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August 22nd: Introduction to
Cultural Studies
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Introduction to Cultural Studies
How to think about literature from a cultural studies perspective.
Culture:
“the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular
social, ethnic, or age group” (dictionary.com’s
5th definition).
Take a look at the OED Online's 6th and 7th definitions.
Literature: “writings in which expression and form, in connection with ideas of permanent and universal interest, are characteristic or essential features, as poetry, novels, history, biography, and essays” (dictionary.com’s 1st definition).
Cultural Studies
Simply put, studying culture. Having a cultural studies lens means one looks at ideas, values, movements, society in general as being mediated be prevailing characteristics of a group (often on a large scale). This approach attempts to find (or read) the meanings of artifacts (including texts—i.e. literature, film, music, etc.) as products of the cultures from which they come.
No text is created in a vacuum—devoid of external influence. Authors and their texts are products of the characteristics of their culture, which includes the culture’s moment in time. Although we can’t identify universally essential features of each individual, we can argue (and support) what appear to be prevailing values of a culture. Unlike analysis that aims to “unlock” meaning based on an individual author’s life (e.g. psychoanalysis), a cultural studies perspective interprets individual and group actions as primarily influenced by culture.
There are other types of interpretations of literature. One thing to remember is that in the Humanities, we don’t consider any one discipline having THE answer. Instead, we arrive at answers based on the questions we ask, which are mediated by our disciplinary epistemologies. Cultural Studies is inherently interdisciplinary because it borrows methods of interpretation from a variety of disciplines: History, Sociology, Philosophy, Anthropology, and others. In this class, we’ll mostly consider literature from historical and sociological perspectives—time period and society, respectively.
Culture Vocabulary
These are important terms to know when talking about culture.
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Ideology:
prevailing cultural/institutional attitudes, beliefs, norms,
attributes, practices, and myths that are said to drive a society.
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Hegemony:
the ways or results of a dominant group's (the hegemon)
influence over other groups in a society or region. The dominant
group dictates, consciously or unconsciously, how society
must be structured and how other groups must "buy into"
the structure. For example, the former Soviet Union was the
hegemonic power influencing the communist countries of Eastern
Europe during the Cold War.
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Systemic: (adjective) pertaining to an
entire system, institution, or object; something 'systemic'
cannot be removed from the system.
Literary
Vocabulary
These are important terms to know when talking about literature. Sometimes we (English professors) use different terms interchangeably, but the definitions below are good for our purposes in this class.
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Intentionality fallacy: this fallacy refers to the shortsighted belief that textual meaning comes solely through the author's intent. Even when authors or directors are around and claim "I meant this...I didn't mean that...," meaning is beyond their total control. After all, they're products of a culture.
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Rhetoric:
the ability to perceive the available means of persuasion (Aristotle), or the ways in which meanings are conveyed.
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Epistemology:
"a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge."
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Theme: a unifying or dominant idea, motif, etc., as in a work of art.
- Genre: literary or other textual products
"with certain conventions and patterns that, through repetition,
have become so familiar that [audiences] expect similar elements
in the works of the same type" (Dick, p. 112).
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Illusion: "false or misleading representation of reality."
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Allusion: making reference to something, often in a text. For instance, many early American writers alluded to Biblical stories in their works.
- Allegory: "figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another." For instance, the characters or events in a text symbolize a deeper meaning than what's on the page.
Next Week
Well, that's it for this week. Make sure you have the Asimov and Heinlein short stories read for Tuesday (8/27). See you next week.
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Aaron
A. Toscano's Homepage
