Admission requirements
Not applicable.
Description
Since the rise of Cultural Studies in the 1970s, research and analysais into cinema, television, popual music and popular fiction has become a staple part of the field of English Studies at universities. This course gives students an introduction to English-language popular-culture studies in the form of a series of lectures presented by staf of the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS). The case studies in the analysis of pop-culture texts, in both traditional and new media, presented in the first half of the course will vary from year to year, but the focus will always be on the production, reception and cultural impact of various forms of English-language popular culture. The second half of the course will cover in more detail specific critical methodologies for the study of popular culture, from Stuart Hall’s classic “encoding/decoding” theory to structuralist approaches to popular genres and the cultural politics of popular music.
Course Objectives
Knowledge: Students will become knowledgeable of the relationship between various forms of popular culture and society: how forms of mass produced popular culture shape identities, how dominant ideologies as well as oppositional views shape forms of popular culture and vice versa, and how older forms of culture are continually re-invented and play an important role in giving “consumers” fictional narratives through which to (critically) engage with and understand key aspects of contemporary society.
Insight: Students will gain insight into the history, typical research questions and methodologies of the academic discipline of popular-culture studies.
Skills: Students will learn skills that will allow them to identify research and analyse both intertextual and intercultural relations between forms of popular culture, as well as the ability to identify and study ways in which popular-culture productions play a role in the representation and discussion of wider socio-political issues.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
A series of lectures
Assessment method
Assessment
A 2-hour written mid-term exam on the material presented in the weeks leading up to the mid-term week (50% of the final grade).
An end-of-term MLA style research-essay, or a three-person group video-presentation of 20 minutes (50% of the final grade).
The final grade is the average grade for the mid-term exam and the end-of-term assignment.
Written feedback will be given on the end-of-term assignment. Students can contact the tutor with any questions concerning the written feedback provided.
An exam consultation moment will be scheduled in due course.
Weighing
A 2-hour written mid-term exam on the material presented in the weeks leading up to the mid-term week (50% of the final grade).
An end-of-term MLA style research-essay, or a three-person group video-presentation of 20 minutes (50% of the final grade).
The final grade is the average grade for the mid-term exam and the end-of-term assignment.
Resit
When the final grade is below 6, the insufficient part(s) of the course work needs to be retaken.
Reading list
See Brightspace for weekly reading/viewing schedule.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about MyStudyMap is available on the website
Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of À la carte education (without taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Student administration Arsenaal
Remarks
Not applicable.