Universität Wien

124263 KO Critical Media Analysis (2019S)

Subcultures-Countercultures

6.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 12 - Anglistik
Continuous assessment of course work

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

Tuesday 19.03. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 26.03. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 02.04. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 09.04. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 30.04. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 07.05. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 14.05. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 21.05. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 28.05. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 04.06. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 18.06. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17
Tuesday 25.06. 14:00 - 16:00 Raum 5 Anglistik UniCampus Hof 8 3E-O1-17

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

Tracing relations between counter-hegemonic forces and subcultures and debates on resistance to pre-defined subject-positioning, we will consider how we are to define the notion of “sub-culture/s” within a theoretical negotiation of culture and cultural hegemony. Is it a term indicating a relation to be thought as hierarchically put “beneath” (?), positioned within (?), opposed to (?) dominant culture/s? How do subcultures come into being – what are their cultural histories and social practices? What is the difference between concepts of “subculture” and “counter-culture? We will consider a range of theoretical approaches which will shed some interesting light on the theoretical twighlight-zone which subcultures pose while, at the same time, appearing as flamboyant spaces of/for “outsiders”.
The course’s overall paradigm will be Hebdige’s notion that “subculture is … a declaration of independence, of Otherness, of alien intent, a refusal of anonymity of subordinate status. It is an Insubordination. And at the same time, it is also a confirmation of the fact of powerlessness, a celebration of impotence”. (35)
Based on a discussion of the Foucaultian and poststructuralist background of Hebidge’s concept, we will encounter a variety of subcultures and analyse in detail how they react to and/or interact with diverse master-discourses of dominant cultures. Our focus will be put on four major perspectives on hegemonic master-discourses and the subcultural responses to these where we will examine how dialectical and/or fluid the boundaries are between them:
(1) Cultural (-patriarchal) significations of the body, gender & frames of sexual identity vs. drag & performance/ bisexuality and cultural repudiation/ “the building of the body” and phallicism
(2) Subversive re-inscriptions of public and private spaces: graffiti activism and ‘social figurations’ (Elias) of tattoo-subculture
(3) Subcultural ideological/political and/or music & style-communities as formations against political/moral/ethnical cultural dogma: historical influences, bricolage, counter-bricolage and intertextuality: Rebellion and Cultural Melancholia - Romanticist influences on the 1980s Gothic/Indie movement // transgression and oneness: Hippie influences on the 1990s formations of Rave and Goa subcultures of a ‘social divine’ (Maffesoli) // Capitalism vs Punk/Electro-Punk: radical anarchy, provocation and the commercialisation of the Unpleasant // transcoding of racial identity in Reggae, HipHop and “Black Hairstyle Politics” (Mercer)
(4) Virtual bodies/identities and media-subcultures vs. dominant cultural conceptions of normative social identity; analysis of desires and fears expressed in/by virtual spaces about dominant discourses. Considerations of a “global underground” – relations of the subcultural and the cosmopolitan.

Assessment and permitted materials

Regular Participation
Oral Presentation (10-15 mins)
Participation in Plenum Discussions
Final Written Paper (3500 words)

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Examination topics

Reading list

In the respective units we will be concerned with theoretical approaches as well as practical application & analysis.

Provided on MOODLE: a variety of theoretical texts and numerous examples of cultural and subcultural texts from media, commerce, film, art, literature + students will be asked to research examples on their own for plenum discussions.
Topic-Sheets (including info on topics + bibliography) will be provided for presenters and other plenum-activities.

Association in the course directory

Studium: UF 344, BA 612, BEd 046/407
Code/Modul: UF 4.2.5-426, BA07.3; BEd 08a.2, BEd 08b.1
Lehrinhalt: 12-4260

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:33