Cultural Studies Notes - Lecture Notes, Lectures Week 1 - 13 PDF

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Cultural Studies Notes: Sept. 21/15                                

Seminar – based on discussion Issues concerning the book Cultural studies is a practice, a way of doing things, draws on all disciplines Correct/incorrect – there is a cultural studies of music Formed in the 60’s – tired of methods by English teachers; the mainstream discourse of something is entirely correct Cultural studies emerged from the idea that there are many different perspectives Education is not about becoming indoctrinated There is a culture inside and outside the university A lot of our education happens outside the classroom Ex. “The hotspot” Issues of belonging, inclusion/exclusion Hierarchies come with privileges Popularity in the music industry Expressions of power Sociology couldn’t explain these expressions Cultural studies of music was developed by Theodore Adorno at the Frankfurt school in Germany They developed critical theory – a way of explaining society where sociology/anthropology failed Examines Marx and capitalism – Marx said that capitalism alienates people from their labour and that workers will be pushed to the edge and overthrow the capitalist class and create a new socialist state Capitalism made people’s lives better in the late 1800’s – early 1900’s The socialist state failed in China Either his method or answer was wrong A lot of things changed, duped by capitalists - False consciousness (the matrix) Critical theorists said that it’s the method that was wrong – tried to explain society from the top down, no one can tell the world how the world works Sociologists are always going to be wrong because we don’t have the capacity/methods to explain society to make it better The point of university/music education to make society better – teach people to read music for Orchestras – developed in Germany Hasn’t changed Critical theorists said universities must engage in a way of thinking to identify a way to make society better Totalitarianism – Nazi Germany Frankfurt school was pushed to develop a new way of thinking Critical theory - identify what’s not working, develop a method of critique, work toward developing a solution, rather than what’s the best type of society Common sense enables certain people, and disempowers others, it’s inherited It’s the right of everyone to participate in a democracy We value education because it allows you to get the job you want

 Work, building the economy makes our lives better  Getting involved is an individual situation ex. Selling local music, no healthy music industry in Alberta  Communities with a vibrant cultural scene are the happiest to live, people contributed to it  As American media increases its power, there is a lot of negativity resulting – a lot of unhappiness in Edmonton  A lot of young people engage in therapy, go on anxiety medication – these stats are rising  What is causing that?  Increasing amount of alienation due to people believing they are connected to others through social media  Reading circles  There will always be a need to consider the ethical implications of your work  Ways of thinking/living in the world  You are constantly educating each other whether you are an educator or not  We can either create an environment where we are building each other/the economy, or you can wash your hands of it. You are not neutral, you will be washed away in the current  Everyone has a voice, but the group of concern should have the top priority to speak  Imposing your ideas on other people  People working with critical theory in the ‘50’s attempted to create cultural studies  Cultural studies organized a lot of ways of thinking/methods into one practice – interdisciplinary field  Ad Busters Magazine developed Occupy Wallstreet – anti-consumerist magazine  Media/textual analysis  Goal is to recognize that cultural production occurs like it does at MacEwan  Cultural studies is politics  Universities/education was invented to engage with society; schoolteachers were created to take you away from your parents  Education is an intervention in your life – in that sense it’s political  Politics is the preparation of your imagination  University adapts your behaviour – it’s political  Not in a govt. sense, the politics of our collective ex. Exclusion of first years from hotspot, the way the school was built  New building will have mandate to engage with community more (political)  Semiotics: The study of signs  Kinds of signs 1. What is said, what is heard, what is read (Oral vs. aural) 2. Text 3. Image > world/material -> singularity (specific example) 4. Gesture ex. “you move like a cat” 5. Affect: When you’re reacting to something and you have the words to describe it

6. Emotion – Emotion is signifying (ex. Happiness, sadness) Kat (name), vs. cat – animal (singularity) Unicorn is national animal of Scotland Ideal – imaginary Emoticons (textual emotion) First 4 signs are social, the last 2 are embedded in the body (not included in text till last chapter nor cultural studies till the last 3 years – affect studies)  2 kinds of semiotics: signifying and asignifying semiotics (do not signify anything else ex. Lack of words)  Stock market numbers have immediate impact on your life (action) but do not signify anything else (ideas) – just a number, magnetic strip on credit card does actions, but does not signify anything else - asignifying     

Sept. 23/15  Semiotics  Asignifying things will feel murky because they don’t represent anything – hard to put into words  An affect is asignified?  Affect takes full form as emotion, emotion is signified  An asignifying semiotic  The leading tone of a scale – drive to go to tonic  P. 77 signifier/signified  Cat -> the sign, signifier (knowledge of the thing, form or medium of signs), signified (concepts, significance, meaning)  Language based approach doesn’t apply to music  Start from notation, then derive meaning  Notes are the sign  Chakras have fixed pitches, but Indian scales don’t have fixed pitch  A particular frequency can be a signifier until it’s written down, ex. Middle C  Hertz – building a new semiotics, signify  Elevator pitch, censorship bleep, plug-in noise – signified  Drive calls for a response, but doesn’t necessarily lead to anything  Pitch as it’s represented, not heard  It’s physically inherent to complete the scale in your head  Asignifying is the impulse to finish the scale  Children are drawn into learning because they’re born into a symbolic environment  Berger and Lookman wrote The Social Construction of Reality - Everything we know about the world we construct (we don’t make up the world) - The only way we can know the world is by watt we know about he world and we’re constantly developing our semiotics about the world and when we come across something we don’t know we fill it in

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- Ex. We make up a new word because there isn’t a word for it - P.11 our subjectivity is our construction of reality P.12, 15, 17, 18: Different ways of thinking Marx came up with a new social explanation for value Value is located in society, not things Historical materialism – the way society is organized to produce and reproduce Changes in the production/reproduction of society Hagel – 19th century German philosopher – located power for change in the “spirit” -> zeitgeist – the spirit of the age Said this was wrong, history is social change in the means of production Capitalism is a new phase of history brought about by new ways of thinking about value and production Capitalism functions in such a way to take advantage of workers that will locate value of production only for capitalists and workers will rebel in developed countries from 1860 – onward Marx was a labour organizer and economist Communist Manifesto was one of his worst books P.9 – materialism/non-reductionism Historical materialism: history is embedded in the organization/pro/reproduction of society – there’s no spirit out there He would see schools as a factory of social life Machines in factories are the material manifestation of the way we think We can study the way we think by the way things are produced – was a radical theory for it’s time The social construction of reality in the 60’s and ‘70’s revolutions were based on that (the politics of the imagination) Our social relationships/justice begins in the imagination Structuralism: opposite – there are structuring forces in society that produce that ex. Language structure produces the way we think, it’s causal Freud – psychological illnesses because of castrated, women want to be men and phallic loss causes sexual frustration We all had greek tragedies in our heads Illustrated that we have a subconscious which we do not have control over We are rational creatures and everything we do is based on rational thought – Adam Smith Freud said we’re not rational Who owns society? Poststructuralism p.18 Semiotic triangle: sign, signified, signifier Signifier changes (ex. Cats weren’t on YouTube 100 years ago, figure of speech slang in 1930’s) Deconstruction: method of taking apart, exploiting moment of slippage for research Foulcault p. 20 discursive practices

 Postmodernism p. 21: Fight Club – high post moderninst film bc very to the letter of the law, subject of film doesn’t know who he is throughout the film, audience knows there’s a psychological slippage going on - One person gets lost/left behind, the other person becomes fully formed as both persons (Tyler/the narrator) - Postmodernism pushes that slippage and breaks down the social psychosis of reality  Everything is up for grabs  P. 31 The Character of Truth - The queen called the London school of economics and asked why no one could see the massive ecomomic collapse coming - Economists were sent to court - Earthquake scientists in Italy were threatened with jail - Increasing dissatisfaction in economic science (Occupy Wallstreet, student loan debt, the Greek situation) - Student loan debt in US is in the trillions – more than Greece, Canada goes up a billion dollars a day  Whatever is going to happen around our faith in the economy is going to be the same as in 90’s and 60’s  Cultural studies in music would’ve been called reception studies p.37  Encoding what we hear/decoding when we’re talking about it  Textual approaches: textual analysis of lyrics, newspaper  Culture as mass deception p. 50, 51,  Williams, p.58, Althuzer p. 59, False Consciousness p.51, Gramschi p.66  Ideology & genre  Form questions about chapter 2  Read chapter 3 by Wednesday  Listening assignment – read chapter 3 first - specifics on blackboard Sept.28/15 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Questions Ideology Mythology Language Adaptive meditation?? The body

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Consent: when all parties involved in a situation agree The powerful groups only have power with submission Submission: the notion that you are submitting to a power The disciplinary society vs. the manufacturer’s consent

 You are free to do as you want  Sexual consent – we’re trying to develop a richer concept of consent that’s always verbal and thought out  In order to give consent both parties must demonstrate that they’re capable of giving consent  Sexual violence program at MacEwan – trying to ensure that people know what consent is, it is not the same as not saying ‘no’  Scientific truth vs. objective truth  Features of time/features of gravity depend on where you are  The same rules that don’t seem to apply and defy truth  Education hasn’t caught up to this notion yet  There is no universal truth  Reductive science vs. complexity science  If you take a cat and a car and use reductive science to figure out how they work & take them apart & put them back together the car will start but cat won’t pur  They are both different & require different methods to determine how they work  Culture/society are living things  Objective truth doesn’t exist  Capital ‘T’ truth ex. Gravity  Empirical data  Einstein’s theory of relativity: Time is relative to its location, the faster you move towards the speed of light, the slower time moves (2 earth years isn’t the same in space)  Other musical truths – we’re still planted in the Western system, everything is notation based  Jazz is not necessarily literate  Different epistemological ways of ear training  Concept of 440 – higher tuning made strings louder  5 different kinds of ‘A,’ different degrees of sharpness/flatness  commas (quarter tones)  fretless approach (nothing fixed)  Middle Eastern world music workshop  Scales aren’t linear (not one after the other), viewed in modes, how you approach each note and how you move to the other note  Indian raga, very minute, could only move a certain degree  Rhythm or lack of (unpulsed)  Use of percussion, no set time, improvised  Song could only have 2 or 3 notes  No set duration  Semiotic structure  Tune to the drum  Bimusical – the idea that musicality is a cultural thing, you can be multicultural in music  You are enculturated into a certain way of thinking about the world, that allows you to hear certain things  Increments or ability means you cannot move from one system to another

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You can’t act within a system Chapter 2: Ideology What is ideology? Defined on p. 73 Marx assumed all labourers are the same Book ‘Distinctions’ – assumed all people of the same occupation were the same The news always talks about politicians to please the middle class as if the middle class is all the same b/c people will define themselves as middle class You can’t group people together according to how much money they make Social characteristics of a musical genre of your choice Folk music: - hippies - flower crowns - peaceful - beards - nomadic - natural, earthy - tree huggers - sensitive - gentle - dreadlocks - shop at earths general store and planet organic - spiritual - eat kale - free hugs - hemp - storytelling - communal - pipes - vegan - activism - acoustic guitar - smoke weed - kumbaya - laid back - bicycles - environmentally friendly - Incense - Bare feet - Walking stick - Yoga - Simple p.76: Signifiying systems p.80: example by Barthes Myth is the process by which we naturalize the symbols in society and thus making them seem true Myths are floating ideas that are told over and over

 Ex. Superman is a myth, almost the entire marvel characters are based on the same myth that there is an alternate universe binary system that falls apart  In the 90’s batman started being both good and bad, there is no fixed binary system  Structualism is the early batman where there’s only good/bad, everyone has their place in society, the good guys win, the bad guys lose  Post-structuralism: good is beautiful, bad is ugly – Disney  The idea of beauty changes ~ every 15 years  Your cognitive bias is culturally informed  Ex. Body hair in the 70’s vs. the 80’s  West African Parisian boyscout saluting the French flag: talking about patriotism, the French empire, the naturalness of consenting colonies - myth that it’s natural for colonies to consent to French colonization by military force  P. 70 Hegemony: introduced by a communist, put in jail and wrote books called ‘The Prison Notebooks’  Hegemony is domination over oppression (Spain, Italy)  Happens through mythology  The semiotics of signs  Polysemic signs  The apple on mac computers – meant to be polysemic  More and more people buying apple products  Symbolism: Knowledge, the garden of eden, food, good for you, giving your teacher an apple, the apple that fell on Newton’s head, progress, the scientific revolution/the enlightenment  Deconstructing the sign – Walt Disney, Satanism  Symbols/signs to signify lifestyle  Stereotypes carry with it the sense that they are not true because they are overexaggerated  Articulation/mediation: the individuals that get involved with the musical culture use those resources/mythology to construct their identity, which transforms the way they look  When the mythology/ideology become real through the actions of the individual  We find out how they found out about the musical lifestyle, how their involvement in the world changes, how they see the world – mediation  Articulation: all the things you have to buy to become a member of that lifestyle, the point where they connect (purchase based) – multiple social/economic systems that are engaged in  Where all things overlap: economics, religion, etc.  Tommy Hillfiger only produces the label, everything else is produced in different places  Geography economics  Mediation: how resources are used from a particular individual, a moment in time (subjectivity) – the moment when a resource is used for the production of your identity  Adult contemporary: a mix of different genres (pop, blues, rock)  Less accessible, more creative

 Coldplay, Regina Spector, MCR, Lana Del Ray - trying to eat healthy - Gilmore girls - Starbucks  What happens when they become popular?  Country music - Conservativism - Trucks - Tailgate parties - Rural - Uneducated - Christian - Drinking - Working class - Dance music - Family oriented - Redneck - Lower class - Slightly racist - Alcohol abuse - Obnoxious personality Heavy metal -

Long hair Bandshirts Obscure Musicians Blue collar workers Extreme left or right Elitist Homophobic slurs

Punk music -

Mohawks Skinny jeans Aggressive Lower class Unemployed Atheist Younger Older generations dislike younger Non conformist Exclusive Mostly white males

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Traditional families Darius Rucker Alternative in their own right wing way Not music fans, just country fans

Country rock -

Keith urban mid-upper class white females early 20’s, late teens urban population Calgary stampede Clean clothes Cabellas Dance clubs

p.92 – rest of chapter (pay attention to lists) Discourse/discipline is important to cultural studies! Aesthetic resources Sept. 30/15                      

Discourse P.93 “Power is distributed through social relations” – Foucault P.92 We are tested on music, the university regulates the length of our day, expectations to produce us in a certain way Discourse structures our opportunities Musician is another discourse Western music is very notation based Being a music student involves learning what’s right/wrong Foucault is concerned about the structure of society of what opportunities are accessible by certain people There’s a different discourse of music student at U of A? Structures of power that produced a music student in different locations Music students as context specific P.93 “Power is not repressive it’s productive” How do we theorize the productive aspects of power The regulation of your day/different kind of classes is not repressive Self discipline about reading Testing is always repressive Discourses of gender p. 94 Western Society – Europe Anglo-American (America and Europe) Prostructuralist period – gender and sex are not the same Walt Disney

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Gender norm activity Children being sexed from a young age Music Language for discourse analysis of a music video Modes: Aural (what you hear) Text Visual Gestural Affect Emotion The sign of text is signified in what we hear – text doesn’t determine singer’s performance 1950’s country video – The Carter Family “Wildflower” First recorded in 1927 Originally Maybel Carter and her sister/father – performed songs from the Appalachians Founded American country music Different discourse than other country musicians Modest, conservative, simple, matching, conformist, wedding ring on hand, how close the women are and how far the men are female musicians, Maybel invented a new style of finger picking, lead guitarist/singer Men are almost faceless, replaceable supporting characters Conform to gender discourse but also challenge it Any particular instance will probably not conform to every aspect of discourse Not early feminists Performance on TV, playing to backing track ...