What is Cultural Studies?
Cultural Studies helps us understand ourselves as humans and how we relate to each other. There are many definitions of Cultural Studies, however we are focussing on two cultural studies traditions:- Birmingham School of the 1960s
- Frankfurt School from the 30s-40s-50s
Stuart Hall from the Birmingham School states the central goal of cultural studies is to enable people to understand what is going on, and especially provide ways of thinking, strategies for survival and resources for resistance (Hall, 1990).
Key categories to which we will apply theories:
- Nation and national identities
- Personal and local identities
- Gender and sexuality
Anderson and Schlunke state representation means that things like the arts (painting, photography, television, film etc) function to depict, portray and symbolise aspects of the 'real' world. In Cultural Studies this use of the term representation has been contested, and in fact there are theories (such as postmodern or poststructuralist, or textual theories) which argue that to represent someone, something, the world, we are simultaneously creating or shaping that reality, or the world we are attempting to present (Anderson & Schlunke, 2010).
What is culture?
Is culture:
- another word for art
- for traditions or practices
- for nationalities and their customs?
Is it all of those things, or more or less? Some people say culture is tied to money and status. These people tend to use terms like 'high' and 'low' culture which tends to be tied to concepts of money, elitism, value and class. It is important to note there is a connection between written materials and 'high culture' (or the culture of people with money). This was in the days before Internet, radio and television.
Culture is also found within the workplace and the ways we interact with others (dating, family, community cultures) and sporting culture (football clubs, artists, etc).
Williams says the making of society is the finding of common meanings and directions and its growth is an active debate and amendment, under the pressures of experience, contact and discovery, writing themselves into the land. The growing society is there, yet it is also made and remade in every individual mind (Williams, 2001). Culture is born into us, AND learned and amended due to life experiences. He goes on to say a culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to; and the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested. The nature of culture is both traditional and creative. Culture is ordinary, in every society and in every mind (Williams, 2001).
Williams says the making of society is the finding of common meanings and directions and its growth is an active debate and amendment, under the pressures of experience, contact and discovery, writing themselves into the land. The growing society is there, yet it is also made and remade in every individual mind (Williams, 2001). Culture is born into us, AND learned and amended due to life experiences. He goes on to say a culture has two aspects: the known meanings and directions, which its members are trained to; and the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested. The nature of culture is both traditional and creative. Culture is ordinary, in every society and in every mind (Williams, 2001).
What is an image?
An image is a representation of something, a painting, photograph, drawing, moving image, sculpture etc. Images are markers which help us make sense of the world and are a fundamental part of culture. They are constructions of reality, not reality itself. Visual signs and images, even when they bare a close resemblance to the things to which they refer, are still signs that need to be interpreted (Hall, 1997: 19).
What is text?
We can send text messages (which are written communication on a mobile phone), but think about the text of an artwork, i.e. the written component of a play or film script. A text, from a cultural point of view, is a communication (an artwork, legislation, gesture, performance, recording, activity, event etc) that we examine in a given theoretical context. Consider the artwork of Mona Lisa - the text is different to the art. The text is an activity that we experience in a particular way. Why do people travel around the world to view the Mona Lisa when it can be viewed in a photograph or digital image online? The text gives it a more complex understanding of the 'meaning' of Mona Lisa.
Food for thought
- Consider the practice of showering. In Australia where our continent is enormous, largely barren and dry - why is it culturally acceptable for us to shower daily? Should we feel guilty for having a long, hot shower each day when there are people in other countries who do not, or can not?
- Why is everything other than Western culture considered barbaric, cowards, effeminate, untrustworthy, lazy, immoral or evil?
References:
Anderson, Nicole & Schlunke Katrina, "Cultural Theory in Everyday Practice", 2010.
Hall, "The Emergence of Cultural Studies and the Crisis of the Humanities" October, v53, 1990, p22.
Williams, "Culture is Ordinary" GIA Reader Vol 12, No 1.
Hall, "The Emergence of Cultural Studies and the Crisis of the Humanities" October, v53, 1990, p22.
Williams, "Culture is Ordinary" GIA Reader Vol 12, No 1.
