Introduction to Cultural Studies

This course intends to examine culture, cultural identities and politics of production across various human historical conditions. Culture is examined in this course as an asymmetrical entanglement of material and abstract attributes and hence the course draws on political theory, psychology and critical theory, among other disciplines, in order to investigate the constructed categories of identity, authority and knowledge.INTENDED AUDIENCE : B.A/M.A. students of English and Cultural StudiesPRE-REQUISITES : B.A in English or Cultural Studies lINDUSTRY SUPPORT : NIL

Week 1: What is Culture? Culture and Cultural Identities, Values, Key lenses for Culture Studies
Week 2: Edward Said’s Orientalism, Homi Bhabha’s ‘The Other Question’
Week 3:Homi Bhabha’s ‘The Other Question’, George Orwell’s ‘Shooting an Elephant’
Week 4: George Orwell’s ‘Shooting an Elephant’, Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition
Week 5: Lyotard’s The Postmodern Condition, Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks
Week 6: Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble
Week 7: Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble, Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition
Week 8: Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition, Michel Foucault’s ‘What is an Author?’
Week 9: Michel Foucault’s ‘What is an Author?’, Ian Hacking’s The Social Construction of What?
Week 10: Ian Hacking’s The Social Construction of What?, bell hooks’ ‘Understanding Patriarchy’
Week 11: bell hooks’ ‘Understanding Patriarchy’, Slavoj Zizek’s Welcome to the Desert of the Real
Week 12: Slavoj Zizek’s Welcome to the Desert of the Real, Conclusion to the Course


Teaching Assistants:

1.Soham Chakraborty
2.Nishtha Pandey