Fwd: [csaa-forum] Is cultural studies inherently left-wing?

[liz jacka]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: liz jacka <liz.jacka at uts.edu.au>
> Date: Thu Jan 6, 2005  9:42:50 AM Australia/Sydney
> To: Terry Flew <t.flew at qut.edu.au>
> Subject: Re: [csaa-forum] Is cultural studies inherently left-wing?
>
> Dear Terry
>
> My preliminary answer to you on the "cultural policy" question, is to  
> support what Warwick says.  I have been rereading your exchange with  
> James Donald in Continuum, and now reading this contribution to the  
> list, I keep wondering why you (we?) are constantly posing the  
> question of the role of the humanities or the left-right in terms of  
> cultural studies.  It sounds like a desperate attempt to preserve  
> Cultural Studies form irrelevance or from the Andrew Bolt type > attacks.
>
> But a much bigger question is the one Warwick poses, which is what can  
> be the role of critique, argument, evidence etc.  I think it is a  
> beautiful irony for all our post-structuralist deconstruction work,  
> that the the "right" (and I really mean those scare quotes) have  
> become more relativist that us (us??).  Their position is that there  
> are left-wing views and there are right-wing views and all they want  
> is equal treatment for both in the academy (see Gerard Henderson,  
> Sydney Institute Quarterly Issue 23 and Raymond Gaita's recent  
> Quarterly Essay, Breach of Trust).
>
> I have been writing about Richard Alston's attacks on the ABC over  
> bias, and have been really struggling with this issue, of how to  
> arbitrate between positions and how to move beyond the very  
> disempowering position of seeing things as merely a clash of values.   
> I guess I hanker after 'truth" (but in a very ironic and sophisticated  
> way, naturally).
>
> Maybe we need a conference on post-poststructuralist forms of  
> rationality.  I myself believe in the forensic method, which does not  
> deploy large value systems ("progressiveness") against which to judge  
> things, but which, rather, dissects things against very specific and  
> localised systems of thought (for example, a detailed argument about  
> whether the US's treatment of prisoners at Guantamo Bay is consistent  
> with various protocols the US itself supports).
>
> As you can see, none of my musings have anything to do with Cultural  
> Studies or cultural policy, but I do think i am worrying about the  
> same things you are.
>
> Best
>
> Liz
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, January 5, 2005, at 09:45 PM, Terry Flew wrote:
>
>> Liz
>>
>> As always, a very sharp and to the point response. My error, as you  
>> point out, was to conflate 'progressive' and 'political' here. It  
>> generates an answer which tends towards being self-evident i.e.  
>> 'left' governments are 'progressive'.
>>
>> If the question is rephrased as a 'progressive outcome', regardless  
>> of the politics, I would proffer two ways of evaluating and  
>> demonstrating that.
>>
>> The first is the 'materialist' measure, which is outcomes that have  
>> enhanced not only the disposable income (after housing, education,  
>> child care, food, clothing etc.) costs of the bottom 25% of the  
>> population, as measured in terms of income and non-holding of wealth  
>> (e.g. not home-owners) and - more importantly - enhanced the  
>> life-chances of both themselves and (where applicable) their >> children.
>>
>> Second, there is the 'citizenship' measure, which points to the  
>> realisation of a citizen right that has ben denied to some sections  
>> of the population, while routinely made available to others, on no  
>> basis other than the categorical. Recognition of same-sex couples for  
>> the purposes of superannuation is the example which strikes me as the  
>> most obvious here.
>>
>> There is another question here about what this has to do with  
>> cultural policy. I am going to throw the question back to the  
>> questioner here (which is definitely a cop-out, I know), as the  
>> 'cultural' issues - and whether they are uniquely the provenance of  
>> 'cultural studies' - is something that we do need a wider  
>> conversation about.
>>
>> Cheers
>> Terry
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> At 05:25 PM 5/01/2005 +1100, you wrote:
>>> Dear Terry
>>>
>>> What is a "progressive political outcome" and how do you tell?
>>>
>>> Liz Jacka
>>>
>>>>
>>>> __________________________
>>>>
>>>> IS CULTURAL STUDIES INHERENTLY LEFT-WING?
>>>>
>>>> Terry Flew
>>
>> ....
>>
>>
>>>> Seventh, sometimes the market may be more attuned to a progressive
>>>> political outcome. While the cultural policy debate of the 1990s
>>>> challenged some of the reflex anti-statism found in the 'resistance'
>>>> strands of cultural studies, it arguably did so by reinforcing a
>>>> notion that governments were best equipped to deliver cultural
>>>> democracy. As such, it was perhaps too focused upon the official
>>>> institutions of public culture (museums, art galleries etc.),
>>>> middle-class forms of cultural consumption (public broadcasters  
>>>> rather
>>>> than commercial media or pay TV), and a 'top-down' understanding of
>>>> how culture is created and cultural resources distributed. What is
>>>> apparent is that, not only is there a lot of 'bottom-up' culture  
>>>> being
>>>> created and distributed from multiple sites, much of it  
>>>> commercially,
>>>> but that the cultural or creative industries are not simply a  
>>>> handful
>>>> of global corporate behemoths living off the copyrighted culture of
>>>> others. Indeed, digital media technologies, by blurring lines  
>>>> between
>>>> producers and consumers, may indeed be harbingers of an upsurge in
>>>> 'do-it-yourself' (DIY) cultural production and distribution.
>>
>> Dr. Terry Flew
>> Senior Lecturer and Discipline Head, Media and Communication
>> Acting Head of Communication Design
>> Course Co-ordinator, Creative Industries postgraduate coursework  
>> degree program
>> Reviews Editor, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies
>>
>> Creative Industries Faculty
>> Queensland University of Technology
>>
>> GPO Box 2434
>> Brisbane Queensland 4001
>>
>> Location: The Hub Z6-510 Kelvin Grove Urban Village
>> Phone: 61-07-3864 8188
>> Fax: 61-07-3864 8195
>> Mobile: 0405 070 980
>> Email: t.flew at qut.edu.au
>> Research profile:  
>> http://www.creativeindustries.qut.com/people/staff/ 
>> next.jsp?userid=flew&secid=Introduction
>>
>> CRICOS No: 00213J
>>
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>>
>


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