Some Central Issues from a Perspective of Literary Studies Based on Jonathan Culler’s Literary Theory Cultural Studies

Outline u Why in our class? History of Cultural Studies in brief. u Central Concerns: 1. Culture and People; Culture and People 2. Definition of culture; Definition of culture 3. The Disciplinary Boundaries and Focuses of Literary Studies; The Disciplinary Boundaries 4. Modes of Analysis Modes of Analysis

Why in our class? u “Theories” – not just of literature, but of ‘signifying practices,’ psyche and society. u Can serve as an example of how theories are connected to each other. (e.g. marxism + psychoanalysis + structuralism) u Can help connect what we have learned to our own society.

Cultural Studies: Articulation of Theories u Subjectivity and power relations (Race, gender, class relations) in culture (cultural hegemony).  the circuit of culture Political agenda of Marxism + Postcolonialism + feminism Structuralism & semiotics

Cultural Studies: History of Articulation u 50's socialist humanism; (or Marxism) -- Hoggart, Williams, Thompson; New Left; u 60's -- culturalist u 70‘s -- structuralist marxism; semiotics; -- e.g. Althusser; Roland Barthes; u mid-70’s – Gramsci & Foucault; -- Derrida +Discourse theories of Foucault; -- Althusser + Lacan u mid- 80's -- postmodern debate u 90‘s – regional Cultural Studies

Different Theoretical Schools u Roland Barthes – ‘connotation’ of culture in his studies of different languages (e.g. wrestling p. 45; cf – next time.) u central debate 1: culture and people – of the people or imposed on the people (p. 45-) ; -- agency vs. mass; hegemony vs.ideological interpellation;  strategies of identification, self-location, resistance, etc. -- e.g. Are cf’s a kind of art? How do we respond to the interpellation of cf’s?

Cultural Studies: Main Concerns (2)  Points of contention: 1. Definitions of culture (high art vs. popular culture) & popular culture (mass culture or people’s culture); culture as a process and a product. 2. Disciplinary boundaries (what should a lit. major study?); u Relation between lit. studies, sociology and cultural studies (pp. 47) u Canon –e.g. the argument for “pure” or authentic literature; over principles of selection (pp ). 1.  Where does literary canon matter? In support of some power positions (of men, of some institutes in defining their identities) (response 2) 2. The choice of context determines the principles of selection. Even aesthetic values are determined by context. (responses 1 & 3)  Production of knowledge and cognitive flexibility

Cultural Studies: Main Concerns (3)  3. Modes of analysis u close reading vs. context analysis (including survey or quantity studies); appreciative interpretation vs. symptomatic reading;  not always in opposition u the lure of totality (e.g. gained through survey and statistics in studies of audience response)  combined with other methods; u “Is supposed” to make a difference in society.  Cultural Studies with Glo-cal concerns.