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Cultural Analysis lecture notes (week 1 to 5)
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Cultural Analysis notes from the lectures (week 1 to 5)
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Week 1 - lecture 1:Cultural Studies vs. Cultural Analysis:
-> Cultural Studies is something that exists in a separate/distinct way from Cultural Analysis.
Cultural Analysis:
• Birmingham School of Cultural Studies (CCCS).
- founded in 1964 by Stuart Hall and Richard Hoggart.
- Important for opening up humanities.
• In terms of disciplines.
• In terms of anti-elitism.
• In terms of race.
• In terms of feminism.
Stuart Hall:
• 1932-2014
• Founder New Left Review
• Co-founder of the Birmingham School
• Sociology, Cultural Studies.
• Influenced by: Marx, Gramsci, Althusser, Foucault, etc., etc.
• Interested in: Representation, Power, Language, etc., etc.
two meanings for representation:
- to describe/depict something (e.g. an image of a car…); as something that describes something else.
- to stand in for something/ to symbolise something/ to speak on behalf of (e.g. the lawyer represents me…)
example: the image of a ‘car’ vs. the word for ‘car’ —> the word of a ‘car’ stands in for something/a car, while
the image of a car bears a resemblance to a ‘car’.
Representation:
- To describe or to depict. To operate as a placeholder.
- To stand for or to symbolise. To speak on behalf of. To operate as a placeholder.
,—> the table has no meaning of its own, but the meaning is produced through a process of signification. —>
meaning is something that is produced culturally, socially through language and it does not exist out there in
the world…
How do language, representation and meaning relate to each other?
—> Meaning:
The main point is that meaning does not inhere in things, in the world. It is constructed, produced.
It is the result of a signifying practice - a practice that produces meaning, that makes things mean.
(Hall, p. 24).
—> Representation:
This is where representation comes in. Representation is the production of the meaning of the
concepts in our minds through language. It is the link between concepts and language which
enables us to refer to either the ‘real’ world of objects, people or events, or indeed to imaginary
worlds of fictional objects, people and events.
(Hall, p. 17)
-> basically Hall says that representation is the process through which meaning comes about in the first
place. So without representation there is no meaning, according to Hall.
Object - Calvin and Hobbes
—> comic -> see Powerpoint! [audio: 12-13 min.]
The work of Representation
• Connection between: meaning, language, and culture.
- Reflective/Mimetic - language reflects meaning out there.
- Intentional - language expresses authors intention.
- Constructionist - meaning is constructed in and through language.
The example of a computer
Computer in front of you. -> The concept in your head of what a computer is. -> The word
“computer” that you use to refer to the concept in your head.
According to Hall, a computer by itself has no meaning but it is given meaning through
representation and language needs to be at work….So central question: what is necessary for the
computer to become meaningful to us?
- You need to have a concept in your head (an idea) of what a computer is
,- To communicate that meaning of a computer/ to refer to a computer you need the word
‘computer’ which refers to the concept in your head that you have of the computer!
-> We use the word computer to refer to the concept in our head (we could also use other words to
refer to a computer, but why have we chosen the word ‘computer’ -> we have chosen the word ‘computer’ as
giving meaning to the concept in our head of what a computer is….)
—> Now we need to formulate a theory why it is that the concept in my head and the sign that I have used to
refer to that concept, how/why they can be connected and what the results of that connection are.
Signs for Saussure:
- Signifier - word, image, etc.
- Signified - concept in your head.
- Signs are arbitrary; they are different from language to language and not fixed to the concepts
in our head.
—> The word ‘computer’ is not necessarily connected to the concept of ‘computer’. Nothing would
necessarily have to change if we had invented another word for computer: the object/ concept/ etc. could still
be the same. Example: different words from different languages that refer to the same concept.
Stuart Hall says that there are two Systems of Representation:
1) Mental Representation - organised system of concepts in our heads. p. 17.
2) Shared Language - organised system of signs that carry and express meaning. p. 19.
- Relation between the two is secured by codes.
- Codes are historical and cultural: they are not stable - meaning is unstable.
Codes and Culture:
One way of thinking about ‘culture’, then, is in terms of these shared conceptual maps, shared
language systems and codes which govern the relationships of translation between them. Codes
fix the relationships between concepts and signs. They stabilise meaning within different
languages and cultures. They tell us which language to use to convey which idea. The reverse is
also true. Codes tell us which concepts are being referred to when we hear or read which signs.
(Hall, p.21).
From language to culture to discourse:
• Three steps:
- Saussure - relationship signifier-signified.
- Barthes - signs are all around us.
, - Foucault - discourse and power determine the boundaries of what can be known and from what
perspective.
Semiotics:
In the semiotic approach, not only words and images but objects themselves can function as
signifiers in the production of meaning. Clothes, for example, may have a simple physical function -
to cover the body and protect it from the weather. But clothes also double up as signs. They
construct a meaning and carry a message. An evening dress may signify ‘elegance’; a bow tie and
tails, ‘formality’; jeans and trainers, ‘casual dress’; a certain kind of sweater in the right setting, ‘a
long, romantic, autumn walk in the wood’. (Barthes, 1967).
(Hall p. 37)
The example of a computer:
Semiotics: the computer itself is also a sign!
- Conveys meaning like status and so on.
Discourse, Knowledge, Power:
- Discourse instead of language.
- Looks at practices and power (p. 42).
- Interplay between knowledge and power.
- Truth exists in a discursive formation, not outside
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