[csaa-forum] Re: terry flew on CS

[geert]

Interesting debate.

Left or right, one thing is certain: cultural studies is a deeply
Anglo-Saxon discipline with a very specific set of histories.

I have followed the attempt to establish 'cultural studies' in countries
such as Germany, The Netherlands and France. It's hilarious as the
'culture' concept in these places has a long and rich tradition, which
goes way beyond what a certain R. Williams in the UK did or did not do
in the sixties and seventies. It's hilarious because 'culture' in the
these countries was a somewhat dusty notion, if not straightout
conservative. Popular culture was studied, yes, in a moral fashion, so
there was nothing new about that approach either.

The german media theorist Friedrich Kittler wrote a whole book about
this in which he defended the older, 19th century study of culture,
against the Brittish, class and pop obsessed 'cultural studies'. He
defends his own branch called Kulturwissenschaften (cultural sciences).

Cultural studies is itself a media hype. It's a meme with a very
interesting track record, yet hard to transplant into other cultural
context. Japan is another example of this.

Best, Geert