Culture and contemporary world

Course description

The course is a practical introduction to culture as an object of academic study. It looks at the interdisciplinarity of Cultural Studies and the evolution of research orientations. It shows how cultural forms and practices can be analysed, evaluated and explained in the context of various theoretical models (e.g., psychological, sociological, anthropological ). It introduces students to terminology and conceptual framework of Cultural Studies.

Course objectives

The course is of an introductory character. It aims to acquaint students with a broad range of themes and research orientations in Cultural Studies. It gives them basic knowledge and analytic skills. It should encourage students to pursue more advanced inquiries into cultural aspects of philological studies.

Course content

1. Definitions and typologies of culture

2. Main research paradigms in Cultural Studies – structuralism, culturalism, poststructuralism, postmodernism

3. Culture and communication, language and social class

4. Culture as mediation and practice, representation and communication

5. Cultural geography: spaces, places, landscapes

6. Culture, power and ideology

7. Cultural identities, cyberculture

8. Cultural resistance, subculture

9. Culture and the body

10. Culture and globalization, consuming culture

Reading list

A. obligatory reading (to get a credit):

A.1. used in class

Longhurst, Brian, Greg Smith, Gaynor Bagnall, Garry Crawford, Miles Ogborn, 2008. Introducing Cultural Studies 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education

Walton, David. 2008. Introducing Cultural Studies: Learning through Practice. London/Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications

A.2. used for self-study

Chandler, Daniel. 1994-2012. Semiotics for Beginners e-book from http://users.aber.ac.uk

Press and online materials on various aspects of culture, particularly in the Anglo-American world

B. supplementary reading

Stokes, Jane. 2003. How to do Cultural and Media Studies. London/Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge: Students:

1. know the basic terms and concepts of Cultural Studies s-W-1

2. understand the interdisciplinarity of Cultural Studies and the relations between culture and other humanistic and philological subjects s-W-1, s-W-2

3. know about the work of cultural institutions, about the cultural products and practices in the contemporary world s-W-2

Skills Students:

4. can locate, analyze, select, evaluate and use information from various sources and in various media s-U-1

5. can discriminate among various types of cultural forms and practices, analyze them exhaustively, interpret their meanings with the aid of typical philological methods, recognize their social relevance and their function for historical and cultural formation s-U-1

6. can prepare and deliver an oral/multimedia presentation about a chosen detailed aspect of the course s-U-2

Social competences

7. Students take part in cultural life and take advantage of various media to enhance their social competences s-K-1, s-K-2

Evaluation of learning outcomes according to the following criteria:

In-class discussions and presentations from assigned reading (4,5) 20%

Project (multimodal presentation, oral presentation) on a chosen aspect of the course content (3,6,7) 30%

Written open-ended test (1,2) 50%

Methods of instruction/ forms of classroom activity:

In-class activities, Lecture and/or presentation, Text analysis and discussion.

Oral/multimodal presentations