MONASH UNIVERSITY FACULTY HANDBOOKS

Arts Undergraduate Handbook 1996

Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996

CLS4300

Theorising culture

David Roberts

Synopsis This subject aims to establish the theoretical foundations for the analysis of culture and cultural forms. These will be examined from a range of, often competing, theoretical perspectives. Discussion will centre on French structuralism, semiology and anthropology; German sociology and critical theory; and British literary and cultural studies. Each of these will be examined for its respective account of the relationships between art, culture and society.

Assessment Two seminar papers + Long 4000-word essay (6000 words if taken as a 12-point subject)

Preliminary reading

• Austin-Broos D (ed.) Creating culture Allen and Unwin, 1987
• Milner A Contemporary cultural theory: An introduction Allen and Unwin, 1991
• Beilharz P (ed.) Social theory: A guide to central thinkers Allen and Unwin, 1992

Prescribed texts

• Adorno T and Horkheimer M Dialectic of enlightenment New Left Books, 1979
• Freud S Civilization and its discontents Penguin, 1985
• Habermas J The philosophical discourse of modernity Polity, 1987
• Hall S and others (eds) Culture, media, language Hutchinson, 1980
• Jameson F Postmodernism, or the cultural logic of late capitalism New Left Books, 1991
• Levi-Strauss C Structural anthropology Basic Books, 1963
• Spivak G In other worlds: Essays in cultural politics Methuen, 1987
• Williams R The politics of modernism Verso, 1989