Academic Catalog

MCS2524 INTRODUCTION TO CULTURAL STUDIES

Course Code: 8162524
METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): 3(3-0)
ECTS Credit: 8.0
Department: Media And Cultural Studies
Language of Instruction: English
Level of Study: Masters
Course Coordinator: Prof.Dr. NECMÝ ERDOÐAN
Offered Semester: Fall or Spring Semesters.

Course Content

The course is designed to provide students with analytical tools to conceptualise the field of cultural practices. It presents a critical review of contemporary theoretical positions developed by the Frankfurt School,neo-Gramscian Marxism,Bakhtin,de Certeau,Bourdieu,Lefebvre,Debord, etc. A brief introduction on the theory of ideology, with which most students are likely to be unfamilliar, will be made since it constitutes the basic analytical premise of cultural studies.Special attention will be paid to the interplay of ideolgy, culture and power, the trans -formation(s)of the field of cultural practices , and the contestatory character of popular or mass-mediated cultural forms. Among the themes to be explored are the elite/mass or high/popular culture binaryism, the dichotomies of domination versus resistance and opposition versus ideological incorporation, the pracmatics of everday life, and the culture of the society of spectacle. Within this context,various popular or mass-mediated cultural forms,texts and narratives (e.g. popular cinema ,popular music , televised sports , and television serials) will also be referred to.