Major elective · English · Semester 5 · TY BA · 4 credits · 100 marks · 60 hours
Module 1: Cultural Studies: An Introduction
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1
Concept of Culture
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2
Emergence and historical development of Cultural Studies
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3
The Birmingham School and key contributors
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4
Culture and Civilization tradition, Culturalism
Module 2: Meaning, Representation and Identity
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1
Ferdinand de Saussure- Signifier and Signified
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2
Roland Barthes- Denotative and Connotative Levels of Meaning
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3
Michel Foucault- Discourse, Power and Identity; Homi K. Bhabha- Hybridity
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4
Case Study: Construction and Performance of Gender Roles (For example, representations of masculinity, femininity, and queerness in film, advertising, social media etc.)
Module 3: The Politics of Culture and Popular Forms
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1
Reception Theory (Stuart Hall): Encoding and Decoding meaning
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2
Representation, Negotiation, and Agency
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3
Culture, Ideology, and Popular Culture
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4
Case Study: Music and Poetry as Forms of Resistance (For example, spoken word poetry, jazz, rap, protest music etc.)
Module 4: Globalization, Media and Digital Culture
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1
Globalization and dismantling of cultural hierarchies
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2
High culture vs. low culture debate
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3
Hyperreality and mediated reality (Baudrillard, Lyotard, Jameson)
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4
Case Study: Digital Media, Algorithms, and Post-Truth Cultures (For example, app-based narratives, experimental OTT formats such as Black Mirror, Bandersnatch, electronic poetry, role-playing video games etc.)
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Pedagogical Approach: Instructors are advised to introduce all key concepts at a basic conceptual level, emphasizing key ideas rather than exhaustive coverage of individual theorists. Case studies should be used to enable learners to apply theory to familiar cultural artefacts such as media, literature, and digital platforms, thereby encouraging critical discussion and understanding of core concepts.
Reference Books
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1
Appadurai, Arjun. Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. University of Minnesota Press, 1996.
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2
Barrett, Michèle. The Politics of Truth: From Marx to Foucault. Stanford University Press, 1991.
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3
Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Translated by Annette Lavers, Paladin, 1973.
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4
Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 2008.
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5
Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.
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6
Durham, Meenakshi Gigi, and Douglas M. Kellner, editors. Media and Cultural Studies: KeyWorks. Blackwell Publishing, 2001.
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7
Fiske, John. Understanding Popular Culture. Unwin Hyman, 1989.
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8
Hall, Stuart. “Encoding/Decoding.” The Cultural Studies Reader, edited by Simon During, Routledge, 1993, pp. 90–103.
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9
McGuigan, Jim. Cultural Populism. Routledge, 1992.
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10
Nayar, Pramod K. An Introduction to Cultural Studies. Viva Books, 2008.
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11
Storey, John. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. 6th ed., Pearson, 2014.
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12
Willis, Paul. Common Culture: Symbolic Work at Play in the Everyday Cultures of the Young. Open University Press, 1990.
