Cultural Studies PDF

First slide: At the core of the field of cultural studies is the Western idea that there is no absolute truth. That is, every thought, belief, system, or tradition can be questioned, scrutinized, studied, and analyzed. In order to either achieve a better understanding of it or find a better, more i...

First slide: At the core of the field of cultural studies is the Western idea that there is no absolute truth. That is, every thought, belief, system, or tradition can be questioned, scrutinized, studied, and analyzed. In order to either achieve a better understanding of it or find a better, more inclusive alternative. *The word inclusive is the cliché of the period now. To include all members and classes in a society. * At the early periods we can say yes our society is inclusive. It looks to the rights of women, poor, to the rights of the handicapped. *But it is this same word that is taken and employed by the liberals in America and the West to include other categorizations of human beings that are not acceptable to us. In other words, from a Western perspective, the goal of cultural studies is the study, analysis, understanding, processing, and creation of cultural change. *Cultural studies looks into every aspect of a specific culture or of human culture in general and studies each of these aspects from multiple angles in order to see, was there a change? How did it happen? Was that really a change or simply a development? And if there were no change, is there a possibility for change? * Because the goal is to achieve an effective kind of life for human beings and a better culture Second slide : To that effect, cultural studies is concerned with the dynamics of power and politics within a given social context. So, for example, a cultural study of a certain African American literary work would look into how the text reflects the social practices of the subculture of African American working-class men against the social practices of the dominant culture of white men, who control the policies affecting the livelihood of these black men. *In cultural studies, the focus is on understanding the dynamics of power and politics within a particular social context. *For example, imagine a black man working in a large company owned by white men. If the rules of the company are unfair or rooted in racism, the black worker of course will suffer from unequal pay, unjust punishments, or unfair treatment. *We use subculture, because we would have the umbrella of American culture, and underneath it the African American culture. Such study would have to draw on the literary concepts of characterization, setting, narrative, structure, plot, etc. Along with historical, predictive, and instinctive concepts that relate to the history and culture of blacks in the U.S. *we can’t study such a text, that case of the black man who works for a white men without referring to the long history of suffering by blacks in America. All the way since they were ruled from Africa as slaves, and then the Civil War, and then the Civil Rights Movement, and then all the social complications that came afterwards. Third slide: Hence, the field of cultural studies often includes various concepts and perspectives, from critical approaches and theories from multiple disciplines, including but not limited to Marxism, Feminism, History, Politics, Structuralism, Postcolonialism, Literary Theory, Film Studies, Art, and Communication Studies. *Cultural Studies” is an academic field that integrates various concepts and theories drawn from multiple disciplines. The idea is that cultural studies do not limit themselves to a single approach or perspective but rather encompass a blend of critical approaches and interpretations from different fields, such as: 1_Marxism: Is an intellectual movement that was invented by Karl Marx and another German called Higgins. Then It was developed by their followers. Basically, they are against capitalism. They actually are the ones why a movement like communism appeared, because they believed that everything in a country should be shared among all the individuals living in that country. 2-Feminism: The movement that appeared actually in the 19th century by the women who were asking to have the right to vote, and then it developed especially in the 1960s and 1970s, and basically feminism fights for the rights of women in having equal pay, equal living, equal civil rights as those of men. 3_History: Used to understand how the past influences culture and the present. 4_Politics: The study of how power, governance, and policies impact cultures and societies. 5_Structuralism: Relates to studying every underlying structures that govern societies and cultures, and how these structures influence human behavior. 6_colonialism: Refers to the period when a powerful country or empire extends control over other regions or countries, often by establishing settlements and exploiting resources. 7_Post colonialism: Refers to the studies that happened after the colonial period was over, when Western countries stopped colonizing other parts of the world. Will try to reverse that image of Countries that were colonized ,that are worthy of respect. 8-Literary Theory: Focuses on analyzing literary texts and how these texts reflect or shape culture. 9-Film Studies: The study of how films and visual media impact culture and society. 10-Art: Examines how artistic works influence culture and interact with social and political issues. 11-Communication Studies: Focuses on how information is exchanged and how individuals, societies, and cultures communicate with each other. Fourth slide: Historically, Cultural Studies is a term that was coined by the British scholar Richard Hoggart, as he founded the first Cultural Studies Center at Birmingham University in 1964. During the 1970s, many of the early works within the field looked into the relationships between Marxism and the politics of British economy; as well as the interactions between members of different social classes within the British society. Richard Hogard thought of cultural studies as a way of trying to solve this problem of social distinction, So as you can see, cultural studies began in Britain for a specific British problem. Fifth slide: Yet, before attempting to delve deeper into the concepts and approaches to Cultural Studies, a few crucial notes have to be made. First and foremost, any study of Cultural Studies cannot possibly cover all angles and scopes of the field. Moreover, the current Cultural Studies concepts are based on works within Western countries and cultures (basically, Britain, the US, and Australia) – however, it is possible that other countries/cultures may endorse/practice the same concepts due to cyber and global influences. It’s impossible to cover everything included in cultural studies in one sentence, in one course, or even in one book. Cultural studies, which began in Britain in the 1960s and grew in the West in the 1980s and 1990s, is based on Western ideas and culture. However, because of the internet and social media, these Western ideas are spreading to other parts of the world, like the East. As a result, similar ideas from cultural studies might be used in other regions, but they will be adapted and changed to fit the local cultures and contexts. Sixth slide: Still, within Western cultures, cultural studies concepts might undergo differences in application. Although the concepts of cultural studies are the same in Western countries, they would be applied differently from one Western country to another. The field is, and always will be, a multidisciplinary field of enquiry, blurring boundaries between itself and other subjects or fields. The field does not have rigid boundaries, allowing it to overlap and integrate with other disciplines. It draws from multiple fields such as sociology, history, literature, and political science, among others, making it adaptable and flexible. Seventh slide: Last, but not least, cultural studies offers various concepts and theories that might be useful for thinking about or effecting cultural change, but the doors to possible changes are always left open. As we know, the goal of cultural studies is to effect and produce cultural change, but we should put in mind that the doors of Cultural studies will always be open. If you do a research, and come up with an idea that will cause a change in your culture, Someone else will come later on and will come up with another idea that will produce a further change and so on. Eighth slide: So, what is culture? And how can it be studied? To begin with, a culture covers all possible human activities and interactions, carried out by individuals, singularly, or collectively, within a certain community or society, be that literary or art works, sports activities, city laws, domestic arrangements, local shops, or international trade, etc. All aspects of human life are within the field of culture, because culture encompasses all forms of human activity and interaction, whether done by individuals or groups, within a specific society or community. Ninth slide: Traditionally, culture, (with a big C), concerned only the study of works of literature, art, music, and film. All human intellectual and artistic production. Earlier in time, Culture was only the intellectual products of human beings. Literature, music, art, film, etc. Yet, from the perspective of human sciences, culture would be the study of the symbols that create meanings for the members of a certain community or society. Culture is the study of how meaning is created in a society. Let’s look at the example. A Comparison between the symbol of the donkey in Egyptian and American culture: 1_The Donkey in Egypt: The symbol of donkey in Egypt refers to Humility, Hard work, Insolence and Stupidity because although the donkey is so strong, it’s so stupid that carries all this load and walks in silence. So the Egyptian symbol of the donkey is Ironically for us. 2_ The donkey in the USA: Donkey with stars and red and blue colours refers Democratic Party. The United States has the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Both of them are fighting for power in the United States. And the item for the Republicans is the elephant. why the elephant and why the donkey? This goes back in history. In 1828 in the United States of America, it was still considerably a new nation. Because the Declaration of Independence was in 1794. So, In 1828, Andrew Jackson was the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. presidency. His Republican opponents mocked him by calling him “Andrew Jackass,” using the term “jackass,” another word for a donkey, as an insult. However, in true American spirit, Jackson embraced the insult. He adopted the donkey as a symbol for his campaign, turning the criticism into a strength. At that time, there was also a cartoonist, who draws cartoons in newspapers his name was Nast. Some people even called him nasty because he was always attacking both politicians from both the Democratic and the Republican parties. And he used the same icons, the donkey and the elephant to criticize both American parties. So, that’s where the idea of the donkey as an icon for the American Democratic Party came from. To sum up: In Egypt, the donkey is an icon for resilience, hard work, and in rural Egypt the donkey is a farmer’s most valuable item and friend. And in Egyptian culture also, Tawfiq al-Hakim wrote many articles and stories, and even he wrote a personal book called, Ana wa Himari wa 3sai. Yahya Haqi also wrote about the donkey and admiring how the donkey should not be considered stupid, but resilient (means can hold and stand and bear suffering). In America the donkey is the symbol of the Democratic Party because Andrew Jackson took the icon of the donkey not because of any attribute of the donkey, but because he liked the insult that was directed towards him. A completely different culture, a completely different meaning given to the same symbol, So Cultural studies would look at how meaning is created in a certain culture. Tenth slide: But, History has proven that humans often change their belief systems or ways of living. Hence, culture can be the study of whether that process of change is considered merely a process or a development. Slide number eleven: For example, traditionally, a play by William Shakespeare would be studied by literary scholars as a work of British brilliant, intellectual, and artistic expression; or by anthropologists as a documentation of British ways of living in the sixteenth century; or by historians as one stage in the development of British culture. Slide number twelve: Yet, Cultural Studies would consider a Shakespearean play in more complicated ways: Questions would consider the conditions of theatrical production in Elizabethan times, whether other playwrights collaborated with Shakespeare, whether the texts we have today have undergone changes, and what that would implicate about the taken-for-granted genius of the now world-famous playwright. Who produced the play? ( There were companies). Who owned the companies? Who worked at the companies? How workers were employed? What were the stage props? How did all of this affect the production of a certain play? Are we sure that it was Shakespeare alone who wrote all those genius plays? Or is it possible that there were other playwrights like Christopher Marlowe that he collaborated with, and they both produced some of the plays. Did William Shakespeare write one play at one time and left it at that? Or did he come a few years later and make some changes? Or did someone else make some changes? How would all of this affect our understanding of William Shakespeare? Some would then start to question his genius. Some would then start to question that he was able, alone, to write all those perfect plays.