This course considers a range of theoretical approaches to the study of popular culture, including cultural studies and feminist theory as well as key concepts and key debates in the study of popular culture. It explores the ways popular culture is implicated in the formation of social determinants such as ethnicity, race, gender, class, and sexuality and conversely, how these social determinants are implicated in the formation of popular culture. The course also considers the ways in which popular culture serves as a site of ongoing political struggle. The aim of the course is to provide students with a critical vocabulary to make sense of broader significance and relevance of popular culture–why popular culture matters. To accomplish this, we will investigate a number of popular expressive forms including magazines, fandom, digital music, and hip hop.
