{"id":1874,"date":"2021-05-06T18:10:52","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T18:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/?p=1874"},"modified":"2022-01-06T18:11:36","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T18:11:36","slug":"culture-power-politics-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/?p=1874","title":{"rendered":"Culture, Power Politics 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Introduction to Cultural Theory Course 2021<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is the connection between culture and power? How do the ideas we have about what is \u2018normal\u2019 or \u2018natural\u2019 influence our decisions? How did Brexit happen? What is gender? Why do some people think Covid-19 is a hoax? Cultural theory makes use of techniques from philosophy, history, sociology, human geography, anthropology and political and critical theory to examine these and other questions in the context of contemporary popular cultures.
\nThe course is free because we believe not only that education should be free but that knowledge is a crucial weapon in the war against all forms of inequality.
\nIf you\u2019ve never been to university, have been but miss the critical debates or are curious about who decides what counts as knowledge in the first place, please join us.
\nThere is no set reading (although we\u2019ll recommend some if you\u2019re interested) and no essay assignments, exams or deadlines (although we\u2019ll set some if you want to challenge yourself). All the classes are interactive and give you the chance to think about everyday life in the context of the history of ideas. We\u2019ll provide the learning environment. The rest is up to you.<\/p>\n

All sessions are free and open to all and there is no need to book. For full participation in the series, we recommend joining our Slack. To join, email Debbie with the subject line \u2018CPP\u2019: debbieshaw@blueyonder.co.uk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ridley Road Market Bar, 49 Ridley Road, Dalston, London, E8 2NP
\nThursdays 6.30 \u2013 8.30pm<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Course outline<\/strong><\/p>\n

Session 1
\nThursday 5th August
\nLanguage, Meaning and Marxism<\/strong><\/p>\n

We make meaning from everything we see around us every day, but what informs our decisions about what \u2018things\u2019 mean? This session will introduce you to ideas which question the relationship between language and truth, what is meant by \u2018ideology\u2019 and how it is relevant to how we make sense of everyday life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Session 2
\nThursday 12th August <\/strong><\/p>\n

Do We Think We Are?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We like to think that we\u2019re individuals but what does this really mean? We use the words \u2018I\u2019 and \u2018me\u2019 in nearly every sentence but do we really know who it is that is speaking? Where does the idea of individuality come from? In this session we\u2019ll discuss the concept of \u2018subjectivity\u2019 and why we think it\u2019s ok to exclude those that don\u2019t conform.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Session 3
\nThursday 19th August
\nBodies, Race and Culture<\/strong>
\nThe history of colonialism is a history of violence and genocide justified by the idea that there is a hierarchy of races and that certain types of bodies carry the marks of inferiority. In this session we will explore how these ideas are perpetuated in contemporary culture and examine just what exactly is meant by \u2018critical race theory\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Session 4
\nThursday 26th August<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s Sex Got to Do With It? <\/strong><\/p>\n

The current decade has exposed the widespread abuse of women\u2019s bodies in public life alongside a resurgence of interest in feminism and demands for equality in the labour market. But is \u2018equality\u2019 enough? What does it even mean? In this session we will examine the radical politics of gender dissent and why all forms of sexuality are political.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Session 5
\nThursday 2nd September
\nAre We Posthuman?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We used to be sure that we knew what \u2018human\u2019 meant and, more to the point, who or what was decidedly not human. Now we\u2019re not so sure. In this session we\u2019ll look at the way that certain influential scientific theories have conditioned our understanding of what it means to be human and how new understandings of how the universe works are causing us to doubt where the boundaries are between what we think of as human and other forms of life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Session 6
\nThursday 9th September
\nArt, Politics and Culture<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many of the ideas that we\u2019ve discussed on this course have influenced artists to think beyond representative forms of art making and to produce art which challenges received ideas and exposes hypocrisy. But art is, itself, deeply embedded in the circulation of capital and perhaps only accessible to those with the knowledge to appreciate it. In this session, we\u2019ll be looking at the politics of art and how it functions to both perpetuate and challenge ideas.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Session 7
\nThursday 16th September
\nRoundtable<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll finish the course with a roundtable of invited experts who will respond to questions you have posted on our Slack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction to Cultural Theory Course 2021 What is the connection between culture and power? How do the ideas we have about what is \u2018normal\u2019 or \u2018natural\u2019 influence our decisions? How did Brexit happen? What is gender? Why do some people think Covid-19 is a hoax? Cultural theory makes use of techniques from philosophy, history, sociology, … Continue reading Culture, Power Politics 2021<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1875,"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1874\/revisions\/1875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturalstudiesresearch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}