The emergence of cultural studies in the 1970s opened-up new areas of scholarly enquiry and raised new issues about the politics of class, gender, ethnicity and race, youth, subcultures and sexuality. Although there have been many changes since the original formation of cultural studies, feminist cultural studies today remains concerned with the effects of discursive and institutional practices of domination, subordination, and hegemony both in everyday life and within academic enquiry.
This course will focus on crucial feminist interventions in cultural production and cultural studies. It will examine contemporary debates in feminist theory and specific forms of activism, engagement and resistance that have identified and targeted hierarchical mechanisms that produce gendered, sexual, ethnic and racial identities and oppression.
The course will be taught through the examination of a range of sources drawn from popular culture, media, art, public culture and policy, enabling us to bring feminist cultural theory into dialogue with a range of media and other cultural productions and practices.