Methods in Cultural Studies

ogólnouniwersyteckie

The class aims at showing methods in interpreting cultures, based on modern and original examples. Theories will be shown through practical cases, partly well-known to students and partly vastly exotic.

The course will show two distinct ways of looking at cultural phenomena in the form of extended case studies.

The first part will explore the contemporary pop-culture, and cultural texts such as TV series and video games and will look at ways to analyze and theorize them. We will try to use our non-academia experience in an academic environment, trying to adopt a new perspective of looking at - well-acquainted - objects.

In the second part of the course, we will explore the fundaments of participatory action research, focusing on working with minority or Indigenous communities. We will also open a discussion about the role of academia in the contemporary world and non-dominant approaches to research. Linda Tuhiwai Smith, a leading theorist of the decolonization of Maori in Aotearoa / New Zealand, wrote that “research is not an innocent or distant academic exercise but an activity that has something at stake and that occurs in a set of political and social conditions” (Smith L. T. 1999/2012, 5). In different local contexts, Indigenous scholars propose a valid alternative to the “Western” way of doing research. They focus on “deconstructing Eurocentric hierarchies and dichotomies and highlighting holistic thinking” and prove that “research can be transformative, drawing from Indigenous ways of knowing” (Virtanen et al. 2021, 13).

Will be specified in accordance with students, chosen together during first classes.

The Graduate:

- has a basic understanding of a wide range of research methods in the humanities, including interdisciplinary approaches and participatory action research. (K_W05)

- knows how to analyze and interpret cultural texts with different methods and is open to constructive dialogue with Indigenous approaches to creating and developing knowledge. (K_W07)

- can define meaningful research questions and analyze different data types to support his hypothesis. He can propose an adequate methodology to realize a specific research goal (K_U03)

- can share his research results in short academic papers or presentations that contribute to the current scholarly debate on a given topic (K_U07)

- is ready to conduct different types of research, including community-driven participatory action research projects (K_K03)

Class participation, essay, in-class presentation.

Possible number of absences – 2 blocks of classes.