Cultural Studies So Se 2021 PDF

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15.04.2021 – Introduction Zoom-Meeting beitreten https://uni-jena-de.zoom.us/j/66599252108 Meeting-ID: 665 9925 2108 Kenncode: 056809 https://www.studocu.com/de/document/friedrich-schiller-universitatjena/kulturwissenschaften/ubungen/ku-wi-worksheets/1597244/view    

If we send email to Orth we should indicate our group in the header (mine: KuWi Do 10) so she can identify them Will focus on: the significance of the past for contemporary culture and for constructions of cultural, and, in particular, national identities First part more theoretical and second part more practical application Student projects: alone or in teams, must be uploaded on Moodle (a week before we talk about them), no presentation but give a brief introduction

22.04.2021 – The meaning of ‚culture‘ and the history of cultural studies, Einführung in Kulturstudien, Assmann 

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6 Kulturbegriffe / cultural concepts discussed: o (caring or nurture) Care in the sense of improvement & appreciation of one thing (e.g. fitness culture) o Geographical & political frame (e.g. French culture, western culture) o Inclusive terms for everything that humans do and is connected to them (ethnographical term) o Elitist terms for ‘high culture’ o Civilization o Critical or rather auratic counterworld of reality (Frankfurter Schule) Difference between those concepts o Descriptive vs. normative, 3 include evaluation Where does the word ‘culture’ come from? o Lat. ‘colore’ = ‘cultivate’ (pflegen), was actually referred to as earth and is still remembered in today’s agriculture Which English word today reminds us of the original sense of ‘culture’?  agriculture In its second sense, 'culture' is used for geographical and political entities (such as nations). What is typically regarded as constitutive for such entities? o Everything that has to do with humans living together o Differentiation of different cultures, eg. languages or mentalities o Languages, mentalities, forms of art, ways of life o Distinction o Such entities seem homogenous above all from the outsider; if you look at them more closely, it becomes apparent that they are actually heterogenous, hybrid & open: their unity is merely a fiction We have come to think of (other) national cultures as homogenous and fixed, but is this actually the case?

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Highly diverse although we think of them as instant and fixed, more heterogenous

Assmann says that the idea of, for example, a nation as a fixed cultural unit has come under attack, has been exposed as a fiction. What do you think contributes to such a fiction of, for example, a homogenous Germanness or Britishness, or of the West as a cultural unit? o

Stereotypes about different entities, through media (Internet, newspaper, books etc.)

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DistinctionLanguages, mentalities, forms of art, ways of life

"Essentialisierung durch Zuschreibung eines Wesens" – essentialization through the attribution of a character – does this make sense to you? Can you think of examples? How is a character attributed to a nation or a region? o

Clichés / stereotypes

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The nation itself is regarded as having characteristics, although it is not a human being What moves a nation itself

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Such entities seem homogeneous above all from the outside, if you look at them more closely, it becomes apparent that they are actually heterogeneous, hybrid and open: their unity is merely a fiction

The third sense of culture, which Assmanns explains, is the ethnographic concept of culture. What is culture in this sense? o

Everything humans do and has to do with them

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Symbolic actions, collective rituals, styles of art, social institutions

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All areas of human life and experience can be studied as culture

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Nature and the natural sciences

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The peripheral and seemingly unimportant gains new significance Problematic: ‘culture’ loses its meaning (of everything can be culture)

The first normative concept of culture explained by Assmann is "high culture". Which part of society is 'high culture' associated with? o

The bourgeoisie, middle class

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distinct from the entertainment industry

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culture as an elitist possession of the middle class

"Hochkultur" – what does the 'height' implied here refer to? o

Distinct from entertainment industry

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Higher status, to differentiate themselves from lower class – social status

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something valuable / to entertain with – aesthetic value

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‘high’ in a double sense: social status, aesthetic value

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Culture as an elitist possession & attribute of the middle & upper class

Is high culture still as significant as it used to be? Why not? o

Changes in the 20th century brought about by e.g. immigration, feminism, minorities

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Not really, it lost its sense around 1960ties – BUT there are still a lot of traces left e.g. with museums, newspapers, theaters, having your child learn an instruments

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Example for today: Vienna Ball, people show how prestigious they are, how wealthy – but also normal people can go and attend, not as important anymore as it was before

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Germany “Bildungsferne Schichten” = the poor are uncultivated

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Also: ideas have changed

Can you give examples of "Hochkultur" today? o

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Museums, concerts, theaters, movies, opera, musicals, classical music, learning Latin language

The second normative concept is culture as civilization. What does this refer to and what is its opposite? o

Self-discipline

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Opposite is savagery & barbarism

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Not a stable achievement

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Civilization is one sense of culture (normative concept)  Self-discipline, the opposite of savagery and barbarism

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Civilization: control over the body “mastering nature in man”, not a stable achievement

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People can be referred to as culturally inferior, less knowledgeable (eg. Bringing democracy to other countries – used as excuse to bring ‘civilization’ to other nations)  Within societies: table manners, or eating at a fine restaurant (with like 5 forks) versus a takeaway

The last concept, which Assmann explains, is that of culture as a counter-world. Who is this associated with and what is characteristic of this understanding of culture?

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o Normative concept o Highest achievements of artistic expressions o Quasi-religious status of particular works of art o Totally different from the products of mass entertainment On cultural studies: o Development of cultural studies in 1950ties o Arose out of a crisis in the humanities o Group of Marxist inspired literary scientists (Stuart Hall, Raymond Williams, Edward Thompson, Richard Hoggart, all students of F.R. Leavis) embodied an anti-elitist concept of the middle class ‘high culture’ o Mentor Leavis was like a ‘pope of a sacred canon politic as the fundament of humanities o For Leavis culture was a thing of a small elite  Birmingham school was against this narrow mindset of an elite culture and dismissed it o For the group culture was not an embalmed heirloom of national tradition, but a scene of fights, power, money, prestige and recognition  Lead to an expansion of the cultural concept from high culture to popular culture (canon was the idea of a connection of a joint cultural tradition)  Was picked up by all who did not identify with the middle-class high culture, e.g. feminists, migrants, other social minorities o Cultural studies understood itself as an answer to current societal changes, understands culture and politics as very connected and designs a strategy for social and ethnic minorities

29.04.2021 – Culture is Ordinary, Williams A. Find information on Raymond Williams. -

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1921-1988, Welsh, described as one of the founding fathers of cultural studies Was an author, academic, cultural theorist, literary critic, public intellectual, socialist, leading figure of the New Left Believed in Cultural Materialism: physical world impacts & sets constraints on human behavior theoretical framework & research method for examining the relationship between the physical & economic aspects of production / also explores values, beliefs, worldviews that predominate society Established a new mode of critical analysis, cultural materialism, grounded in a concept of culture which identifies cultural practice as a part of an active, dynamic, historical process Draws attention to 2 strands without cultural forms: contingent (figures history as driven by human action) & the subjunctive (looks for moments which ask what alternatives are possible now Developed theoretical concepts:

Identified a structure of feeling, ‘the area of interaction between the official consciousness of an epoch… and the whole process of actually living its consequences’ o Insisted upon viewing culture as ‘ordinary’ as every day and democratic, being constantly made & re-made o Formulated 3 forces/tensions within the development of cultural form: the residual (pre-existing & traditional), the dominant (central & defining), the emergent (new & challenging) 1. Placing a primary focus on culture as a ‘whole way of life’, something made and lived 2. Culture = description of a particular way of life, which expresses certain meanings & values not only in art and learning but also in institutions & ordinary behavior - Books: Communications (1962), Television (1974), Keywords (1976), Country and City (1973) - Williams moved away from Wales to work, but symbolically never left it  much of working life was spent in, connected to with Oxbridge but he was never “remade” by Oxbridge o

B. Read Raymond Williams, “Culture is Ordinary”, and answer questions 1-6. -

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Beginning: describes a journey through Wales (talking about own geographical background), already speaks about the ordinary way of life and the ‘high culture’, Culture is ordinary: to grow up in a country means to see the shape of a culture & its modes of change (difference in view) Growing up in a family means to see the shaping of minds: learning new skills, shifting relationships, the emergence of different languages & ideas Shaping of minds = slow learning of shapes, purposes & meanings so that work, observation & communication are possible After that testing of these experiences, making new observations, comparisons, meanings Every human society has its own shape, purpose, meanings Every human society expresses these in institutions, art & learning The making of a society is the finding of common meanings & directions that are constantly growing Culture has 2 aspects: the known meanings & directions – which members of society are trained to, & the new observations & meanings - which are offered & tested --> ordinary process of human societies & minds Culture is always traditional & creative, means both: the ordinary common meanings & the finest individual meanings Culture used in 2 ways: to mean a whole way of life (common meanings) & to mean the art & learning (special process of discovery & creative effort) Marxist's interpretation of culture can never be accepted while it retains this directive element, this insistence that if you honestly want socialism you must write, think, learn in prescribed ways

1. How does Williams explain ‘culture’? -

Culture is ordinary Making of society is finding a common meaning & direction Culture is a whole way of life, but also the arts & learning Culture as something ordinary for everyone, in every society and in every mind

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Every society has its own shape, purpose & meanings 2 aspects: o 1 – the known meanings & observations, which its members are trained to o 2 – the new observations & meanings, which are offered & tested 2 senses: o a whole way of life o the arts & learning Culture is both traditional and creative

2. Which two “senses of culture” does Williams reject (“that I know but refuse to learn”)? -

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First sense: discovered in a teashop (culture as the outward & emphatically visible sign of a special kind of people, cultivated people) - and separation of culture o Teashop people were not particularly studied, but practiced few arts & showed that they are civilized o Insisted that culture is their trivial difference of behavior, their trivial variations of speech habits --> use cultivation only to remain in social hierarchy o “Angry young men” = writers /novelist of middle- /lower-class origin, haven’t gone to prestigious universities, criticized “phoneys” who took pride in being stuck up, took pride in lower class ALSO: separation of culture from ordinary people by a ‘park wall’ (Clive Bell, Civilization)  produce extraordinary fussiness, extraordinary decision to call certain things culture but then separate it form ordinary people and ordinary work Williams rejects entire teashop culture (culture defined by trivia differences between social classes) Second sense: men who were or wanted to be writers or scholar are now advertising men, publicity boys  skills now serve the exploitation of ordinary people Williams: interest in learning or the arts is simple, pleasant and natural -_> desire to know what is best & to do what is good is part of human nature o argots (Jargons)/ drinking-hole (spelunke), do-gooders (Weltverbesserer), highbrows (Anspruchsvolle), superior prigs (überragende Musterknaben) o Rejects the growing implication of this spreading argot, the true cant (Heuchlerei) of a new kind of rogue (Gauner)  Lower culture: cinema, TV shows = bad, as it is easy to access for everyone  Higher culture: books, knowledge, = good, because it gives culture a special status as it is not available for everyone

3. Williams mentions three Marxist positions. Which are they? -

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Culture must be finally interpreted in relation to its underlying system of production = culture is a whole way of life, and the arts are part of a social organization which economic change radically affects culture o Rejects: to say that working people are excluded from English culture is nonsense culture is only restricted to the middle class Culture is dying & the masses are ignorant

1. Culture must be interpreted in relation to its underlying system of production. -

relation between culture and production

he thinks: a culture is a whole way of life, and the arts are part of a social organization which economic change clearly radically affects 2. class-dominated culture, restricting common heritage to small class, leaving masses ignorant - Marxists say: culture is middle-class culture - we live in a dying culture, and the masses are ignorant - Williams: there is a culture of the masses and culture of the higher classes, but it is and ever was a part of the whole culture - to say that working people are excluded from English culture is nonsense  great part of English culture is not bourgeois, have own institutions - there is a distinct working-class way of life: best basis for any future English society  emphasis on neighborhood, mutual obligation, common betterment, as expressed in great working-class political & industrial institutions 3. If you honestly want socialism you must write, think, learn in certain prescribed ways - Culture is common meanings, product of a whole people, offered individual meanings, product of man’s whole committed personal & social experience  Stupid & arrogant to supposed that any of these meanings can in any way be prescribed  are made by living, made and remade, in ways we cannot know in advance -

4. Which of these positions does Williams accept, which does he reject? -

Relationship between culture & production (cultural materialism?), observation that education was restricted

5. What is Leavis’s diagnosis of English culture (“his version of what is wrong with English culture”)? -

England used to be full of traditions and great value, but is has been replaced with a modern, organized, industrial state, thereby, making art & literature into survivors/witnesses of the good old time  mechanized vulgarity

6. What is Williams’s response to this?

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He seems to agree partly with what Leavis is saying, e.g. that old traditions/old manners are being left behind and replaced by new meanings (example of meaning of neighbor) The ‘new’ culture brought progress/advantages, people were glad about Industrial Revolution, things he wouldn’t want to miss out on (e.g. electricity), ‘there was more freedom to dispose of our lives’ Believes the central problem of society will be the use of the new resources to make a good common culture

06.05.2021 – Emergence of Cultural Studies and the Crisis of the Humanities, Hall Hall: o

born in 1932 in Kingston, Jamaica and died 2014

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1951 Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford 1964 begins to work at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies (CCCS) at the University of Birmingham 1972-1979 Director of CCCS 1979-1997 Professor of Sociology at the Open University

Hall says that cultural studies are interdisciplinary. What does this mean? It means that cultural studies relate to more than one branch of knowledge Cultural studies are "a conjectural practice" which stems from different backgrounds and therefore should not be subjected to categorization ("cultural studies is never one thing"). It has always developed from a different matrix of interdisciplinary studies and disciplines roots both in social sciences and in the humanities

2. What, according to Hall, was the attitude of the humanities towards cultural studies when they first emerged?  Hall wants to question the self-presentation of the humanities (as ongoing, integral, integrated)  They were always adapting to its terrain, they have different disciplinary roots  The humanities were “at the birth of cultural studies […] relentlessly hostile to its appearance, deeply suspicious of it and anxious to strangle”  they deeply resented the cultural studies (zutiefst verabscheuen)  Hall wants to question the self-presentation of the humanities (as ongoing, integral, integrated)  Humanities only present themselves as inclusive, but the cultural studies are actually excluded 3. In his essay, Hall says (p. 12): "I want to question the self-presentation of the humanities as an ongoing, integral, integrated exercise. For those of us in cultural studies, the humanities have never been or can no longer be that integral formation." What is he critical of here regarding the humanities?  They are fossilized  we were doing it like that and we will keep on doing it (not ongoing and inclusive of different disciplines)  They were not what they pretended to be: they pretended to be ongoing, integral and integrated but they were not  It hinders others to taking such open perspectives 4. 

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When, according to Stuart Hall, did cultural studies "really" begin? With the debate about the nature of social & cultural change in postwar Britain o By: break-up of traditional culture, new forms of affluence and consumer society, mass media & emerging mass society o Cultural studies begin because they are interested in change, humanities are not Attempt to ...