Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis The subject aims to introduce students to a variety of theoretical approaches to the study of culture, with a view to examining the different ways in which these models figure the problem of knowing about culture. This will entail discussion of a number of significant texts from some of the literary-critical traditions which have been taken up by cultural studies, along with texts from anthropology and sociology. The subject will focus on the various metaphorical systems formed around the figure of the knowing subject of culture, and on what these entail in the way of unknowing objects of culture, as well as emblematic sites of culture in particular theoretical accounts. From Leavis's cultural aristocrat to Barthes intellectual alien, from MacCannell's tourist to Morris's discerning shopper, the figures change, and with them the configurations of culture to which they relate. This subject will read each of the figurings under discussion in terms of its implications for concepts of intellectual positionality and dialogue.
Assessment Tutorial paper (1000 words): 10% + 2 essays (2500 words each): + 45% each