SLL40230

“Culture” is one of the most central, and yet one of the most contested terms in the modern world. This module will offer a critical introduction to the study of culture, incorporating both historical and contemporary perspectives from cultural theory. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it will point to the relationship between culture and its narratives, showing how different theories of culture play a role in human self-definition. What is the relationship of the human to culture? Who “owns” culture? In examining this topic within an MA programme in continental languages, this module will pay particular attention to the critique of culture as well as to notions of counter-culture, subculture, and cross-culture in different media and in a range of contexts. Aimed at postgraduate students of modern languages, literatures and linguistics as well as welcoming students from other disciplinary backgrounds, the module will reflect on what we really mean when we talk about culture. What notion of otherness and of “the other culture” are in force? How do we know what we are speaking about when culture is presupposed as a common reference point? How do we write about the other and how do we “know” the other culture? This module will look at extracts as well as longer writings by a range of authors who have tried to criticize, define, or contest the meaning of culture.