reading UAS

READING 4 FINAL TEST EXAMINATION

CULTURAL STUDIES IN QUESTIONS-CULTURAL STUDIES IN CHANGING TIMES: AN INTRODUCTION

1. Chronicles of a Transnationalizing Academic Enterprise

Cultural studies had developed time after time and some countries have their own history of cross-national and cross-disciplinary growth. It is believed that cultural studies can be traced from the humanities and social science literatures. In UK, it started from sociology of culture, class relationship and regional identities. In USA, cultural studies leaves and diminishes class strata-based on American values. These two countries raise different issue. In Latin America, cultural studies focuses on popular culture adaptation and transformation e.g. syncretistism, hybridization and mestizaje. In Australia, they use policy literature to examine politics, economics and Australia’s media and cultural industries, etc.

2. Disquiet within: Cultural Studies’ Debate with Itself

Though it is about cultural studies, it still can not be guaranteed that they have the same notion. There is discontenting and battle within the diaspora. It is argued that a cultural studies is based on sociological materialism, epistemological realism and methodological pragmatism, ethnography, postmodernism, constructivism, textualism, etc. These approaches are seen problematic for socio-economic determination. Other proposes epistemological reinvention to analyze cultural studies’ texts. But, this past decade cultural studies expansion had ended.

3. Disquiet without: the Watching Disciplines Pose Questions

In academia, cultural studies development was ignored so that it was a need to reinvent cultural studies concept. Cultural studies expansion effects on depoliticisation of origin goal of cultural studies. It was also impatience and ignorance in the self-enclosed and self-defined of cultural studies. Besides, in some cases, there was perplexity emerging indeterminable relationship of cultural people to archive material. Thus, cultural history has been ignored in relationship of cultural studies. In other side, this cultural studies rapid growth caused many critics since it turned off students’ interest in laboratory and its enrolments increased from 563,000 to 930,000 between 1988 and 1994. In UK, the critics have not differentiated to cultural studies and media sub-areas of cultural and media study. In USA, it has focused on curriculum change and cultural diversity and cultural studies enrolments. Thus, each country has its own focus.

4. The Critique Converge: Questions of Method, Motive and Meaning

Cultural activities used to be texts to be read rather than acts to be analyzed. Cultural studies focused in media artifacts and results of cultural practice rather than its execution. Now, we can see that it has been down to earth-cultural production occurs in the texts involving readers’ engagement. Next, it was cultural studies work theory e.g. language and jargon-description precision. Afterward, analysis form dependent on metaphor which is so affectionate to one’s practice. The case is what explanation of cultural studies and social process cultural studies can offer. Here, idealism and imprecision within the analysis by metaphor propose certain question about the status of cultural studies texts.

5. The Political and the Popular: Pleasure, Resistance and Power

During 1980, cultural studies questions about the scope and utility of modes of media and cultural analysis. There is “style” controlling economy and society as mediating agencies. The impacts were no place in the cultural studies theoretical universe.

There are contradictions of cultural studies power-to-the-people style of populism getting close the cultural choice and audience empowerment: pleasure becomes resistance to its source. The political critique is unavoidable force on innovation and strength coming with institutionalization. Besides, there is political critique of cultural studies ironic seen as intervention in political life. Cultural studies is related to culture on power especially popular culture. But there is a problem faced because cultural studies has often avoided aesthetic and economic analysis where the notion of value is derived from.

6. Beyond Cultural Studies: the Way forward, or More Than One Way forward?

The current stage of evolution of cultural studies is about identity which is slippery and multi-dimensional concept.

In this introduction, there are essays tracing the main routes and the ups and downs of cultural studies long journey and also sense of déjà vu to conceptual purview. There are so fruitful to energize research and theory in the early of twenty-first century era of new communication technologies and global-local information and entertainment exchange and to offer chances to provoke and produce analysis of cultural studies.