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What is meant by "culture", and why do we need to study it? At the simplest level culture encompasses the how of life lived in a society, i.e. our common pool of language use, food customs, fashion trends, architectural styles, forms of entertainment, but also of social taboos and norms, regardless of whether these are explicitly expressed or implicitly understood. If "culture" is, in this sense, a way/s of 'worldmaking', is it not also much more than that? We can ask: Who makes these norms for us, or have they arisen from our own collective behaviour? To what extent are we agents who actively make our own 'worlds'; to what extent are we consumers of what social and cultural institutions, the media, and advertising agencies would have us believe is what the majority of us currently think/should be thinking? Cultural Studies have set themselves the agenda of trying to explain, as best as possible, why it is that we 'perform' culture in the ways that we do in the societies we inhabit.
Course material will be placed in the Semesterapparat (IB) or, if otherwise difficult to locate, will be made available online.
Participation All lecture series material to be read in preparation for each session as scheduled; regular participation in the full lecture series; end of term written test. Please check the TAS website under "Your Studies" for guidelines, especially on note-taking during a lecture series. |
