Selected Issues in Cultural Studies - JKM122

• Title: Selected Issues in Cultural Studies
• Czech title: Vybrané kapitoly kulturálních studií
• Guaranteed by: Department of Media Studies (23-KMS)
• Faculty: Faculty of Social Sciences
• Actual: from 2024
• Semester: summer
• E-Credits: 5
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:2/0, Ex [HT]
• Capacity: 40 / unknown (40)
• Min. number of students: 10
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment; priority enrollment if the course is part of the study plan
• Guarantor: doc. PhDr. Irena Reifová, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): doc. PhDr. Irena Reifová, Ph.D.
• Class: Courses for incoming students
• Incompatibility : JJM227

Annotation

This course examines the origins and foundational concepts of cultural studies, from which an overview, definitions, and elucidations of topics characteristic of contemporary cultural studies—now established as a recognized academic field—are derived. The course introduces fundamental entry concepts, including culture, structure, meaning, text, ideology, hegemony, popular culture, polysemy, and the active audience. These classical concepts are contextualized within new frameworks represented by studies of globalization, space, time, memory, participation, citizenship, and the evolution of debates with political economy. Given that cultural studies is a dynamic discipline that frequently engages in dialogue with other fields (notably political economy) and within its own various strands, the material is organized as an overview of defining debates.

Last update: Reifová Irena, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (03.02.2025)

Aim of the course

The aim of the course is to introduce the discipline of cultural studies in a manner that enables students to understand the nature of the field, while dispelling the initial impression of vagueness, uncertainty, and ambiguity that it typically evokes. A further objective is to demonstrate the value of a cultural studies perspective in the study of media, conceived as a complex media culture forged in the tension between those who produce media texts and those who consume them. The course also illustrates how, within this tension, power is both established and diffused, being intrinsically linked to the dominant positions within society from which it originates and towards which it is directed.

Last update: Reifová Irena, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (03.02.2025)

Course completion requirements

The course is assessed through two components: a graded take-home assignment and a written exam.

A minimum overall score of 50.1% is required to pass the course.

• Written exam: Maximum 10 points = 100%
• Oral exam: Maximum 20 points = 100%

The final grade is calculated as simple average of the percentage scores from the written and oral exams. 

The overall result is determined according to the following grading scale:

• 91% and above → A
• 81–90% → B
• 71–80% → C
• 61–70% → D
• 51–60% → E
• 0–50% → F

WRITTEN EXAM

Students will complete two assignments based on the selected readings from the Reading List – Written Exam Selection. They will write their responses by hand within the allotted 80-minute time frame. The written exam will take place during the scheduled lecture slot. 

Written exam date in summer semester 2025: 12 May, 2025

Each assignment consists of:

1. A summarizing annotation of the specific reading, highlighting key arguments, concepts, and insights.
2. An additional analytical task, designed to assess critical thinking and engagement with the text.

ORAL EXAM

The oral exam will assess students' ability to respond to questions covering topics discussed in lectures and explored in the required readings from the Full Reading List.

Students will be expected to:

• Demonstrate a clear understanding of key concepts and theories.
• Engage critically with the material, providing thoughtful analysis and relevant examples.

Last update: Reifová Irena, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (10.02.2025)

Literature

Reading List – Written Exam Selection

Turner, Graeme (1996). British Cultural Studies. An Introduction. London: Routledge. - the whole book

Hall, Stuart (2006). Encoding Decoding. Pp. 128-139 in Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Loewe, Paul Willis (eds.), Culture, Media, Language.  London: Routledge. 

Fiske, John. (1987).  Television Culture.  London: Methuen.  - chapters 1, 5, 6, 12, 16 

McGuigan, Jim (1992). Cultural Populism.London: Routledge. - chapters 1, 4

Fraser, Nancy - Honneth, Axel (2003) Redistribution or Recognition? A Political-Philosophical Exchange. London: Verso. Chapter 1 (pp. 7-109)

 

Full Reading List

Turner, Graeme (1996). British Cultural Studies: An Introduction. London: Routledge. (Whole book)

Hall, Stuart (1980). “Encoding/Decoding.” In Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Lowe, and Paul Willis (eds.), Culture, Media, Language, pp. 128–139. London: Routledge. 

Hall, Stuart (1980). “Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms.” Media, Culture & Society, 2(1): 57–72.

Fiske, John (1987). Television Culture. London: Routledge. (Chapters 1, 5, 6, 12, 16)

Ang, Ien (1985). Watching Dallas. London: Routledge. (Chapters 2, 3)

Garnham, Nicholas (1995). “Political Economy and Cultural Studies: Reconciliation or Divorce?” Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 12(1): 62–72. ISSN 1529-5036.

Grossberg, Lawrence (1995). “Cultural Studies vs. Political Economy: Is Anybody Else Bored with this Debate?” Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 12(1): 72–82. ISSN 1529-5036.

Tomlinson, John (1991). Cultural Imperialism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. (Chapters 1, 2)

van Zoonen, Liesbet (2005). Entertaining the Citizen: When Politics and Popular Culture Converge. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. (Chapters 1, 4, 7)

Neiger, Motti, Mayers, Oren, & Zandberg, Eyal (eds.) (2011). On Media Memory: Collective Memory in the New Media Age.  London: Palgrave Macmillan. (Editors’ Introduction, Chapter 17)

McGuigan, Jim (1992). Cultural Populism. London: Routledge. (Chapters 1, 4)

Storey, John (2010). Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. (Chapters 1, 7)

Lyle, Samantha (2008). “(Mis)recognition and the Middle-Class/Bourgeois Gaze: A Case Study of Wife Swap.” Critical Discourse Studies, 5(4): 319–330.

Fraser, Nancy & Honneth, Axel (2003). Redistribution or Recognition? A Political-Philosophical Exchange. London: Verso. (Chapter 1, pp. 7–109)

Creeber, Glen (2009). Digital Culture: Understanding New Media. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.

Jenkins, Henry & Carpentier, Nico (2013). “Theorizing Participatory Intensities: A Conversation about Participation and Politics.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 19(3): 265–286.

 

Last update: Reifová Irena, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (10.02.2025)

Teaching methods

The course is primarily delivered in lecture format. A strong emphasis is placed on independent reading, which is assessed through both the written and oal exams. For each topic, the syllabus lists a representative publication—also included on the reading list—which students are expected to review prior to each session.

Last update: Reifová Irena, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (10.02.2025)

Syllabus

TOPIC 1
Introduction to the Course, Its Regulations, and the Syllabus

TOPIC 2
Cultural Studies: Definitions, Origins, and Canonical Authors

• Turner, Graeme. British Cultural Studies. An Introduction. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1996. 258 pages. ISBN 978-0415129305 

TOPIC 3
Structuralism in Cultural Studies: Text, Ideology, and Hegemony

• Hall, Stuart. “Encoding/Decoding.” In Culture, Media, Language, edited by Stuart Hall, Dorothy Hobson, Andrew Loewe, and Paul Willis, pp. 128–139. New Edition. London: Routledge, 2006 (originally published 1980). 320 pages. ISBN 978-0415079068
• Hall, Stuart. (1980) “Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms.” Media, Culture and Society, 2:57–72.
  
  

TOPIC 4
Culturalism in Cultural Studies: Active Audiences, Subcultures, and Semiotic Democracy

• Ang, Ian. (1985) Watching Dallas. New York: Methuen & Co. Ltd. (or the equivalent publication in Czech translation)

 

TOPIC 5

Debates on the Cultural Industry and Popular Culture

• Storey, John. (2010) Cultural Studies and the Study of Popular Culture. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Fiske, John. (2010) Television Culture. London: Methuen. Alternatively, Fiske, John (2017) Jak rozumět populární kultuře. Prague: Akropolis.
  
  

TOPIC 6
Debates on Cultural Class

• Lyle, S.A. (2008) “(Mis)recognition and the Middle-Class/Bourgeois Gaze: A Case Study of Wife Swap.” Critical Discourse Studies, 5(4): 319–330.

TOPIC 7
Debates on Cultural Imperialism

• Tomlinson, John. Cultural Imperialism. 1st ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. 224 pages. ISBN 978-0861877515
  
  

TOPIC 8
Debates on Cultural Citizenship

• van Zoonen, Lisbet. Entertaining the Citizen. 1st ed. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 192 pages. ISBN 978-0742529076
  
  

TOPIC 9
Debates on Cultural and Collective Memory

• Neiger, Motti; Mayers, Oren; Zandberg, Eyal. On Media Memory. Collective Memory in the New Media Age. 1st ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. 320 pages. ISBN 978-0230275683
  
  

TOPIC 10
Debates on Cultural Participation, Agency, and New Media

• Creeber, Glen. (2009) Digital Culture: Understanding New Media. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
• Jenkins, Henry; Carpentier, Nico. (2013) “Theorizing Participatory Intensities: A Conversation about Participation and Politics.” Convergence, 19(3): 265–286.

 

 

Last update: Reifová Irena, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (10.02.2025)

Entry requirements

It can be recommended that students enroll in the course "Reading Texts for the Study of Media – Popular Culture" either concurrently with or after completing the course JJM227..

Last update: Reifová Irena, doc. PhDr., Ph.D. (03.02.2025)