Contemporary Cultures

Recommended Prerequisites

Students should be able to read texts in English with a moderate degree of difficulty.

Teaching Methods

The course will function as a seminar based extensively on the analysis and discussion of texts and audio-visual materials, some of which will be presented by the students.

Learning Outcomes

The course aims enlarging the students’ cultural references and developing their capacity of questioning and debating contemporary cultural theories and practices.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Departing from a preliminary reflection about the concept of culture and its multiple implications, the course will discuss a set of relevant notions that allow us to interrogate the concept of culture in a contemporary perspective, such as: language, representation and discourse; subjectivity, identity and difference; nation, multiculturalism, interculturality, globalization; race, ethnicity and post-colonialism; sexual identities and feminisms. This approach will bring into discussion several aspects of the history of culture and handle theoretical instruments that are needed for a contextual understanding of contemporary cultural practices.

N.B. The syllabus and bibliography may change depending on teaching staff.

Head Lecturer(s)

Catarina Isabel Caldeira Martins

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Participation and oral presentations: 40.0%
Research work: 60.0%

Bibliography

Barker, C. (2008). Cultural Studies. Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage (3ª ed.).

Bennet, T., Grossberg, L., Morris, M.  (eds.) (2005). New Keywords. A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society. Oxford: Blackwell.

Du gay, P., Evans J., Redman, P. (eds.) (2000). Identity: a reader. Los Angeles: Sage.

During, S. (ed.) (1994). The Cultural Studies Reader. London / New York: Routledge.

Giles, J., & Middleton, T. (2004). Studying Culture. A Practical Introduction. Malden: Blackwell.

Hall, S. (ed.) (1997). Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, London: Sage.

Mattelart, A., & Neveu, É. (2006). Introdução aos Cultural Studies. Porto: Porto Editora.

Mc Robbie, A. (2005). The Uses of Cultural Studies. A Textbook. London: Sage Publications.

Williams, R. (1983). Keywords. A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. New York: Oxford University Press.