Graduate Program (& Advanced Certificate) Status
This course is an introduction to the conceptualization of popular culture in general, and its manifestation in various genres in the forms (digital, analogue, print) of the media through an intersectional approach. It is an exploration of the emergence and the subsequent reconfigurations of ‘popular culture’ as a distinct area of representation and scholarly activity. The impact of gender/sexuality relations is the point of departure only to see their intertwined relationship with other relations of power. It is this intersectional approach that will inform the discussions of the actual academic texts and the cultural products involved throughout the course. The theoretical discussions will be focused on the changes in the meaning and theorizations of the “representation of women” – and its contemporary ir/relevance. There will be an emphasis on the consequences and specificities of ways of doing cultural/media analysis. The ultimate aim is to re/consider the differences between academic and popular cultural discourses of post-feminism and their viability since the turn of the century. Students will be encouraged to reread the weekly texts from within the context of their own cultural (and academic) contexts. The classes, with the exception of the first three encounters that are to lay down the key categories, will be divided into two parts: the first half of the seminars is dedicated to the discussion of the mandatory readings while in the second one we shall focus on the discussion of some contemporary examples of the students choice, applying the key categories introduced by the weekly reading.
