AustLit

This subject investigates cultural texts and their meanings as they come to appear in present day Australia and globally. It aims to provide ways of investigating such meanings and how they are produced that are both critical and creative. This reflects the cultural studies approach of this subject which introduces students to some of the key concepts in cultural studies while providing methods for analysing complex cultural phenomenon in a media-saturated environment. Some of the key areas of focus are cultural and social differences, signification and representation, modes of meaning production, genres of intervention and the engaged practice of theory.

In this subject students will:

Be introduced to Cultural Studies as a discipline.

Become familiar with various concepts relevant to Cultural Studies, such as representation, text, Orientalism, ideology, hegemony, discourse, subcultures, the flneur, etc.

Become conversant with a range of critical and analytical approaches, such as semiotics, textual analysis, discourse analysis, cultural ethnography, ficto-criticism, etc.

Apply a Cultural Studies approach to a range of practical and/or examples and case studies, often related to everyday life, contemporary society, and/or popular culture.