106-444 Global Culture: History and Theory

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Subject Description:

Today global communications systems and cultural technologies like the Internet and satellite TV are extending their reach. Increasingly movies and cultural events are being produced for global consumption. This subject analyses globalisation by asking questions like: is it another form of cultural imperialism or will it allow new modes of cultural hybridisation? What will be the role of national cultures in the future? Is there such a thing as a global popular culture? How do we historicise and theorise global culture? Students completing this subject will possess familiarity with contemporary analysis of global culture; an understanding of debates over 'cultural imperialism' and 'hybridicity'; a sense of how work on post-colonialism and work on globalisation fit together and an understanding of approaches to the history of global culture; an introductory grasp of a series of case studies in the history of global culture.

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Prescribed Texts:

Course reader available from the department.

• J Verne, Around the World in Eighty Days, Pan.