ADM596 CULTURAL POLITICS
| Course Code: |
3100596 |
| METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): |
3(3-0) |
| ECTS Credit: |
8.0 |
| Department: |
Political Science And Public Adm. |
| Language of Instruction: |
English |
| Level of Study: |
Graduate |
| Course Coordinator: |
|
| Offered Semester: |
Fall Semesters. |
Course Content
The course is designed to provide students with analytical tools to conceptualise the field of popular cultural practices. It represents a critical review of contemporary theoretical positions on popular culture, particularly the ones developed by the Frankfurt School, neo-Gramscian Marxism and Birmingham School, Bakhtin, de Certeau, and Bourdieu. A brief introduction to the theory of ideology, with which most students are likely to be unfamiliar, will be made as it constitutes the basic analytical premise of popular culture studies. Special attention will be paid to the interplay of ideology, culture and power, the transformations of the field of cultural practices, and the contestatory character of popular cultural forms. Among the themes to be explored are the elite/mass or high/popular culture binaryism, the dichotomies of resistance versus domination and opposition versus ideological incorporation, the so-called postmodern collapse of cultural hierarchies, the pragmatics of diversionary practices in everyday life, and the politics of cultural transgression. Within this context, various popular cultural forms, texts and narratives (e.g. popular music, sports, and folktales) will be referred to as well.
