ENGL 7800: Studies in Literary Theory
Introduction to Cultural Studies

Dr. Paula R. Backscheider
9082 Haley Center
pkrb@auburn.edu
(334) 844-9091
Office Hours: MW 10:30-11:30 and 2-3

 

Course Description:
This seminar is an exploration of a few of the kinds of cultural studies criticism being practiced today.  We will read theory and applied criticism and practice on 2-4 literary texts.  For example, we will read and apply various methodologies to Frances Brooke’s History of Emily Montague, a novel that is set immediately after the British took Quebec and brings the cultures of the Canadians, the French, the British, the “new Americans,” and the Hurons together.  Of special interest will be the ways that literature participates in discussions of social problems and influences the lives of individuals and social groups.  Among the topics for in-depth consideration are popular culture, maintaining nationhood, and print culture.  Seminar members with all levels of familiarity with cultural studies—from none to extensive—are welcome and will have opportunities to tailor some assignments to their individual interests and educational plans.

Requirements: Several short assignments, written and oral, and a research paper. Active participation is expected.

Required Texts:

Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (Basic Books, 1977). ISBN: 0465097197.
Frances Brooke, History of Emily Montague (New Canadian Library series; Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1995). ISBN: 0771034571.
Mikhail Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination (University of Texas Press, 1982). ISBN: 029271534X.
Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious (Cornell UP, 1986). ISBN: 080149222X.
Dominic Strinati, An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture (Routledge, 2004). ISBN: 0415235006.
Peter Brooker, Glossary of Cultural Theory (London: Oxford UP, 2003). ISBN: 0340807016.
Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield, ed. Stephen Coote (New York: Penguin, 1982). ISBN: 0140431594.

Strongly Recommended Texts:

Homi Bhabha, The Location of Culture (1995; New York: Routledge, 2004). ISBN: 0415336392.
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality (Vintage, 1990). ISBN: 0-679-72469-9.
John Storey, Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003). ISBN: 0748618090.

Syllabus:

"The most intense and productive life of culture takes place on the boundaries."  
                                    --Bakhtin, Speech Genres
Jan. 9

Introduction to Cultural Studies 
Declaration of Independence
Glenn Jordan and Chris Weedon, "When the Subalterns Speak, What Do they Say?  Radical Cultural Politics in Cardiff Docklands," from Without Guarantees, 165-80.
Natasha Singer, "Fashion Forward, With Forehands," New York Times (28 Aug. 2006): F2.
Representation show
  16

Key terms
Clifford Geertz, Chapters 1, 2, and 8 in The Interpretation of Cultures.
*Geertz, "Centers, Kings and Charisma," from Culture and Its Cre
  23 *John Fiske, "Cultural Studies and the Culture of Everyday Life," from Cultural Studies, 154-73.
*Rudolf Arnheim, "Centers as Hubs, " from The Power of the Center, 109-32.
*George E. Marcus and Michael M. J. Fischer, "Conveying Other Cultural Experiences:  The Person, Self, Emotions," from Anthropology as Cultural Critique, 45-48, 54-76.
Homi Bhabha, "Introduction: Locations of Culture" to The Location of Culture, 1-18.
Three "dictionary" entries on "Culture”
Reports on a cultural object worthy of study and why
  30 Dominic Strinati, Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture, 165-71.
Homi Bhabha, "The Postcolonial and the Postmodern:  The Question of Agency," from The Location of Culture, 171-197.
*Stuart Hall, "Culture, Community, Nation," from Representing the Nation: A Reader, 33-44.
*Bruce McConachie, "Using the Concept of Cultural Hegemony to Write Theatre History," from Interpreting the Theatrical Past, 37-58.
Hegemony in Glossary of Cultural Theory

"History is the indispensable precondition of a text."                                   
                                    --Fredric Jameson
Feb. 6 Frances Brooke, History of Emily Montagu.
Reports from your assigned social group perspective
  13 Continued
Mikhail Bakhtin, Dialogic Imagination, essays 1 and 2.
Paper topic and attack strategy due

"Endless complication in the interest of simplicity"
                                    --Clifford Geertz
  20 Continued
Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination, essay 4.
*Philip Dodd, "Englishness and the National Culture," from Representing the Nation: A Reader, 87-108.
*William Cronon, "Foreword" and "The Trouble with Wilderness," from Uncommon Ground, 19-22, 69-90.
  27 Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield.
*John Brewer, "Culture, Nature, and Nation," from The Pleasures of the Imagination, 615-61.
*John Storey, "Popular Culture as an Arena of Hegemony," from Inventing Popular Culture, 48-62.
Reports from your assigned perspective
March 6 Fredric Jameson, "Introduction," Chapter 1, "On Interpretation," and Chapter 3, "Realism and Desire," from The Political Unconscious.
*Jameson, "Metacommentary,” PMLA 86:1 (1971): 9-18. 

"Works of this kind are in general so captivating to young readers, that let them run through but a few pages of almost any Novel, and they will feel their affections or curiosity so interested, either in the characters or the events, that it is with difficulty that they can be diverted to any other study or amusement till they have got to the end of the story."
                                    --Elizabeth Griffith, The History of Lady Barton
  13

Foucault, The History of Sexuality, part 4, ch. 2, “Method,” and ch. 3, “Domain.”
*Teresa de Lauretis, Technologies of Gender, 1-30.
Progress report on your paper and annotated bibliography due

  20 Dominic Strinati, An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture, chapters 1, 2, 4, and 6 to p. 228.
John Storey, "Fiction,” from Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture, 36-71.
April 3 *Kathryn King, "Elizabeth Singer Rowe's Tactical Use of Print and Manuscript," from Women's Writing and the Circulation of Ideas, 158-81.      
*Ann Bermingham, "Elegant Females and Gentlemen Connoisseurs:  The Commerce in Culture and Self-Image," from The Consumption of Culture, 1600-1800, 489-513.
*Mary Jones, "Epistle to Lady Bowyer"
*John Gay, "On a Miscellany of Poems. To Bernard Lintott"
  10 *Alexander Pope, "Epistle to Arbuthnot"
*John Brewer, "Authors, Publishers and the Making of Literary Culture," from The Pleasures of the Imagination, 125-66.
Reports on your assigned perspective
  17 John Storey, "Consumption" from Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture, 130-151. 
*John Brewer, "‘The most polite age and the most vicious':  Attitudes towards culture as a commodity, 1660-1800,” from The Consumption of Culture, 1600-1800, 341-61.
  24 *Stuart Hall, "Cultural Studies and its Theoretical Legacies,” from Cultural  Studies, 277-94.
*Hall, "Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms," from Contemporary Literary Criticism: Literary and Cultural Studies, 664-78. 
Homi Bhabha, "The Commitment to Theory," from The Location of Culture, 28-56.
RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS: Fri., May 4, 5:00-7:30
This is our exam time; we can negotiate a different time for presentations.