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--></style><title>Re: [iDC] Praxis-based Ph.D.s</title></head><body>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">Dear
IDCs,</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">Being almost brand
new to this list, you may be used to the quality of posts and the
often passionate presentation of ideas, but I think it is worth
noting. I am impressed; I have already learned a lot from this
discussion. Thanks to Mary Anne for jumping in
wholeheartedly and for all the subsequent comments from people I know
and those whom I might meet someday. </font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">If I understand
correctly, Danny Butt's most recent post suggests that Mary Anne and I
might unwittingly undermining the value of the Ph.D. through our
practice-Ph.D. based programs or perhaps cause babies to be thrown out
with bath water--meaning, perhaps, that the consequences of our naive
and risky actions could be the end of the
M.F.A. </font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">Danny
writes:</font></div>
<div>This tension is constitutive of the artist/museum relationship as
well of course, but I think there is a different kind of political
problematic at work for people such as Margaret and Mary Anne when
initiating creative-practice PhD programmes. From my point of view,
the practice-based PhD will inevitably contribute to the corrosion of
various mechanisms of disciplinary authority embodied in the
dissertation. We would then expect a push-back effect from disciplines
that are threatened by these developments and I think it would
be good if, collectively, we were able to speculate on some of the
effects of this political struggle on the institutional power of art
departments located within research universities. To bring practice
into the research game will bring with it certain levels of managerial
oversight andaccountabilities to institutional bodies outside the art
environment, and I have to remain agnostic about the overall benefits
from such risky moves, even as I suggest that some experimentation
with these is necessary. Perhaps we will eventually look back with
fondness to the idea of the MFA as the terminal degree for the
artist/educator?</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>In that last paragraph I'm thinking through a potential homology
with Spivak's account in "Death of a Discipline" of the
institutional trajectory of cultural studies in relation to
comparative literature and area studies. It's an account I find
compelling in its articulation of how difficult the baby/bathwater
dynamics are with interdisciplinary work, and how full of unintended
consequences the short-term pressures for institutional change can
be.</div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">The position of arts
(visual, digital, musical, etc.) departments vis-a-vis other
departments in the university has been bottom of the barrel until
recently, in my experience. After all, the arts weren't invited
into the university until a few decades ago (anyone who knows this
history can be more precise than I). I speculate that, if
anything, the advent of a visual and then a digital culture have
enhanced the value of the arts in the university context because they
seem to be nearer to the innovative areas of the economy. (The
vulnerability of state funding makes stakes in the economy an issue at
my university.) I also speculate that the advent of digital
culture has also made the move toward parity of art praxis to other
fields with Ph.D's possible. It is the humanities that are
looking around wondering where to go next. The arts are still
just a speck compared to engineering and biosciences, but even there
the arts, especially digital, are in a position to collaborate, in a
way that is different than E.A.T. in the 1960's and the like, but
nonetheless exciting to pursue. I doubt if Mary Anne and I are
causal factors in putting the arts into risky business--much larger
longtime shifts are at work. Utterly new art forms have emerged
that are closely allied with other social and cultural shifts.
It is an exciting time and to imply that the university would
inevitably be a spoiler of the arts is a vast generalization, just as
the retribution of the guardians of Ph.D. exchange value against the
arts seems a stretch. Can you please offer more concrete
examples or specifics of what you have in mind? </font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">Here I am going to
introduce one of the main features of the Film and Digital Media Ph.D.
proposal at UC Santa Cruz. The whole proposal is posted as a pdf
on the Dean of the Arts site under Initiatives:</font></div>
<div><font face="Lucida Grande" size="-4"
color="#000000">http://arts.ucsc.edu/dean/</font><font face="Times"
size="+2" color="#000000"> (You can look at other
departments such as the Digital Arts/New Media MFA listed in the
headers too if you like.) Note that this August 6, 2006 version is not
the most recent one.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">What Danny considers
the "risky" part re the practice-based Ph.D. is copied
below. I might add that Larry Andrews (video and installation
artist) and I wrote this section together in a very short amount of
time in response to a request for clarification. We stand behind
it, but don't think it is an exemplary statement.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><b>Excerpt from the
PROPOSAL FOR A PROGRAM OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN FILM AND DIGITAL MEDIA
FOR THE PH.D. DEGREE</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2"
color="#000000"><b>.....</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><b>2.3. Program of
Study<br>
</b>a. Specific fields of emphasis:<br>
The doctoral program in Film and Digital Media prepares students to
be<br>
scholars and professionals who can situate their work within a
larger<br>
historical framework of cultural and technological change, looking at
the<br>
interrelationships of various visual media from the late
19</font><font face="Times" size="-1" color="#000000">th</font><font
face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"> century through<br>
the present. The program is not divided into paths or specific fields
of<br>
emphasis.<br>
As well as training students in the intellectual histories of their
field and<br>
working with them to facilitate new theoretical and critical
interventions, we<br>
also expose students to fundamental and advanced aspects of media<br>
technologies that will illuminate their understanding of media
production<br>
and reception. Knowledge of praxis will not only enrich students'
critical<br>
research and writing and provide them new modes of expression and<br>
argumentation, but it can also provide a field of expertise for
future<br>
employment.<br>
b. How the mix of theory and practice is conceived and how it will
be<br>
implemented within the program of study:<br>
Assistant Professor Gustafson, who was recruited to a "hybrid"
position<br>
embracing theory and practice, has stated that one of the central
concerns of<br>
her research is a "focus on questions of methodology: what it means
to<br>
produce across the boundaries between 'theory" and
'practice.' One could<br>
argue that 'theory' and 'practice' are more related than we
ever really<br>
acknowledge. Historically critical practices have always been informed
by<br>
creative practices and creative practices have always been shaped by
critical<br>
ones. The connections between theory and practice are not new. What is
new,<br>
perhaps, is the acknowledgement that these terms of distinction,
of<br>
difference, have had a profound impact on our definitions of what it
means to<br>
produce creative or critical work and on what that work might look
like or<br>
sound like."<br>
It is not the goal of the program to define the mixture between theory
and<br>
practice for its students, rather it is to provide an environment
where the<br>
mixture emerges out of the research needs of the students. Three kinds
of<br>
approaches to the interplay of theory and practice outlined here
suggest</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">different paths
students may take in their course of studies and
research:</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">1. The artist
practitioner illuminates the intentions of his/her own work<br>
theoretically; or, the writer illuminates theoretical ideas
creatively. That is,<br>
one emphasis is supplementary to the other.<br>
To some extent, every artist is called upon to produce written
theoretical and<br>
contextual material to support the reception of creative work; artists
who<br>
teach will similarly engage with students theoretically and critically
in<br>
writing and critique.</font><br>
<font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">A deeper degree of
engagement of production with theory is exemplified in<br>
the film production tradition within the avant-garde from Eisenstein
and<br>
Vertov, through to Deren and Brakhage, in which the artist produces
theory<br>
to illuminate cinematic concerns. The theories of these filmmakers can
be<br>
understood as an interpretation of the films they produced and this
can be<br>
seen as one form of the theory/practice equation that the Ph.D.
program<br>
seeks to foster and nurture. This tradition of supplemental
theoretical writing<br>
has continued in relation to evolving forms of media art from video
and</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">closed-circuit
installation (e.g. Dan Graham and Bill Viola) on to artists who<br>
practice in new media forms from the early internet and virtual
reality to<br>
database, telematic and web art and other contemporary
formats.</font><br>
<font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">In critical studies,
practical knowledge enables and supports theoretical work<br>
to varying degrees. The writer/theorist/critic may use knowledge of
praxis<br>
in media to supplement scholarly research, teaching, public lectures
and in<br>
publication in which the end result might be a classical thesis in
print<br>
supplemented by a new media format such as a web site or DVD.<br>
Increasingly, scholars in every area of media studies are called upon
to use<br>
digital media techniques to create montage sequences or databases
that<br>
develop an idea or interpretation. Even minimal knowledge of media<br>
production practices also provides a more solid foundation for
scholarship,<br>
not only by limiting errors of fact or interpretation in areas of
praxis from<br>
film-making to programming, but also by inspiring new knowledge<br>
production, for instance, symbiotically, through participant
observation or by<br>
means of ethnographic interviews with artists. Melinda Barlow's
writing on<br>
the installation artist Mary Lucier would be exemplary of this
approach.<br>
Another example might be historical research on silent cinema
practiced by<br>
departmental faculty member Shelley Stamp, in that it closely
examines<br>
documents that allow production and exhibition practices to
be</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">reconstructed.
Ph.D. students in the program will have the opportunity
to</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">acquire both the
theoretical and practical knowledge valuable for success</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">as artists, scholars
and teachers.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
2. The artist is also a writer; the theorist is also an artist.<br>
A second approach to the idea, would be not to look at writings as
an</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">intermediate step
towards the eventual realization of a film or other
artwork,</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">or as a support for
scholarly research and teaching but to look at writing and<br>
filmmaking as but two means of pursuing the very same end, both being
a<br>
form of philosophical inquiry. Examples of artist/writers include Jean
Luc<br>
Godard, and other French New wave filmmakers, Judith Barry, Jordan<br>
Crandall and John Caldwell, as well as members of the department
faculty<br>
such Irene Gustafson, who publishes theoretical essays as well as
makes<br>
experimental and documentary films; and, Amelie Hastie, a writer who
has<br>
also produced a creative multi-media project sponsored by the
ejournal<br>
<i>Vortex.</i> In this model students produce distinct written<i>
and</i> media based<br>
projects. This model of mixing theory and practice is easiest to
justify since it<br>
meets the traditional requirements of both a classical dissertation as
well as<br>
the culmination of a creative project. The volume of both the
project or/and<br>
thesis would be assessed to determine if it constitutes the
appropriate and<br>
feasible size of the dissertation.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
3. The artist theorizes in the form of a creative production. The
writer<br>
reflects on praxis in writing that embodies media formats and
practices.<br>
There is a third approach which is possibly the most difficult for the
student<br>
to successfully conceive and therefore it will most like be a rare
path taken,<br>
but it is one which the Ph.D. program is nevertheless committed to<br>
supporting. From a production perspective, there are many
contemporary<br>
and historical examples of artists who make works that can be viewed
as<br>
producing knowledge. In this third approach, films are not conceived
as<br>
examples of some aesthetic theory put into practice, but ones that
are<br>
themselves the very medium of intellectual exchange, wherein a film is
made<br>
in response to another film or text allowing us to see filmmaking as a
form of<br>
debate. Another mode in this vein could be films that contain all
the<br>
arguments necessary and clearly articulated so that a text isn't
required to<br>
fully comprehend the theoretical ideas being wrestled with. More
discursive<br>
media genres lend themselves most easily to this end, including the
film<br>
essay as practiced by Chris Marker or works in the documentary
movements<br>
of the 1930's on (Bunuel, Lorentz) or ethnographic films by Rouch
and others,</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">as well as the
television serials of Dennis Potter or video art by Steve Fagin.<br>
Digital art such as database and social participatory media art
practiced by<br>
faculty members Sharon Daniel and Warren Sack would also be in
that<br>
discursive vein. (Both Daniel and Sack also publish articles that
amplify and<br>
expand their web-based art works.) New and digital media makes the
formal<br>
integration of theory and praxis more feasible, though the poetics of
such<br>
integration remain challenging nonetheless.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
>From a critical studies perspective it is possible to imagine, for
instance, a<br>
database art piece published on DVD or the web that is also a fully
realized<br>
thesis. A more difficult project would be to embody the logic and
practices of<br>
a creative medium in writing published as a traditional dissertation
in print,<br>
though it is not inconceivable. Such a thesis is likely to
intersect with poetry,</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">and might contain
many illustrations, or even video clips, and/or
hyper-text.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">c. How the
curriculum is designed to introduce and support the interplay<br>
between the theory and praxis throughout a student's progress
through the<br>
program:<br>
During the first year of study in Film200B/C a two-quarter course,
students<br>
will be introduced to the methodologies of developing, and the
questions that<br>
surround a theory praxis approach. This will occur while the
student<br>
simultaneously strengthens the areas they feel inadequate to
effectively<br>
speak, in theory or practice, with the appropriate elective classes,
pertinent to<br>
their area of focus.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
During the second year, the student will focus on selecting classes
from the<br>
FDM elective series numbered 210 -230. Of the 18 classes currently in
this<br>
series approximately 1/3 embrace a strong mix of theory/practice and
in<br>
these classes students will be charged with producing both and
thinking<br>
about the relationship between the two, The remainder of the classes
in this<br>
series fall on either side of the equation.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
The third year will be spent developing a thesis topic in close
consultation<br>
with Faculty advisors and the Film 290 series classes. A student's
advisors<br>
over the program's duration will include both critical studies and
production<br>
faculty depending on the research and the qualifying exam and
thesis<br>
committees will reflect a balance between critical studies and
production<br>
faculty appropriate to the student's research topic.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
How the mix of theory and practice might influence the choice of
thesis topics<br>
is demonstrated by means of a list of sample dissertation topics that
embody<br>
the diverse range of possibilities a student might undertake. This
list includes<br>
the possibility that a media production that is itself a realization
of a<br>
theoretical thesis may serve as a thesis format option for a fraction
of students<br>
in film studies. A student may decide to create an expressive digital
media<br>
format for a fully formed thesis and its scholarly apparatus.<br>
List of sample dissertation topics:<br>
1. A historical, biographical, critical and/or theoretical examination
of a<br>
specific artist, work, movement or genre with specific consideration
given<br>
to creative and production practices. Example: Video Collectives in
the<br>
late 1960's: An Examination of Group Authorship and Creative
Strategies<br>
in Three Collectives</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
2. Media archeological research on a pre-cinematic apparatus such
as<br>
chronophotography, that is accompanied by a creative database<br>
production that explores the historical and contemporary implications
of</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">chronophotography as
a medium: Time and the Trace</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">3. A creative
project that addresses, critiques and embodies stereoscopy<br>
as a cultural form</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
d. Plan:<br>
The department does not admit students solely for the purpose of
obtaining a<br>
master's degree. All applicants are admitted to a single Ph.D.
program. A<br>
preliminary exam, comprised of a cumulative review of all coursework
plus<br>
an oral exam, is held at the end of the second year, and functions as
the MA<br>
exam. The three possible outcomes of the exam are fail; pass; and pass
with<br>
permission to proceed with the Ph.D. A student who fails the exam may
retake<br>
the exam once. The decision on permission to proceed will take
into</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">account the exam
result and input from the faculty whose courses the student<br>
has completed. Those who pass without permission to proceed will
receive<br>
the degree of MA. These students must also meet the campus requirement
of<br>
B or higher in their course work and complete the units requirements
of 72<br>
units.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
Students who are successful at this exam and granted permission to
proceed<br>
may then enter the third year of study for the Ph.D. The capstone<br>
requirement will be fulfilled with a dissertation (see 2.5 below)
and<br>
coursework during the third year will be focused on developing this
project.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
e. Unit requirements:<br>
Doctor of Philosophy: A minimum of 108 units of study in course work
at<br>
UCSC will be required for the Ph.D. degree. Doctoral students will be
in<br>
residence for a minimum of six quarters. When in residence, students
will<br>
take a minimum of twelve units per quarter. Up to 10 transfer credits
may be<br>
granted from another institution if approved by the
faculty.</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"><br>
f. Required and recommended courses:<br>
Doctor of Philosophy: In their first year, doctoral students will be
required to<br>
take the three foundational courses listed below and the 2-unit
colloquium<br>
series sequence. They must then take two FDM graduate elective courses
in<br>
the second year (for a total of five courses; three core and two
electives). In<br>
addition, most students will take FILM 204A-B-C, a two-unit
colloquium<br>
every quarter. In the third year, students take the three graduate
courses in<br>
Film and Digital Media, 295 (Directed Reading), 292 (Seminar in Thesis
Area)<br>
and 297 (Independent Study and Research, leading to Thesis Proposal).
A<br>
student will thus take at least 8 Film and Digital Media graduate
courses over<br>
the degree, for a total of 40 credits plus 12 units of the colloquium
series. The<br>
remaining elective courses may be selected from Film and Digital Media
or<br>
from other graduate programs subject to the approval of the
student's<br>
graduate advisor. It is expected that students will carefully choose
which</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">courses to take, in
consultation with their graduate advisor, so as to ensure
a</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">program of study
that is intellectually rigorous and that reflects the
student's</font></div>
<div><font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000">eventual goals and
aspirations.</font><br>
<font face="Times" size="+2" color="#000000"></font></div>
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