English.
Syllabus
- August 24: Introduction
Marzia Maccaferri. “How Antonio Gramsci’s Ideas Went Global.” Jacobin. November 1, 2021. Available here.
- August 26: Before the Prison Notebooks
Antonio Gramsci, “The Revolution against Capital” (1917); “Our Marx” (1918); “Letter to the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party” (1926); “Some Aspects of the Southern Question” (1926) (All readings for this week are in Sakai/Resources).
Some topics for discussion: The relation of the Notebooks to Gramsci’s political activity before imprisonment; vitalism; voluntarism; idealism; materialism; relation with Marx and Marxism; “intellectuals”; emergence of the term “hegemony.”
- Week 2 (August 31-September 2): Notebook 1 (1929-1930)
From Prison Notebooks or Quaderni del carcere
Some topics for discussion: What are the Prison Notebooks? Overview of publication and reception. Structure and composition of the notebooks. Problems of periodization. Distinction between “miscellany” and “special” notebooks. Distinction among A, B, and C notes. Q1§47. Civil Society and its relation to the State. The relation between “cultural” and “economic” spheres. How does the question of “ideology” emerge?
- Week 3 (September 9): Notebook 2 (1929-1933)
From Prison Notebooks or Quaderni del carcere
Some topics for discussion: Gramsci’s prison readings. The “charismatic leader.” Q2§75.Relation between the intellectual avant-garde and the masses; or between party and “people”. How is the notion of “hegemony” developing/changing? Why?
- Week 4 (September 14-16): Notebook 3 (1930)
From Prison Notebooks or Quaderni del carcere
Some topics for discussion: Consensus/Coercion; leadership/domination; past/present; nation/nationalism; popular/populist; Q3§34.
- Week 5 (September 21-23): Notebook 4 (1930-1932)
From Prison Notebooks or Quaderni del carcere
Some topics for discussion: Relation between philosophy and politics; art and culture; the problem of “everyday life”; structure/superstructure and the notion of “historic bloc”; Taylorism, Weber, and “rationalization”; Q4§52.
- Week 6 (September 28-30): Notebook 5 (1930-1932)
From Prison Notebooks or Quaderni del carcere
Some topics for discussion: the locution “philosophy pf praxis”; philology and censorship (problems of interpretation).
- Week 7 (October 5-7): Notebook 6 (1930-1932)
From Prison Notebooks or Quaderni del carcere
Some topics for discussion: Logic and the “language of science”: Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Giuseppe Peano. The notion of “organic crisis”.
- Week 8 (October 14): Paper Abstracts Due
- Week 9 (October 19-21): Notebook 7 (1930-1931)
From Prison Notebooks or Quaderni del carcere
Some topics for discussion: “Conformism” and the “collective man”; the notions of “war of position” and “war of maneuver”; “ideology”.
- Week 10 (October 26-28): Notebook 8 (1931-1932)
From Prison Notebooks or Quaderni del carcere
Some topics for discussion: The notion of “passive revolution”; “determined market” and the place of economy in Gramsci’s Notebooks; Q8§128.
- Week 11 (November 2-4): Notebooks 9-12 (1932-1933)
Further Selection, pp. 99; 140-3; 145-7; 156-160; 164-173; 176-180; 182-4; 189-90; 226-229; 233-4; 268-70; 283; 285-304; 306-313; 315-319; 328-361; 366-377; 379; 382-435; 439; 441; 445-475
Selection from the Prison Notebooks, pp. 5-23; 26-43; 114-120; 200-2; 208; 323-354; 357-60; 362-376; 386-8; 399-402; 402-407; 410-14; 418–472
Selections from Cultural Writings: pp. 138-40; 194-5; 285-6; 333-4; 378-9
Some topics for discussion: “What is Man?”. Sciences, relativism, and quantum physics.
- Week 12 (November 9-11): Notebooks 13-20 (1932-1935)
Selection from Cultural Writings, pp. 99-102; 108-112; 117-19; 124-133; 140-145; 203-6; 217-222; 236-7; 241-249; 257-9; 266-7; 272-273; 294-297; 313-314; 340-1; 355-9; 375-377; 379-385; 403-408
Further Selection, pp. 21-2; 25-28; 28-35; 43-44; 55-71; 76-92; 92-94; 96-100; 102-106; 137; 151-154; 174-176; 181-182; 219-226; 237-239; 243-246; 248-534; 256-258; 261; 266-267; 273-274; 283-285; 303; 305; 313-315; 323-325; 380-382; 423-4; 439-442; 461-462
Selection from the Prison Notebooks, pp. 55-114; 125-150; 150-194; 202-205; 210-226; 240-247; 253-257; 265-267; 269-270; 361-365; 372-373; 382-386; 388-599; 414-418
Some topics for discussion: Niccolò Machiavelli; the “Modern Prince”; Renaissance and Reformation; Catholicism and Religion; epoch/duration and the problem of historiography.
- Week 13 (November 16-18): Notebooks 21-29
Selection from Cultural Writings, pp. 91-99; 102-103; 112-115; 122-123; 133-134; 146; 171-173; 179-194; 199-202; 206-216; 238-241; 252-255; 264-265; 267-269; 271-272; 277-278; 288-291; 293-294; 301-306; 309-311; 315-326; 328-331; 335-337; 353-355; 359-362; 364-375; 408-425
Further Selection, pp. 23-24; 50-55
Selection from the Prison Notebooks, pp. 52-55; 261-262; 279-318
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Eds. Cary Nelson, and Lawrence Grossberg. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988. 271-313. Available here.
Some topics for discussion: Americanism; the notion of “subaltern groups”; folklore; linguistics and/as politics; spontaneity and coercion.
- Week 14 (November 23): After Gramsci
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. “Can the Subaltern Speak?.” Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture. Eds. Cary Nelson, and Lawrence Grossberg. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1988. 271-313.
Hall, Stuart. “Gramsci’s Relevance for the Study of Race and Ethnicity.” Journal of Communication Inquiry 10.2 (1986): 5-27.
- Week 15 (December 2): After Gramsci
Beasley-Murray, Jon. Posthegemony: Political Theory and Latin America. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2010. The Introduction is available here.
Anderson, Perry. “The Antinomies of Antonio Gramsci.” New Left Review 100.22 (1976): 5-78.
