02 - Cultural Studies - An Introduction

CULTURAL CUL TURAL STUDIES STUDIES

Introduction •

Cultural studies is a post WWII movement with its origins emanating from continental continental European think thinkers ers like lik e Freud, Marx, R.ance), Barthes, Pierre Bordieu, Bor dieu, Michel Mich el Fou Foucault cault,, Engles, Lacan (France), (Fr Mi Michael chael Bakhtin, Ferdinand de Saussure.

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In England, the most prominent Cultural Studies figures are Stuart Hall and Raymond Williams INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL STUDIES:

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Introduction •

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Today, Cultural Studies is a quite spread out field. It is not a critical theory; rather it is a critical practice that borrows from a variety varie ty of disciplines such as Marxism, Feminism, Film Studies, Media Studies, Pos Postmodernism, tmodernism, Anthropology,, Social Studies Anthropology Studies,, S Semiotics, emiotics, Technology echnology,, Sciences, Postcolonial Postcolonial Race/Ethnicity Studies;Studies, Gender Studies, and Cultural Studies is more of a methodology informed by theory INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL STUDIES:

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What is culture? Definition I •

“Culture is the shared meaning we make and encounter in our everyday lives [, …] the practices and processes of making meanings with and from the texts

we encounter in our everyday lives.” •

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Shared meanings:  –

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culture depends on shared meanings, the understanding you have of something you share with other people. Culture is the MEANINGS WE ALL SHARE; it can be symbolism, a definition given to a particular word, a specific perception of a social phenomenon. INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL STUDIES:

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What is culture? Definition I •

We make:  –

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culture is a shared meaning we mak make. e. These meanings are not handed down to us by an authority above. Actually, we are actively involved in making these meanings together. together.

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