Aim of the course
This course aims to investigate some important social issues of the USA with the help of the methodological tools of Cognitive Linguistics.
Content of the course
In the first half of the course chapters of George Lakoff’s Moral Politics will be read and discussed, and in the second half of the semester students will work on some of the so-called the ”hard issues” of American politics (e.g.: social programs and taxes, crime and death penalty, abortion, the culture wars, two models of christianity, the role of the government), analyze it in the way Lakoff does in his book and give a presentation on the chosen topic.
Reading list
Lakoff, George: Moral Politics – How Liberals and Conservatives Think. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2002.
Syllabus
13 Sep Introduction
20 Sep BREAK
27 Sep Chapters 1 and 2: Introduction
04 Oct Chapters 3 and 4: Moral Conceptual Systems
11 Oct Chapter 5: The Strict Father Morality
18 Oct Chapter 6: The Nurturant Parent Morality
25 Oct Chapters 7 and 8: From Family-Based Morality to Politics
01 Nov FALL BREAK
08 Nov Chapter 9: Moral Categories in Politics
15 Nov Hard issues: Presentations
22 Nov Hard issues: Presentations
29 Nov Hard issues: Presentations
06 Dec Hard issues: Presentations
13 Dec Hard issues: Presentations
Methods of evaluation
Final grades will have three components: (1) regular homework (Students will have to write three questions on the relevant chapters of the book and submit them for each lesson.) and active participation in the discussion during the classes, (2) giving a presentation on a chosen social issue with a Cognitive Linguistic analysis, (3) writing a 15-page-long research paper on the topic of the presentation.