Cultural Studies Colloquia

Midterm Paper

5 pages, Times New Roman 12 point font, double spaced

Due Friday, Oct 29th at 11:59 pm to Canvas

Assignment

The purpose of this paper is to have you apply the theories, methods, concepts, and topics which you have been learning about in your Cultural Studies classes to one of the electives which you are taking. Choose a topic from a course that you are currently in, and examine it from a cultural studies perspective. Imagine we were looking at that issue in our colloquium: what questions might we want to have answered? What theories might we apply to it to help us understand power dynamics involved, identity issues, representational issues, ideas about truth and knowledge? These are just a few things to think about—there are many others which we have examined.

Be sure to refer to readings directly. These can be any of the works you have read in your Cultural Studies classes. A good, solid paper will have at least 3-4 direct quotations.

Consider these:

Theories

Foucault’s theory of discourse and how it creates meaning and “truth”

Foucault’s theory of discourse and how it creates “identity positions” people can occupy

Marist critique (capitalism, economics, exploitation)

Race analysis

Feminist theories

Rhetorical theory

Structuralism (binary oppositions, power imbalance)

Psychological theory (identity, fetishism, anything Freud said)

You very well may have learned of others in your methods and theory class. You can use those as well.

Topics/Concepts

Identity

Race/Racism

Sex/Gender

Sexism

Class

Power

Knowledge

Truth

Representation –art, museum, social media, all media, photos, etc.

And lots more!