124642 VO BEd 04.2: Cultural Theories and Popular Culture (2022S)

This lecture course will introduce you to major theoretical approaches, key practices and selected issues relevant to the study of popular cultures with a focus on the United States. We will learn that cultural theories make use of a plurality of approaches and methodologies. This diversity also reflects the plurality of possible meanings that can be associated with the concept of culture in general and popular culture in particular.
The first part of the lecture focusses on methodological aspects and media literacy (from film to music, from digital culture to body studies) as well as myth criticism as one approach in American Studies. In the second part, we will apply these methods to the different "Myths that Made America" (Heike Paul; see course reading), from the Self-Made Man to the Melting Pot, by "doing" Cultural Studies together, analyzing and discussing paintings, photographs, film clips, and other audiovisual material. Throughout the semester, we will investigate key issues such as historical contingencies, identities shaped by intersectionality as there are gender, race or class or the interrelation between power and knowledge.