This course will introduce students to several key works by Marx and to the debates that have grown up around them. The course will be organized into three units that treat several of the problematics that have been repeatedly returned to by readers of Marx and Marxist theorists, historians, and cultural critics: 1) History and Class; 2) Capital and Labor; and 3) Culture and Ideology. In addition to Marx, thinkers whose writings we will consider include: Balibar, Wallerstein, Chakrabarty, Lukacs, Fraad, Pietz, Althusser, Williams, Eagleton, Benjamin, Spivak, Butler, Denning, Hardt and Negri. Emphasis will be placed on close reading of texts and on animation, elaboration, and analysis of the dialogue emergent amongst them. Previous work in philosophy or critical theory will be helpful, but is not required as a prerequisite.