120116 SE Advanced Cultural Studies SE (Modul) = Cultural/Media Studies SE (MA) = SE Kulturwiss./BA-Arbeit (2010S)

Cultural Analysis makes use of a plurality of approaches and methodologies which have been developed in the contexts of different disciplines and positions, ranging from philosophy to sociology, from Marxism to psychoanalysis, or from linguistics to literary theory. This diversity reflects the plurality of possible meanings that can be associated with the concept of “culture”. Cultural analysis draws on these different disciplines and positions either by adopting a conceptual framework derived from them - for instance theories of meaning from linguistics, or the concept of the dynamics of loss and desire from psychoanalysis – or by rejecting or displacing concepts essential to them, such as the concept of the unified subject or the concept of truth. On a general level we will take a look at some of the most influential approaches and methodologies that have been developed and proposed for the study of culture during the last 50 years which are known under key words such as structuralism, post-structuralism, feminist criticism or cultural materialism. In particular, we will read articles or sections from books by British critics representing these approaches, such as David Lodge adopting structuralism, John Dollimore cultural materialism or Catherine Belsey as a post-structuralist cum psychoanalyst among many others.