Introduction to Media Studies SoSe 2011 Mag. Klaus Heissenberger North American Literary and Cultural Studies Universität des Saarlandes

Introduction to Media Studies SoSe 2011 Mag. Klaus Heissenberger North American Literary and Cultural Studies Universität des Saarlandes

second meanings, hidden meaning analyze influence on society insight (other) culture > cross-cultural knowledge use for future professions, the workplace > getting a job in the media... National interest omnipresence > link to culture, everyday life like media etc. personal transformation > into analysts ability to cross-reference communicate to youngster/pupils contemporary relevance, e.g. actual use of language / authenticity Society --- progress -- politics -- democracy --...

The “Circuit of Culture”

Paul Du Gay, Stuart Hall, Linda Janes, Hugh Mackay, und Keith Negus. Doing Cultural Studies. The Story of the Sony Walkman. London: Sage/The Open University, 1997.

The “Circuit of Culture”

5 interlinked “moments” at which culture is meaningful: … production … consumption … representation … identity … regulation

Cultural Studies: Culture, representation, identity and power culture representation identity power

Cultural Studies: Culture, representation, identity and power conventions and conventionality norms, the ‘normal’ (default, standard, generic) difference: the ‘other’ power: binary differences are hierarchical social identity: construction of the subject through differences ‘representation’ (making) meaning

The circuit of culture Paul Du Gay, Stuart Hall, Linda Janes, Hugh Mackay, und Keith Negus. Doing Cultural Studies. The Story of the Sony Walkman. London: Sahe/The Open University, 1997.

The “Circuit of Culture”

Making identity more complicated Concepts of identity: Identity activity -- theory: identity = social dimension categories = subject positions contingent = variable, shifting because dependent on the context Subject ≈ public, social aspect of the self Reading: Stuart Hall, 3 conceptions of identity - Enlightenment subject - Sociological subject - Postmodern subject

Essentialist vs. non-essentialist concepts or ideas of (racial/ethnic, sex/gender etc.) identity: Essentialist ideas: Identity is supposed to be fixed in an originating moment. There is a “true,” authentic, fixed set of characteristics that belong to a particular group. These characteristics do not change across time and are shared by all members of this group.

Essentialist vs. non-essentialist concepts or ideas of (racial/ethnic, sex/gender etc.) identity: Non-essentialist ideas: A non-essentialist perspective questions whether it is possible to speak of a “true” identity that is fixed for all time and in all places. Identity is seen as contingent, i.e. dependent on the context, and produced by (or: the result of) a particular negotiation of differences (of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, class, age,...) in the respective context. There is not any authentic, fixed set of characteristics that belongs to a particular group.