[csaa-forum] re: fashion/clothing; re: cult studies and left

[Jonathan MARSHALL]

I cant speak for what our friend Brophy was drawing on. Most of his
essays are published in the Cinesonic papers, and so refs can be looked
up there, or one can try and contact him directly. He's not formally at
RMIT any more, but his music label website is still run off the RMIT web
site (SoundPunch), and so could be tracked down through that.

Specifically though, there is a pretty huge history of material on the
history of fashion, clothing, etc. As a historian, Im less familar with
writings on contemporary fashion, but Id say start with the historic
materials and work up.

Good places to start would be the voluminous History of Private Life, by
Duby and Aries, which deals with Euro-American cultural history,
including fashion and just about everything else under the sun.

Ellias' The Civilising Process, though much contested in its details
since, is still a crucial text in these matters too.

I would also imagine history of the body materials, esp. collected
essays, would be helpful, like some of the Zone Books compilations,

I hope this is helpful,

Jonathan Marshall



Jonathan Marshall, PhD, MA,
Research Fellow,
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts,
Edith Cowan University,
2 Bradford Street,
Mt Lawley, WA 6050
PH: +618 9370 6796
FAX: +618 9370 6665
jonathan.marshall at ecu.edu.au

contributing editor,
RealTime Australia
PH: 0402 0155 23
http://www.realtimearts.net/



>> Message: 1
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 2005 10:27:58 +1100 (EST)
From: Mel Campbell <incrediblemelk at yahoo.com.au>
Subject: [csaa-forum] can anyone help?
To: csaa-forum at lists.cdu.edu.au
Message-ID: <20050116232758.29204.qmail at web21326.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

> Hi all,
 
> I'm wondering if anyone can point me towards any writing on the way
clothes fit and feel as a kind of 'body modification' technology?
 
> I'm not talking about things like fetish corsets and those Burmese
women with the neck rings - I remember Philip Brophy speaking at a
public forum last year about how, for example, the tightness of a jacket
across your shoulders makes you feel 'more formal' or like a 'bold
corporate warrior', and in turn alters your posture, gesture and use of
space.
 
> Any suggestions would be much appreciated. 
 
> Cheers,
 
> Mel. 

-----------------------------

Cultural Studies and the Left

As Ms Allon observes, spending much time debating the left wing
tendencies or otherwise of cultural studies seems to expell a bit of
wasted breath. Nevertheless, Terry Flew's expositions seems to deserve
some response.

Generally speaking, a generally "leftish" position is, as Flew observes,
common in cultural studies as the major theory underpinning of most if
not all cultural studies comes from within Marxist cultural criticism,
from Gramsci through to the Frankfurt school, and through into Foucault,
Barthes and Baudrillard.

Similarly, as Flew implicitly acknowledges, the term "left-wing" is not
terribly helpful if one juxtoposes leading influences on cultural
studies against each other, such as Satre versus Baudrillard. The two
probably have at least as much in common with "right-wing" critics as
they do with each other, if not more. It is hard to imagine on old
Resistance fighter and supporter of Stalin, Satre, agreeing with
Baudrillard's claim that "the Gulf War never happened" (indeed, a very
large number of Australian cultural studies practitioners would tend to
differ with Baudrillard on this and other points too, despite the
considerable influence he has had in this country, and the fact that his
work too derives from Marxist cultural theory).

It is moreover important to acknowledge that, at least within the US
tradition, a fair amount of cultural studies work has been influenced by
what is, in that country, perceived as "right wing" politics, namely
civil libertarian and anti-government critics, like the work of say
Victor Turner and others. Though drawing on Marxist cultural theory
(notably Bakhtin), Turner's work sits well within a "right-wing"
tradition which is opposed to the structural intervention of government
in public life. I am not aware of any comparable syntheses in the
Australian context, but I would be surprised if they do not exist.

It is finally important to recognise the specific institutional
relationships within which this occurs and the actions of government. It
is not simply that Australian cultural studies are "anti-Howard", in
some generalised way. It is also clearly true that the current regime
(and indeed many previous Labour ministers) have been anti-cultural
studies. Courses on graphic novels (comics, if you prefer), mainstream
popular television and the like, typically associated with cultural
studies practice if not necessarily cultural studies departments, have
been consistently ridiculed by senior Liberals and frequently targetted
as examples absurd excesses within universities already being cut back
under Liberal fiscal initiatives. The long tradition of such talk within
Liberal circles and Liberal think tanks has necessarily forced cultural
studies exponents to oppose these attacks. This has generated a long
series of mutual exchanges, of which this debate itself would seem to be
the latest product.

In response to Flew's specific challenges then, I would reply:

"1.	That the theoretical and methodological resources of cultural
studies 
are such that they are not comprehensible in the absence of a left-wing 
political standpoint;"

no they are not, though it is impossible to study cultural studies w/o
being confronted by Marxist criticism, anymore than it is possible to
study history w/o addressing (and therefore possibly rejecting) Marxist
criticism

"2.	That the degree of alignment of arguments within cultural
studies to a 
left-wing political standpoint is such that you can determine the 
intellectual validity of intellectual arguments on the basis of their 
relationship to left-wing politics;
and "3.	That if one did not hold to left-wing political views, it would
be 
impossible in principle to have one's work considered to be within the 
field of cultural studies, however much it dealt with the study of
culture."

not at all (qv Turner, Baudrillard, etc)

Jonathan Marshall

Jonathan Marshall, PhD, MA,
Research Fellow,
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts,
Edith Cowan University,
2 Bradford Street,
Mt Lawley, WA 6050
PH: +618 9370 6796
FAX: +618 9370 6665
jonathan.marshall at ecu.edu.au

contributing editor,
RealTime Australia
PH: 0402 0155 23
http://www.realtimearts.net/