The Crowd

Fall 2021

Faculty

Description

From the Black Lives Matter uprising and democracy movement in Hong Kong to farmer’s protests in India and the 2021 Capitol Hill riots, we see crowds of people whose number, force, and relative anonymity make them a political power to reckon with. In this course we consider the crowd as an agent of politics. When does a group of people become a crowd? When is it called a mob? Who becomes a part of it and who’s afraid of it? Why is the crowd simultaneously celebrated and vilified? What does this ambivalence reveal about the nature of mass democracies globally? During the semester, we will first address these concerns around the crowd in scholarly work and eventually move on to ethnographic considerations of actual crowds that occupy our streets and our screens on a daily basis. The crowd, we will see, is a permanent fixture against which the words and actions of the people are defined. Yet, as an embodiment of popular political will and a figure of lawlessness and disorder, the crowd is here to stay. Together, we will aim to understand the role and the ruse of the crowd in the life of modern democracy.

Fall semester. Professor Chowdhury.

Expectations

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: emphasis on written work, readings, oral presentations, group work. Students with documented disabilities who will require accommodations in this course should be in consultation with Accessibility Services and reach out to the faculty member as soon as possible to ensure that accommodations can be made in a timely manner.

Course times and locations

FYSE 108 - L/D

Section 01
Tu 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM GREA 120
Th 11:30 AM - 12:50 PM GREA 120

Textbooks

Below are the textbooks used in this course, along with pricing information and availability at local bookstores. The price range shown is based upon queries to multiple online booksellers; click on the the price field to see detailed pricing information.

This is preliminary information about books for this course. Please contact your instructor or the Academic Coordinator for the department, before attempting to purchase these books.

ISBN	Title	Publisher	Author(s)	Book Store	Price
9780190847531	Bangkok is Ringing: Sound, Protest, and Constraint	Oxford University Press	Tausig, Benjamin	Amherst Books	From $18.62-$44.49
978-03930077001	Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego	W.W. Norton & Co.	Freud, Sigmund	Amherst Books	TBD
9780486419565	The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind	Dover Publications	Le Bon, Gustave	Amherst Books	From $8.97-$13.94
9780674983984	Notes Toward a Performative Theory of Assembly (Mary Flexner Lectures of Bryn Mawr College)	Harvard University Press	Butler, Judith	Amherst Books	From $9.59-$22.03

These books are available locally at Amherst Books.

Offerings

2022-23: Not offered
Other years: Offered in Fall 2021